Federico Lucas Pezzetta (Coffee and Lucas): Coffee Insurrection Hero Chapter #9

Published by Tanya in Coffee Insurrection Hero · 22 April 2021
Tags: CoffeeandLucas, Interview, CoffeeHero

1- Introduce yourself: who are you, where are you from, where do you work and what’s your job.

I’m Federico Lucas Pezzetta, but on social media I’m Coffee and Lucas! I’m from Roma but I work (Covid permitting) often away from home. I’m a photographer, social media consultant, content creator and filmaker.

2- When and why did coffee become important to you?

Coffee was always important to me: I don’t drink beer, and just lately I started to appreciate the world of wine, especially those wines that, on a gustatory level, remind me a lot the world of filter coffee. So, coffee is always been at my side.

3- Do you remember the first coffee you had that was more than “just a cup of coffee”?

Gedeb Asada, natural Ethiopia roasted by Gardelli. I remember the coffee, the place where I drank it, the barista. And I remember thinking “Wow, what am I drinking?”

4- What’s your favorite thing about going to work in the morning?

As a freelancer, my time management is very variable. And this is not always a good thing! Sometimes I work until late night and I get up late in the morning (if I’ve got no appointments or special jobs that require my presence). Other times my day begins really early and it end sooner.

5- What’s your favorite brewing method and why?

I love filter coffee in any form, but if I have to choose I’ll go for sure with Chemex, V60 and Kalita.

6- Which is the best coffee you ever tasted?

It’s hard to say. For sure, on an emotional level, I’m connected with Gedeb Asada (natural Ethiopia) for the reason I said before. And for sure I’m fond of the two editions of the project I did in collaboration with NeroScuro, “CoffeeAndJesse”, where we selected a carbonic macerated maragogype from Panama (Finca Hartmann) and lately an anaerobic fermented Ethiopia. Two amazing coffees. I was also lucky enough to taste so many astonishing coffees, some of them world famous, but also so many, let’s say “underdog” coffees that, in my humble opinion, have nothing to envy to coffees much more expensive.

7- Is there a country of origin that you tend to favor coffee from? Why?

I love coffees from Kenya for their consistency in time, and for their being so juicy. I really like natural Ethiopia and obviously a big portion of coffees that come from Panama are exceptional (even in the price…)

8- Suggest us a roastery to check (not the one you working at/you use at work).

I appreciate so many roasters and I’m sorry I cannot list all of them. So, to avoid making a ranking, I can tell you that I really appreciate the work done by NeroScuro (with whom I developed the project “CoffeeAndJesse”) and from abroad Hard Beans from Poland (we’re friends). But I’ve got a long list of roasters both from italy and from the rest of the world.

9- What’s the most important things you’ve learnt while working in the business?

That I’m not willing to do everything.

10- How your work and the specialty coffee world are coping with Covid and the new challenges for hospitality?

For sure a lot of people finally understood the potential of the online world. Someone already followed this path before, but Covid helped (or forced) people to open their eyes even just to avoid losing contact with their customers (even the potential ones) and tell them “Hey, I exist, I’m still here.” There’s still a lot of improvisation, but I think big steps have been made, and I think they won’t be undone after the end of these dark times.

11- How do you the specialty coffee scene in 10 years?

Talking about Italy, I hope much better than today. Three or four years ago, I was expecting a faster growth but then a number of different factors have meant that, between cafes opening and closing, the specialty coffee scene in Italy grew much less than it should have, I think. For sure Covid didn’t help, and not just in the coffee scene.

12- Where do you see yourself in 10 years?

After this year and a half of trouble in the pandemic world, I can difficulty see myself in 5 months, imagine in ten years! For sure I’ve got goals in my mind, but I’m always ready to be surprised by life. What I hope, is to still be able to do what I like even in ten years, and to still have by my side people I can count on.

13- Any last word? Any tip or suggestion you wanna share with someone that want to start this path?

My suggestion is to learn a lot, study a lot, without “closing too much in self-referential contexts”, but to develop working (but not only) relationships healthy and sincere, proving yourself to be reliable. The world of photography and communication is very interesting and full of facets. Constantly evolving. You need to be open to evolutions, with a critical eye, but always open.