The history of Gardelli Specialty Coffees has its roots in the 1980s when the Gardelli family ran a bar between 1982 and 1985. For Rubens, the brand's founder, his earliest memories behind a counter date back to that period, profoundly influencing his future career.
In 1996, Rubens' mother, Cinzia, opened a new bar, Santa Fè, in the industrial area of Forlì. In 2002, Rubens joined the management, making the café his first true training ground as a barista. It was during this period that the idea of roasting coffee was born, although information on the process was still hard to find online.
A decisive moment came during a stay in California, when Rubens noticed a visible coffee roaster inside a local bar. This episode strengthened his conviction to pursue coffee roasting. Upon returning to Italy in October 2008, he began experimenting with roasting using a small copper tool on his home stove.
This marked the beginning of Gardelli Specialty Coffees.

At the time, the Santa Fè bar was already offering single-origin coffee, a concept that was not widely popular in Italy. Rubens sourced raw materials from Sweet Maria’s, a platform founded by Tom Owen, which at the time was an invaluable source of knowledge about coffee.
The website provided detailed information on botanical varieties, processing methods, and roasting techniques, giving Rubens a solid foundation to refine his skills. T
hanks to this resource, Rubens was able to understand the secrets of selecting the finest origins and develop his distinctive approach to roasting.

In 2011, after ending a contract with a previous roaster, the first brand, Rubens Gardelli Torrefazione Artigianale, was born, later evolving with a new logo and a more defined identity.
Initially, the logo featured a cobra head with the initials RG on the nape, later evolving into the current swan icon—a symbol of elegance and refinement, inspired by Japanese brushstroke art.
Between 2012 and 2013, the bar changed its name and signage, officially becoming Gardelli Specialty Coffees. The kitchen was closed to dedicate the space exclusively to coffee roasting.
Meanwhile, the brand gained international recognition through participation in Specialty Coffee Association championships.
From 2014 to 2017, Rubens won the Italian Roasting Championships consecutively, while in 2014, he placed second worldwide in the Brewers Cup.
After numerous attempts, in 2017, he won the World Title, solidifying the brand’s global reputation and significantly increasing demand for Gardelli coffee.
Thanks to these successes, the e-commerce platform became a benchmark for selling specialty coffee.
Demand grew to the point that production expansion became necessary.
In 2017, a new facility was purchased and inaugurated in 2018 with the official founding of Gardelli Specialty Coffees Srl.
The relocation allowed for greater efficiency in roasting and raw material storage, further improving the final product's quality.

The year 2020 marked a turning point: with the onset of lockdown, the bar was permanently closed to create a new space designed according to Rubens' vision: la Caffeteca.
In December of the same year, the new headquarters opened in Via Camillo Versari 2, Forlì, an environment designed to offer an authentic experience in the world of specialty coffee.