Challenging the hegemony of Lavazza and Illy, Bugan was Italy’s first coffee ‘laboratory’ when it opened in 2014. Headquartered in this Città Bassa roastery, tasting room, shop and training school for baristas it offers coffee samples any time of day. Try an espresso made from whatever beans are on offer (a fruity Rwandan concoction was circulating at last visit).
Crowded with roasting machines and other coffee paraphernalia, there’s not a lot of room to sit down, but the staff are contagiously friendly and keen to share their enthusiasm for all things coffee-related. In April 2019 Bugan opened a second tasting room in the Città Alta, handily located just off the main piazza.