The Espresso We’ve Roasted Since 1992
May 20, 2026
When Gary and Jeannie Rulli opened Emporio Rulli in Larkspur in 1988, they initially sourced their coffee from Caffè Bruno, a small artisan roaster in North Beach. Bruno had perfected his craft in Calabria, roasting the traditional style of espresso Gary had come to appreciate while apprenticing in Milan during the early 1980s.
As the café grew, Gary began thinking seriously about roasting coffee himself. If the pastries, breads, gelato, and desserts at Rulli were all being produced in-house, why not roast the coffee too?
One customer suggested he contact Alfred Peet, founder and roast master of Peet’s Coffee. Though Peet had recently retired when Gary reached out, the two met and immediately connected through a shared attention to craftsmanship and the European approach to quality. By 1992, they began roasting together right here in Marin.
Around that same time, Gary was traveling regularly throughout Italy to source pastry equipment and furnishings for the café. Along the way, he visited neighborhood cafés and artisan coffee roasters across the country, asking questions about blends, roasting techniques, and espresso.
With that experience, Gary developed the espresso blend still served at Rulli today. When he told Alfred he planned to use Brazilian and Indian coffees at the core of the blend, Peet was skeptical, as those origins were not considered especially prestigious at the time. But Gary explained what he had experienced throughout Italy: those coffees were often responsible for the deep, caramelized, chocolate-like flavor found in traditional espresso. When Alfred eventually tasted the espresso himself, he was impressed.
More than thirty years later, the original blends they developed together remain unchanged, still roasted in small batches just minutes from our café in Larkspur.
