The Belbar Coffee

It all started at the end of March 1960 in Trieste, Italy. The Canadian Consulate informed all the associations of Istria and Dalmazia that the immigration to Canada was open, but only for people of these regions (which became Slovenia and Croatia in the 1990 's). So Luigi (Gino) and I, Gigliola (Lola) went to submit the application. Our names were the last ones of a few pages added in pencil, but we were amongst the first ones to be called and we left in April 1960. We arrived in Canada at Pier 21 on May 1st, 1960. During the trip via train from Halifax to Toronto, I (Gigliola) asked for a cup of coffee (I meant an espresso coffee). Gino came back with a big paper cup full of colored boiled water and I said, 'Gino!, I asked for an espresso, not for a tea ', so that was our first experience. During the trip we continued to talk about the coffee and we said, if and when it will be possible, knowing what good coffee should taste like, we will start a coffee business. We were sure that not only the European community, but also the Canadians would like our coffee blend