A Journey of Ten Thousand Miles for a Single Cup – Giulio’s Fifteen‑Year Quest for the Perfect Bean and the Philosophy of the Golden Blend
In the morning light of Milan, as the first rays filter through the arcades of Via Manzoni, the entire city awaits a familiar sound: the hiss of steam from an espresso machine, as reassuring as a church bell. Italians often say that a thumb‑sized shot of espresso is their very soul. And in the world of Caffè MARYLING, behind that soul‑stirring brew stands a stubborn old man who has walked across fifteen countries on foot – Giulio Ottolina.
Rewind to 1948. Post‑war Milan was scarred but brimming with a desperate hope for a better life. That year, Giulio founded the historic OTTOLINA Café in the heart of the city. It was an era before industrial chains, before mass‑produced pods – when the richness of a coffee depended entirely on the barista’s skill and sincerity. Yet young Giulio was not content to stay behind the counter. He nurtured a seemingly crazy ambition: if the world is so vast, might the flavours of coffee also hide different secrets?
Over the next fifteen years, Giulio embarked on a lonely, tireless odyssey in search of exceptional beans. His footsteps traced the primeval forests of Ethiopia, the steep slopes of Colombia’s Andes, the 800‑metre‑high red‑soil plateaus of Brazil’s Alta Mogiana, and even the misty mountains of Yunnan, China, around the Baoshan Lujiang Valley. In Ethiopia, he followed local villagers through fog to pick wild varieties, learning to discern altitude‑driven acidity with the tip of his tongue. In Sumatra, he braved tropical downpours to observe the wet‑hulling process, understanding how soil and climate give coffee its deep, earthy undertones.
Giulio Ottolina was never merely a buyer; he was a flavour geologist. Countless cupping sessions taught him the limitations of single‑origin coffees – like a symphony with only high notes and no bass. So he began a years‑long “flavour‑matching” experiment. He used the nutty sweetness of Brazilian beans as his foundation, the bright fruit acidity of Colombian beans as the mid‑palate structure, and the elegant floral notes of Ethiopian beans as the lingering top note. After thousands of failures and adjustments, he finally arrived at a golden blend ratio. This was not just a recipe; it was the culmination of his understanding of terroir and human culture.
Caffè MARYLING was born from this very spiritual soil. It is not merely a coffee brand but a natural extension of MARYLING’s passion for the Italian way of life. When the brand decided to join forces with renowned Italian coffee masters and spatial designers to create Caffè MARYLING, Giulio’s ethos was perfectly replicated: carving out a tranquil corner amid the urban clamour, crafting a coffee that flows like a spring over the desert of time.
Today, when you hold a cup of Caffè MARYLING’s Rainforest Coffee Powder, you taste far more than a mellow caramel note. That subtle acidity and sweet aftertaste that cross your palate carry the warmth of Giulio’s hands rubbing together in the Andean chill, and the observations on humidity he jotted down on the Yunnan highlands. As the brand firmly believes: one coffee, connecting fashion and life. And this cup connects half a century of one Milanese man’s obsessive pursuit of perfection. True luxury is never about a rare price tag; it is the willingness to travel ten thousand miles for a single bean – and the time that such dedication demands.
