Domenico Carella

Domenico Carella was born in 1984 in Bernalda, a Lucanian village of around 10,000 inhabitants, and is originally from Lucania (Basilicata), a somewhat isolated region of southern Italy. He started cooking at eleven, driven by a childhood passion for hospitality. That passion was sparked as a teenager when he organized his brother's eighteenth birthday party at the family's country house. At sixteen he opened his first bar in the family's summer farmhouse; a February 2023 account describes a countryside kiosk he ran with his brother Francesco, serving cocktails and sandwiches. In the September 2025 Juice podcast, Carella said his father gave him a kiosk to run at fifteen or sixteen, and that it grew into a bar, a pizzeria and a family agritourism business run by his brother.^[1],[2],[3]

He describes his culinary and hospitality education as entirely self-taught, preferring self-directed learning to formal instruction, and began as a self-taught bartender. His only formal bartending course was taken at Planet One in Bari. He worked as a chef and pizza maker until the age of 25, when he discovered he was gluten intolerant and moved into the bar world.^[3],[4]

Carella co-founded and developed Senso Farm in Basilicata together with his father and brother, the estate that grew out of the family's country house in Metaponto. Its scale is given differently across accounts: a January 2021 interview describes a 10-hectare farmhouse, while a March 2023 interview describes a 15-hectare agritourism, banquet hall and drive-in estate. He left Senso Farm to his brother in 2014 to pursue career stimuli abroad.^[2],[5]

Carella is a founder of AKA Teas, the kombucha producer he started in 2022 together with his wife Elisa Isidora Manservisi. AKA's kombuchas are released under the names Fig Leaves, Genmaicha, Jasmine and Lapsang Souchong. He launched AKA's kombucha line as a Christmas product.^[6]

His stated approach to drinks is gastronomic: he designs beverage creations intended to pair harmoniously with cuisine, and sometimes works in the opposite direction, shaping a dish around a drink. He designs his cocktails to be deliberately not challenging, giving each drink lightness through moderate alcohol content and a restrained use of sugars and acids.^[2],[4]

Carella works as a Food and Beverage consultant for hotels, restaurants and chefs, among them Mauro Colagreco, Himanshu Saini, Marco Ambrosino and Ana Roš. He has also collaborated with brands including Langosteria and Aimo e Nadia.^[4],[7]

Mirazur. For Mirazur, the three-Michelin-star restaurant in Menton led by Mauro Colagreco, Carella created a non-alcoholic pairing built around the theme of shiso. The dish 'Sanremo prawns, pear and fermented shiso' was matched with a drink of shiso and green apple cordial, banana water and hibiscus.^[8]

Trèsind Studio. For Trèsind Studio in Dubai he created 'Green Karma', a drink made from Northern Indian apples, cucumber, toasted sesame oil and mezcal, matched with the dish 'Mushroom Noodles'.^[8]