Best Coffee

Growing up in Prato, Italy, Federico Pasquinelli remembers playing among bags of coffee beans. The espresso bar beneath his parents’ home was where the neighbourhood children would congregate after school. “The owner always treated us like we were his kids,” he told The Coast in 2017. “So I’ve always been around coffee.” Pasquinelli started making espresso when he was just six or seven. Nowadays, if you wander down Isleville Street, you can spot him in a little rectangular window in a brick warehouse, bundled up and tending to a red coffee machine. This “coffee window” is Espresso 46, Pasquinelli’s own Italian-style espresso shop located in the heart of the north end since 2017. “I’m a little espresso obsessive,” Pasquinelli admits. “Because I’m Italian, espresso is part of my culture. We drink espresso in the morning, after lunch and after dinner. It has become a social thing.” It’s paid off for Pasquinelli, too: After finishing runner-up in the category in 2023, this year, he’s nabbed a pair of BOH golds. Readers awarded him Best Barista for the second year in a row.