Ferran Adrià, the famous pioneering deconstructionist chef behind the now-shuttered avant-garde elBulli in Spain, teamed up with iconic Italian coffee company Lavazza to experiment with coffee in a whole new way. It all began over a decade ago in Turin, Italy after Adrià experienced some of Lavazza's innovative coffee-based recipes at their Training Centre.
What is "coffee design"? According to Giuseppe Lavazza (Vice Chairman of Lavazza), it's a branch of food design. "As soon as you move away from the classic formats, you encounter many obstacles: you have to prevent oxidation, reduce acidity and create stability in the 
product," he says. Over 20 years ago, the company created its own food service training department in order to guarantee the quality of their product every step of the way. Now, there are 45 international branches of the Training Centre, the world's largest coffee school. In 1998, the first of their coffee-based products were designed (and are currently found on the menu at their "San Tommaso 10" café in Turin). Orange and lemon cappuccino syrups, an innovation because they prevented coagulation in milk; and Milk Texture, milk proteins whipped with air at high speed to create a deliciously light and low-cal treat, were among the first products created.
Michelangelo said that his sculptures already existed within stone, he simply knew how to reveal the masterpieces within. Lavazza says it's the same with coffee. The beauty of coffee already exists in the beans, they just know how to finish the product to perfection.
"Before I met Lavazza, I had never worked with coffee. At elBulli, my restaurant in Roses, it was served in the conventional way at the end of the meal," says Adrià. Known for deconstructing foods and presenting them in unique ways, Adrià was curious to explore the potential of the fascinating complexities of coffee. The elBulli and Lavazza Training Centre teams thus embarked on a research and development campaign and, along with an international task force of chefs, created new techniques, concepts and ways of tasting coffee. According to Adrià, "We have revolutionized coffee-based products, a sector that has always been wary of innovation. Anything that contributes to progress in the food world is a great source of personal joy and satisfaction."
On a recent trip to Eataly in Chicago, I experienced some of these new and unexpected ways of enjoying coffee. True to Adrià's molecular gastronomist style we started with a tasting of Coffee Caviar, little beads of espresso encased in an edible alginate. What a delightful flavor explosion!
Next up was a whipped espresso (Èspesso), a foam-like cloud created from a nitrous oxide (N2O) boosted whip cream dispenser.
Thoroughly buzzed at this point we moved on to coffee cake (Spugna al Caffe) that was made in mere seconds in the microwave. Light and fluffy, this delight was also blasted from the N2O dispenser then "baked" in espresso cups. Amazing.
Indeed, Adrià and Lavazza have created exciting ways to enjoy one of life's simple pleasures!
"Focus on promoting coffee culture and support of high gastronomy have always been part of Lavazza’s core values, and we are happy to celebrate those achievements with Ferran Adrià today.”
~Giuseppe Lavazza
Through March 26, Eataly’s Gran Bar Lavazza will offer guests a chance to purchase and taste one of Adrià's special limited-edition coffee creations, Èspesso.
Want to learn more about Ferran Adrià and the culinary creations of elBulli? Watch the amazing documentary ElBulli: Cooking in Progress, and check out his various publications on Amazon.com, including his recently released elBulli: 2005-2011.
