And here we are again writing one of those “Barcelona stories” that we really enjoy to share. This time we went to explore the story behind the most iconic Catalan cookies “Birba”, so we met with Júlia and Ana at the Birba showroom in Barcelona.

Right from the very moment we walked into the showroom, we could feel that delicious cookie fragrance everywhere. But why are these cookies so special? (You might be wondering…). Okay, let’s start from the beginning…

Iconic Catalan cookies with more than a century of history

In 1893, the Birba family started a small grocery business in Camprodon. And this town might ring a bell, since we went to visit that area not long ago: the Camprodon valley. One of the most beautiful towns in the oriental region of the Pyrenees. 

Why is the location that important in this story? Because due to its climate and natural environment, this wonderful town became over the years one of the favorite summer destinations for many Barcelona residents. 

People were amazed by such delicious cookies and, as time went by, local people and frequent visitors got to make the Birba business prosperous. Birba cookies became known by many people in the country. 

Does the picture drawn on the box ring a bell?

Best part: after more than a century they Birba cookies are still made in Camprodon

On our latest trip to Camprodon, while strolling the streets of the town, we could see a common denominator among all of the shops: they had some boxes of Birba cookies displayed in their shop windows. We shared with Júlia and Ana this anecdote, and they told us something quite relevant in this story: the factory is still based in Camprodon, so the employees are basically people from the Camprodon area.

The new factory was built in 2008 in Camprodon as well (colònia Estabanell), and since then the cookies have been made at these new facilities, but still using the old ovens:

Traditional values are still preserved

This is one of our favorite parts. Birba has managed to preserve its essence: “Over more than a century since we started to make these cookies, and we have not changed the way we make them. We can proudly say that we dedicate to each cookie the time it deserves”, Júlia explains. And she illustrates that idea with through some of these examples:

• We make these cookies with fresh eggs cracked by hand one by one, which come from farms in Girona province.
• The almonds are shelled sweet almonds from Catalonia, Valencia and the Balearic Islands. They use diverse local almond types (Llargueta, Comunes, Soleta, Ferraduel, etc.) and sizes. And each almond is placed on the cookies manually.

So even though Birba has grown as a company, it has managed to preserve the manual procedures.

With a showroom in Barcelona

You can easily find Birba cookies in many supermarkets in Barcelona, as well as in many local shops. But if you are looking for a specific variety, there is this place where you will find it for sure: the Birba showroom in Barcelona. Right from the moment you get into this place, you can feel that delicious cookie fragrance!

Showroom address:

Sabino Arana, 58 (Barcelona)

And after having explored the story behind these iconic Catalan cookies we go back to the question in the beginning: “Why are Birba cookies so special? Well, not only because they have more than a century of history, but also because many years later, they still can be found in many kitchen cabinets in the country. And that says it all ;-)