Our history
Our history – a story spanning centuries.
The beginnings
Our story starts in the distant past.
The first coffee arrived in Europe in the early 17th century, in Livorno, from Turkey, a land where coffee was already a daily pleasure.
This random occurrence encountered fertile ground in the natural commercial propensity of the city, which has always been a crossroads for goods, travellers and cultures.
It all began in 1895, when brothers Antonio and Luigi Meschini set up their first business: a small shop selling spices, liqueurs and coffee from Latin America and Yemen.
A special blend
Coffee roasted and blended with passion and expertise was distributed to the city’s main coffee shops.
One of these was Bar Roma, for which a special blend was created in 1926. The blend’s formula has not changed for nearly a century and Roma is still one of the most popular blends on the company.
The journey continues
Since then, our journey has never stopped.
The shop became a business, people became expertise, trade opened up to the world, but the underlying passion remained the pure and authentic passion of our forebears.
In the second half of the 1980s, thanks to his far-sightedness, Enrico Meschini took over the export of the company and launched Arcaffè as it is structured today.
Arcaffè today
Today Prunella, Enrico’s daughter, represents the fifth generation of the Meschini family.
Combining tradition with innovation, she works to bring the spirit of Italy to the world through the pursuit of customer satisfaction, tradition, excellence and vitality.
Arcaffè is now a well-organised company that combines vast experience with a modern and proactive approach.
There has always been one, precise, philosophy at Arcaffè: to seek out and promote the best coffees in the world.
