The Anterivo “coffee bean” comes from a plant that, strictly speaking, is neither coffee nor bean. The Anterivo coffee is a type of lupine that for decades has provided a “coffee” that was drunk mixed with barely or wheat. It’s a local speciality: in botanical terms as well as in terms of South Tyrolean history of culture.

The production of lupine coffee in the 1200 m high Anterivo was tradition until the triumph of the coffee bean chains Meinl, Tschibo or Illy. After decades of being virtually forgotten, some farmers in the village rediscovered this typical beverage. However, “if you are used to standard flavours, you will not like the Anterivo coffee”, warns Hartmann Varesco, one of the 20 members of the Friends of Anterivo Coffee.