Naples' Espresso since 1963: Cafè do Brasil

In a city where everyone knows and inherits the art of coffee, some people’s talent and intuition shine through. This was the case for the Rubino brothers who founded Cafè do Brasil. In this article, we share their success story with you.

The Rubino brothers were not industrialists; they ran a café, helping their father in the family business. Soon the popularity of their espresso spread beyond their neighborhood, and people from other parts of the city were taking long walks in Naples to drink the Rubino brothers’ espresso. As their popularity grew, they had to come up with new ideas to share their creation with bars and houses all over the world.

In the 1960s, new packaging technologies created a great opportunity for the Rubino brothers. With the revolutionary vacuum cans, traditional Neapolitan coffee could be taken anywhere. Cafè do Brasil S.p.a. was founded to share the flavor they had created and soon became one of the largest coffee roasters in Europe. The Rubino brothers’ coffee became famous all over Italy and was known all over the world under the Kimbo brand. This is how we discovered the similarities between our palates and those of Neapolitans and learned that Neapolitan coffee is real and good coffee (you can find Neapolitan blends here, here and here ). The Rubino family and Kimbo played an undeniable role in this.

The name Kimbo was chosen because it evoked the exotic countries where the coffee beans are grown. A few years later, the Kosè brand was launched to provide a quality and affordable option. In 2012, Cafè do Brasil took over the historic Cagliari coffee company La Tazza d’Oro and became available in almost all cafés in Sardinia. In 2013, the company’s trade name became Kimbo, its best-known brand. It still maintains its position in the Italian packaged coffee retail market, where it reached second place in 1994.

Behind this growing success is loyalty to tradition and uncompromising commitment to excellent quality. That these values are not just words is evident from the Melito factory in Naples. Spread over 40,000 square meters, machines and production processes are constantly updated. Maintaining high standards in production does not mean neglecting respect for the environment (more on this in our next article).

You can see the photos kept by the Museum of Italian Brand, which documents Kimbo’s journey from its establishment to today, in the gallery below 🙂