By Gill from The Olive Tree Cafe
Gill & Weller de Oliveira run The Olive Tree Cafe at Logie Steading. This story weaves together the threads of Gill & Weller's histories to give a clearer understanding of how the Olive Tree Cafe came to be how it is today...
Our Cafe Story
A Scot and a Brazilian Meet in Florence
When we were asked to write a story about how we arrived at where we are today, it was honestly so difficult to know where to start. Part of me feels like the last ten years of owning the café have flown by and then I think of everything that has happened and it’s easy to believe that a decade has passed. The café is certainly all encompassing in its many wonderful ways.
Weller and I met in 2003 whilst we were both living and working in Florence. We had both moved there after university, Weller from Brazil and myself from the west of Scotland. I inherited a passion for good home cooking from my mum and attended a culinary school in Florence and then worked in a restaurant in the city centre. That Italian drive to create dishes that are so simple but full of flavour is still to this day what I love.
Brazil & Coffee; Coffee & Brazil
Weller’s passion is his absolute love for great coffee, an abundance of which he enjoyed in Italy. His grandfather in Brazil had owned a small coffee plantation in a rural village called Itapura and Weller spent many years as a young boy helping him and baking with his grandmother (Weller is the second boy in the photograph, holding the big spade). Our coffee beans in the café are 100% Brazilian, as there is of course no better kind! Florence is certainly a place that still remains close to our hearts due to our love of the culture, lifestyle and cuisine.