Lucca Cafés Especiais

Georgia Franco de Souza and Luiz Otavio Franco de Souza, both trained civil engineers, opened Lucca in June 2002 in Batel, widely credited as Brazil's first shop built specifically around specialty coffee. The name honors Luiz's grandfather, Joao Pedro Lucca, a coffee grower in northern Parana, and the shop began with an in house roaster and five coffees before growing into a retail line of around forty labels. Their daughter Carolina Franco went on to win Brazil's Brewers Cup title in 2014.

Coffee is roasted on site on Probat machines, a P5 for the cafe and a larger P12 for wholesale, with espresso pulled on a La Marzocco Strada set to custom pressure profiles. Beyond the daily bar, Lucca runs its own roasting courses and a subscription club, and keeps a covered veranda where dogs are welcome alongside the regulars.