Milano Coffee is very proudly from Vancouver and has been at the forefront of the west coast coffee culture since it’s inception in 1984. But the Milano story is older, much older than that…


A Real History; West Coast Heart, Italian Soul

Few coffee roasters in North America can lay claim to the lineage like Milano Coffee. The legacy of Vancouver based Milano Coffee’s artisan tradition dates back three quarters of a century to the very beginnings of Italian espresso itself! The distinct taste derived from the secrets of the torrefazione (a time honored roasting and blending craftsmanship) is fervently protected and handed down from one generation to the next. Our history is traceable, with a lineage of Musetti, Curatolo and Turko – a legacy of three generations of family owned and operated Casa Torrefazione. Our Italian roots remain, but we are now a Canadian, west coast Coffee tradition.


Milano’s Founding Father, Francesco Curatolo

A NEW WORLD OF COFFEE
In 1981 during a business trip from Italy, Milano founding father, and coffee visionary, Francesco Curatolo saw the wave of the future. He saw how the Italian coffee tradition would conquer North America and revolutionize the way that people would think about coffee. His first stop would be the coffee Mecca of Seattle where he met up with his old friend, the city’s godfather of Italian espresso, Umberto Bizzari. He then moved to Vancouver where he took up citizenship. At this time in his career Francesco consulted for what would become the largest coffee chain in the world – Starbucks. But Francesco’s vision was to bring the coffee tradition and trade secrets of Milan, Italy to the budding coffee capital of Canada – Vancouver – which he did in 1984 when starting Milano Coffee. In the mid 1990s Starbucks came knocking again, when his recipes and intellectual property were sought out by the by then coffee giant. But Milano Coffee remained a family run business.

THE TORCH IS PASSED
After investing 22 years of passion and an uncompromising dedication to his vision, Francesco was drawn by family obligation, and in 2002 he had to consider the unthinkable and sell his lifelong beloved Milano Coffee and return to Italy. But the apprenticeship of Brian Turko’s was already budding. Francesco knew that he could trust the future of Milano Coffee with his protégé. Brian and Linda Turko along with brother Barry and Colleen Henry agreed to accept this great honor and challenge because they loved Milano coffee’s uncompromising commitment to great taste and it’s family owned artisan heritage. The Turko and Henry families have dedicated their lives to maintain the high standards of the Milano brand and the Italian espresso tradition while continually developing new blends and tastes for the future – just as the Musetti and Curatolo families before them.