Caffè Elena

Savoy internationality

Today we know it as a historical cafè. Still, when it was born in 1889, Caffè Elena was the laboratory where Giuseppe Carpano invented the “Antica Formula” – the first official recipe for vermouth, still a flagship product of the House. Later on, the laboratory became a public establishment whose elegant, Savoy-style rooms welcomed some of history’s most famous characters – from Friedrich Nietzsche to Cesare Pavese – but also nobles, workers, and ordinary people for more than a century. To this day, Caffè Elena has kept its authentic atmosphere intact but has opened itself to the contemporary worls thanks to the cocktail offering by Matias Griffa. He fell in love with cocktail mixing shortly after arriving at Caffè Elena, thanks to a capable colleague that became his mentor. The drink list is characterized mainly by twists on classics. It includes 15 cocktails made original by the ingredients and pairings Matias and his team work incessantly on, thanks to homemade preparations like infusions and syrups. It’s a cocktail mixing with an international imprint, making ample use of fresh products and high-quality spirits, looking at the classics and revising them in a contemporary key.

Favorite cocktail: Americano