Italian coffee shop in Warwick named as finalist for three national awards - including best tiramisu in the UK

The Happy Puccia coffee shop in Smith Street has been providing a taste of Italy to the community in Warwick for nearly eight years.

Described as “the one and only Apulian Bistrot in Warwick”, Happy Puccia serves Italian coffee, pasticciotto pastries, puccia sandwiches as well as more southern Italian items.

The coffee shop, which has become a firm favourite with residents and visitors alike, is run by husband and wife team Luigi Mongelli, also known as Gigi and Giusy Gigante.

The Happy Puccia has been named as finalists for three awards in the UK Italian Awards 2026 in the Best Café, Best Barista and Best Tiramisu categories.

Gigi and Giusy said: “We’ve been living in Warwick for 11 years now, and we’ve been on Smith Street for almost eight with Happy Puccia.

"We specialise in sandwiches and traditional desserts from our home region, Puglia, in the south of Italy.

“We’re extremely proud of this multiple nomination.

"It feels like recognition for all the sacrifices and hard work that go into running a small independent business, while keeping quality high and offering something truly unique to our customers.

“This isn’t our first time as finalists.

"In 2024 we reached the finals in the categories Best Café and Best Family Business.

"Unfortunately, we didn’t win any awards on that occasion, but it was still a great achievement for us.”

Speaking about their tiramisu, they said: “Tiramisu is one of the best-known Italian desserts: it uses simple, easy-to-find ingredients, it doesn’t require baking and it lends itself to many variations.

“The classic version includes eggs, sugar, savoiardi biscuits, mascarpone, coffee and cocoa powder. While there are many variations, we strictly follow the original recipe.

"It has always been part of our menu.

"We follow the traditional recipe, but we serve an alcohol-free version so that it can be enjoyed safely by children as well.”

The coffee shop has attracted much attention online since the finalists were announced for the awards – especially when it came to their tiramisu.

Giusy said: “It has been busy since the publicity online.

"More people came in asking for the tiramisu and we didn’t know why at first we were suddenly selling more.

"We kept running out and I had to keep making more and we had no idea why until someone showed us an online story about it.

"Now we’re ready and prepared for more orders.”

This will be the ninth year that the UK branch of the awards have taken place, and the finals will be held on Monday, March 30 in London.

Gigi added: “On Sunday (March 22), we had the judges from the competition visiting us, and we hope we managed to leave a good impression on them as well.

“We’ll be in London for the gala ceremony – and of course, we hope to bring something home this time.

"We’re very proud of the work we do, and any recognition would be a wonderful reward for the effort we put in every day.”