Ferran, what a thrill to find ourselves in this great place. So many memories, so many wonderful things that come to mind. I must say that arriving here was pure joy because I knew nothing about Ferran Adrià, absolutely nothing. It was a surprise. I remember the first time very well. Bob Noto was beginning to help me take my first steps in the world of haute cuisine, and he told me, 'We absolutely have to go to see what he does.' And so we arranged to come here in 2003. That was my first experience at elBulli. I realized we had before us an extraordinary world that we could explore with a brilliant interpreter like Ferran.
Bob arrived at elBulli in 1992 with Antonella. They arrived at noon, had lunch, and asked me, 'Can we come back tonight?' That was Bob. And that's where the relationship began. I think he's the most incredible gourmet I've ever met. He was very important to me because he was one of the few people I could talk to about cooking.
Bob Noto and Alessandra told me, 'There could be a collaboration between elBulli and Lavazza.' And I said, 'Let's see what happens.'
I realized we were entering a completely new world where coffee didn't exist. We understood that in order to be part of such an extraordinary world we needed to follow in the footsteps of the Masters, not only to create new things around coffee, a new language, introduce different elements, but above all to participate in this process of gastronomy's evolution. Coffee could be part of this if, however, it learned to behave differently than it had until that moment.
By 2003 we were already establishing a very solid project.
Had you arrived in '94 or '95, I'm not sure Lavazza would have hired me. You would have said, 'This guy is crazy, you know?' Completely nuts. In the end, elBulli is a story built with a new language, and at first we didn't have enough words. When I began to think about what we could do, the first thing I did was reflect on how coffee was present in restaurants. It was obvious in ordering coffee, an espresso, right? And then in the sweet world. But in the savory world, there was almost nothing. I then reflected on the world of mousses, soufflés, and the like. You always had to use a dairy derivative to make a mousse or something similar, or eggs. And I said no. We'll make pure flavor. Coffee, an emulsifier. And I remember the photo, the upside-down espresso. I think it's an iconic photo.
One of the things I'm happy about, and I think we all are, is the concept of an innovative attitude of being brave. I think that was important for this relationship. You can do different things that will act somehow like a 'positive virus.' There was a desire to do something new but always with the will to amaze people and entertain them. The concept of 'fun cuisine' doesn't exist, there's regional cuisine, signature cuisine, and that's vital. So the concept of fun I believe is a very important claim that Lavazza introduced into the world of coffee. Let's have fun! After all, pleasure is a term we use a lot for coffee because coffee doesn't nourish, so it must be a moment of pleasure in every sense, and fun is very important. Today I think it's the key to the success of many innovations even in haute cuisine.
After the Èspesso, we then created other very fun products where it wasn't just the product, there were objects. There was the Passion>Me, which was extraordinary. The concept of Passion>Me was genius. It was an incredible insight, Passion>Me. And then the idea of involving the customer was so much fun because there was an object that allowed you to do everything: make the product and then pour it into the cup, which was the shaker lid. For me it had entertainment value, reflection value, where the customer participates in the preparation. Because in the end, the one who prepared the cocktail was the customer. And even the concept of an energy drink, cocktails with coffee, are taking a path that, I'm sure, in five years will reach incredible dimensions. And then other things. For example, coffee caviar, which was always a special thing.
The Nitro Cappuccino meringue. The cappuccino, right? Was it a cappuccino?
Yes, it was a cappuccino. It was the period when elBulli was experimenting with freeze-dried products. There was a year when that existed. Exactly. Because what we did at elBulli we tried to disseminate into a broader world. Spherification was one of these things. And we were the first restaurant in the world, I believe in 2005, to introduce freeze-drying into haute cuisine. This did not exist. And this product even went to space, by the way. We sent it up to the International Space Station, so it was a cappuccino that you could even eat in deep space. But also preparation methods with liquid nitrogen, for example. Also that. Which was exceptional because that again was spectacular. We truly touched so many exclusive fields. Which now seems normal. I think that was a moment when everything we did at elBulli as the pinnacle of innovation we tried to introduce through Lavazza to a much broader market. This is the genesis of what is happening now.
This then also accredited us greatly as a courageous company that somehow wanted to carry on exploration and research.
And up to that point, Lavazza's presence within elBulli was research but also the coffee served at the end of dinner. And it was still in a traditional way. Today, thanks precisely to the research that was done, it's becoming a new area full of explorations: from 1895 to all the various ways of preparing coffee. We continue to work to ensure that coffee is an important moment.
One of the beautiful and important things was working as a team. From day one there was a very strong sense of unity. This work with coffee experts, food technologists, chemists, and similar figures was very important to me because I learned so much. For me, what I learn is as important as what I share. What amazed us was when, for the first time, we went to see the Taller. Because it was an incredible place: to think that a restaurant dedicated part of its time to customers and the other part to research, for all of us who were unfamiliar with this it was an unforgettable experience. It was something exceptional from the standpoint of our professional experience. But I'll say another thing: one of the things we now use very often in our machines, in the Lavazza 'A Modo Mio' system, is the milk frother. This, for example, was something born in that context and today the company uses it on a large scale for its products sold worldwide. And this teamwork began immediately, there was a shared desire to work together, to be together, it was wonderful.
The first Lab, the first atelier in haute cuisine history, was created by elBulli. Had we not had elBulli Taller, we could not have realized a serious collaboration. I think one of the key factors was the teamwork and the uniqueness of the Taller. And for the Lavazza team it was a privilege to do something like that, because it allowed everyone to grow professionally, to learn things we had never seen before, and above all, a method. And to refine taste, sensitivity. I remember several meetings we even had with creatives. elBulli was also the first restaurant to have an industrial product designer and we proved that a small company like elBulli could have its own design. The agility of elBulli Taller, because we were few, we worked our own way, integrated very well into the Lavazza team and we were truly agile.
Everyone immediately realized they were participating in something unique. When we held our first Coffee Design edition, there was the coffee lollipop, there was the 'Barbapapà,' all things that were born here. It was a complete school. We can't say we only talked about products, we talked about many things that for those working in a company like ours are all equally important.
