Gianni Frasi is one of Italy's premier coffee roasters. He learned the coffee business from his uncle, Giovanni Erbisti, who began roasting coffee in his 1,500-foot apartment in 1947. Believing that too dark a roast masks the subtleties and fine aromas of a top-quality bean, Erbisti insisted on roasting coffee to the color of a tunica di monaco, a monk's tunic. Anything darker, he claimed, was burnt.

Today, Frasi continues his uncle's coffeemaking tradition in the same small shop in Verona, making as much coffee in a year as Starbuck's makes in a day. Frasi and his dad work side-by-side, monitoring each batch of coffee as it roasts slowly in his uncle's original fire-engine-red roaster. Fanatical about quality, Frasi flies down to South America every year to personally select the beans used to make his unparalleled coffee. Giamaica Caffe is used in Italy's finest restaurants.