Do you want a cup of coffee?
Do you want a cup of coffee?
Italy has been known as the land of coffee, that dark and scented liquid that wakes you up and recharges you every moment during the day. There are 1000 ways to drink it: espresso, with hot, cold or steamed milk, shaken and even more.
This year also the most famous and fashionable American coffee chain called Sturbucks has opened its doors to the city of Milan in Italy and it is attracting thousands of people.
Coffee is drunk all over the world and there are a lot of different ways to call it and to drink it and many ingredients are added to make it more enjoyable.
Here below there is a “short” but “strong” view of all the kinds of coffee for the lovers, the travellers and the most curious people.
ITALY
In Italy there are a lot of ways to drink coffee: “espresso”, which is maybe the most famous all over the world, “macchiato” with the addition of milk (cold or hot), “lungo” for those who need something less strong, “cappuccino”, the most beloved by foreigners and “affogato” for the most gluttons.
Italian people drink it by standing up: they gathered together but they don’t spend hours by sitting in a café. Italy is also the country with the largest numbers of cafès.
Hot but not too much: the coffee temperature has not to be too high because Italian people drink it fast.
FRANCE
If you are seated down at a Café in France and you order a café, you will drink a watered coffee with a large cup. Coffee with milk is called “noisette”, and if you want cream instead of milk, it becomes a “café-crème”. The “café au lait” is the one you drink for breakfast and it looks like a cappuccino.
SPAIN
Coffee is a typical ingredient of the Spanish breakfast. In Spain you can find “café con leche” which it is made up with two doses of milk and a small quantity of coffee. The most gluttons can chose the “café bombón”, another variety of the previous one with the addition of creamy and sweet condensed milk. If you need a coffee with a little amount of milk, you have to order “café cortado” which it can’t to be mistaken for “café solo”, the real short coffee. Finally there is the “carajillo” a coffee with the addition of liquor. The “café con hielo” is a hot coffee served with two or three ice cubes put into another glass. At Valencia it is called “café del tiempo” and it is accompanied by a slice of lemon.
PORTUGAL
Portugal has a long tradition regarding coffee. It was thanks to the Portuguese colonists in Brazil at the beginning of the XIX century that the coffee began to be widespread all over the world.
The most well-known varieties are: “cimbalino”, a sort of long espresso and “galão”, which has three doses of milk with coffee and one of espresso. The shorter version of it is called garoto, meja de leite, a half of milk.
The major part of the coffee drunk today in Portugal comes from Brazil and here in 2001 it was created a stamp with the coffee aroma.
UK
In England the coffee is toasted in the coffee roasters or it is simply a soluble coffee poured in hot water into the mugs.
There are many stories about caife Gailege, better known as Irish coffee and there are still a lot of versions of the classic recipe: a glass of Irish whiskey, a cup of coffee, cane sugar or moscovado and a dose of fresh whipped cream. This sweet preparation was created in 1943 by Joe Sheridan, the chef of the Foynes restaurant, in the county of Limerick in Ireland. It was served to warm up the passengers of the transoceanic journeys. To those who asked him if it was a Brazilian coffee, he answered «No, it’s Irish coffee! ».
GERMANY
Following the USA, Germany is the greatest importer of coffee in the world.
The first cafe was opened in Hamburg, in the north of the country and it was considered as a revolutionary drink thanks to its revitalizing qualities. Nowadays German people drink a lot of coffee. It is called Bodenseh Kaffee: coffee (Kaffee) of which you can see (sehen) the bottom (Boden).
Among the tastiest, there are the Pharisäer a variety of Irish coffee: ¼ of coffee, a sugar cube and two doses of rum and whipped cream; or the cooler Eiskaffee, a long cold coffee with sugar, vanilla ice cream, and fresh whipped cream and chocolate drops.
SWEDEN
In Sweden there is a word “fika”, a verb which comes from “kaffi” and it means the word “coffee” in an ancient Swedish language. Its meaning is “to go out and drink a coffee” or “to have a break from work”. It is a very important moment for Swedish people, above all for the young couples with young children. They spend it in the bakeries (konditorier) of the city where you can find a fikabröd (sweet bread). There is another traditional way to drink coffee and it is called kaffeost, which means with cheese.
DENMARK
The 70% of Danish population drinks 3 or 4 cups of coffee every day. It is made thanks to the typical French coffee-maker called Stempelkande, the pressure coffee-maker which is the commonest way in Denmark to drink coffee.
The espresso is very popular in the streets and in the cafès. Danish people drink a mild Arabic blend.
MEXICO
Coffee is one of the most exported product and Mexican pleople are the leader of the sustainable coffee.
The café de olla is a traditional way to drink coffee in Mexico. It is prepared in a pot called olla. There is an infusion of coffee beans flavoured by cinnamon stick and sweetened with piloncillo. It is usually drunk hot and by the people who live in the coldest areas of the country.
AUSTRALIA – NEW ZEALAND
In the 1920s the cafès were banned in Australia and New Zealand because people thought it was a criminal beverage.
The flat white is a drink of coffee which came from Australia and it is widespread also in New Zealand. It is made by pouring steamed milk on a normal espresso or doubled coffee.
COLOMBIA
The National football team of Colombia is called “Los Cafeteros” because of the deep tradition of coffee in the country.
The “Eje Cafetero” is the Colombian coffee area and it is the place from which it comes all the coffee consumed by the entire population of the world.
Pay attention to tinto! The name is very explicative: it is a brown water with a flavour of coffee, hot and extremely sweet, that it is served along the streets.
