Blog

Co-owner of Café de por Medio and distributor of La Marzocco in Argentina.

For fifteen years, we have been working with coffee in Argentina, with the goal of offering both quality and culture. We believe that coffee is not just a bean or a drink—it is a cultural opportunity. That belief led me to become the first Q Grader in my country. Then, together with my husband José, we bought a roasting machine and opened the Coffee Studies Center. There, we teach cupping and barista courses with the aim of transforming Argentina’s coffee consumption paradigm. The first baristas and roasters studied with us. We helped develop the country’s first specialty coffee shops and focused on consumer education because we believe in the importance of creating responsible consumers.

A year later, we opened our coffee shop, Coffee Town, in Buenos Aires, pioneering the offering of coffees sourced from small producers, cooperatives, and through the International Women’s Coffee Alliance (IWCA), importing coffee produced by women. Soon, other coffee shops and hotels became customers of our roasted coffee.

At that time, ensuring coffee quality required everything—from a good espresso machine to the right cup. This led us to search for the best suppliers abroad, which is how we discovered La Marzocco.

Our first encounter with La Marzocco was at the São Paulo Fair in Brazil. At the La Marzocco stand, we saw the FB80. The distributor in that country, Paul, explained the technical details of La Macchina to us. We loved it. But an immediate problem arose—how could we import it when the Argentine government had practically closed off imports at the time?

This is what José explained to Lorenzo Carboni when they met at the Coffee Fest in Seattle in 2011. José shared our challenge and our strong desire to distribute La Marzocco in Argentina. Lorenzo encouraged us, and we began the long process of importing our first machine, which arrived without the right to be sold (meaning it could not be marketed). With that first FB80 in Buenos Aires, we started the necessary procedures and met with the Secretary of Commerce of the government. While we waited for import authorizations, we presented the FB80 at the MASTICAR 2012 Fair, which brought together the best of Argentina’s gastronomy scene. The machine became the star of the event. Nearly a year later, we were finally able to place our first official order for La Marzocco machines in our country.

Since then, we have showcased La Marzocco machines at countless fairs and exhibitions, cultural and artistic events, university conferences, TV shows, movies, and even sporting events like Formula E (Argentina – Uruguay). From the first day, La Marzocco made us feel like part of the family, and eleven years later, we are still their proud distributors in Argentina.

I believe my country is widely recognized for its recurring economic crises. These challenges make it extremely difficult for businesses, especially small ones like ours, to plan and execute long-term projects. During those difficult times, we received crucial support from the International Women’s Coffee Alliance, Daterra Coffee, Acme Cups, and La Marzocco. For their collaboration, we are and always will be eternally grateful.

At the beginning, I mentioned the purpose of Coffee Town—to connect coffee and culture. The government of Buenos Aires recognized our efforts by declaring Coffee Town a “space of cultural interest”, thanks to our literary and artistic initiatives, as well as our work in spreading knowledge. For example, at the Argentine Italian Chamber of Commerce, we have shared insights on the Italian entrepreneurial spirit through the history of La Marzocco and its founders, the Bambi brothers.

In 2021, we established Coffee Town Ediciones, a publishing initiative, and I released my first book, Yo, Cafeto, with a prologue by Josiane Cotrim, Co-Founder of IWCA Brazil and IWCA Global Strategic Advisor. Yo, Cafeto tells the story of coffee’s evolution through nine fictionalized stories based on real events, including a chapter about women in coffee. The book also helps raise funds for IWCA to support the formation of new chapters.

In 2024, I published Yo, Cafeína (I, Caffeine: The Drug of Good Living), with a prologue by Blanca Castro, Executive Director of the International Women’s Coffee Alliance (IWCA). I’m deeply grateful for their support—it has been an honor for me. This book includes literary narratives that recount the stories of men and women in the coffee world and its sister beverages—tea, chocolate, and mate—across different times and places in history.

Over the years, I have worked towards forming an IWCA chapter in Argentina. The IWCA Global Network consists of independent chapters focused on local challenges, united by the shared mission to empower women in the coffee industry. Today, IWCA has 27 active country chapters and six more in formation, including Argentina.

To achieve this, we brought together coffee shop owners, doctors, roasters, and even dairy and orchard farmers. However, Argentina’s recurring economic instability has forced many of us to prioritize our businesses’ survival, making progress slower than we would like.

Despite these challenges, we continue to resist, work, and dream. In today’s complex global landscape, we firmly believe that the only path forward is to create more spaces for connection and exchange—spaces that not only strengthen our businesses but, more importantly, nurture our human relationships and our shared humanity.