Our Story

[ ʼkʊntʁa,vant ]

“KUNTRAWANT” – derived from the Italian contrabbando – is what the people of Vinschgau called smuggling years ago.

Coffee was once smuggled from Switzerland to Italy on secret and dangerous routes across the green border, called "EXPORT II" by the Swiss customs officers. For the Italian smugglers, it was a good income to survive in the poor and remote valleys. The heyday of this "hot commodity" lasted from the late 1930s to the early 1970s. Today, in South Tyrol, at the foot of the Ortler, we roast first-class, legal beans by hand using the traditional drum roasting method to make high-quality coffee. Fortunately, today you can enjoy the original "Vinschger smuggler coffee" legally and without long detours.