She is the first woman to have obtained the title of one of the Best Craftsmen of France in roasting or rather “Meilleure Ouvrière de France” as she claims. Daniela Capuano was not born in France, but in Brazil, into a family of coffee producers.
After a career as a barista, she now works in the Parisian boutique of Momus, a publisher of exceptional coffees, where she creates exclusive blends.
What makes a good coffee? To this seemingly simple question, Daniela Capuano answers bluntly: “To say that there is only one good coffee would be like saying that there is only one type of good wine.”. On the other hand, there are some basic rules to follow, such as buying your coffee from a roaster and getting advice, using a
quality water – filtered or spring – and at the right temperature since it represents 95% of the drink, choose a suitable cup because this influences the sensory perception. Best Worker of France roaster, Daniela Capuano has earned the recognition of her peers and is now one of the voices that count when it comes to talking coffee.
Daniela was born in Brazil, which she left at the age of 28 to join her sister, who had moved to Paris for her studies. Her grandparents were coffee producers, but it took her a while to appreciate this drink, which she found too bitter and that Brazilians tended to oversweeten. By chance, Daniela tried her hand at barista work to finance her studies and had the opportunity to taste quality blends. Then, for a year, she traveled to represent the Brazilian Specialty Coffee Association (BSCA), which selected her as a barista at international trade shows. She discovered the diversity of cultures in different countries and made many contacts.
As soon as she arrived in Paris in 2012, she enrolled at the Sorbonne to learn French and became a barista at the Caféothèque de Paris, one of the first places in the capital where coffees were tasted while discussing their origins. She then collaborated with L'Arbre à Café, one of the pioneers in specialty coffees. After a period in the boutique on rue du Nil, where she trained restaurateurs in coffee tasting and selection, she became responsible for quality control at the roasting station. Then, Daniela Capuano was recruited in 2017 by the Alsatian roaster Café Reck, where she was deputy production manager while creating coffee ranges. When the competition for one of the Meilleurs Ouvriers de France inaugurated the roaster category in 2018, the director of Café Reck entered Daniela into the competition.I didn't believe for a moment in my chances: I was a woman among a majority of men and what's more, I wasn't French... So I decided to take advantage of my luck to participate in this competition without putting any pressure on myself". And against all odds, among thirty candidates, Daniela Capuano became one of the three winners and the first female MOF roaster. Since then, Anne Caron has also earned the title.
Her career led Daniela Capuano to partner with the young coffee brand Momus Paris, created in 2022 by Lionel Giraud. The name is inspired by both the Greek god of
artists and the 16th-century Parisian literary café, which inspired Puccini's Bohemia. With a boutique on Rue des Martyrs, in the 9th arrondissement of Paris, and a
Another in Seine-et-Marne, in the open-air shopping center La Vallée Village, Momus Paris produces high-quality coffees selected and blended by Daniela.
“Momus is my professional baby,” says the young woman, who was expecting a baby at the time of writing. After his birth, she will lack time to pursue the other activity she is committed to: training.In hotel schools, only a few hours are devoted to learning about coffee, which is insufficient.", she laments. She recommends that all the MOFs in roasting, now six in number, join forces to preach the good word.How can a country like France, so precise when it comes to tracing the origin of even the smallest cheese, be so lax when it comes to the origins of its coffees?", Daniela protests.
Many French people still struggle to accept the fact that quality coffee comes at a certain cost. Competition between industrial and artisan roasters is unbalanced, but little by little, attitudes are changing.If I had one piece of advice to give, adds Daniela Capuano, it would be to keep an open mind. Even if everyone has their own taste preferences, coffee deserves to be discovered in all its diversity.".
Carine Loeillet
