Walk past a café in Athens in July and the glasses on the tables are tall, iced and topped with foam. For decades that meant a frappé. These days it's more likely to be a freddo espresso, or a freddo cappuccino with a thick cap of cold milk foam. Few countries take iced coffee as seriously as Greece. The Frappé, an Accident at a Trade Fair The story goes that the frappé was … [Read more...] about Greek Freddo Espresso: How Iced Espresso Took Over From the 1957 Frappé
Coffee Culture
How to Order Coffee in Spain: Solo, Cortado, Manchado and the Canary Islands Barraquito
Spanish bars run on a short list of coffee words. Learn a handful and you can get exactly the cup you want in any bar from A Coruña to Cádiz. The cortado sits between the black coffee and the milky breakfast one, and it's what a lot of people order after lunch. The Basic Words Un solo: an espresso, black. Un cortado: an espresso cut with a little warm milk, in a small cup … [Read more...] about How to Order Coffee in Spain: Solo, Cortado, Manchado and the Canary Islands Barraquito
Portuguese Coffee Orders: Bica, Pingado, Garoto and Galão at the Lisbon Counter
In Portugal the cortado mostly goes by other names. There's a whole ladder of small coffees with milk, each with its own word, and people use all of them. Learn the ladder and you can order the exact drink a cortado fan wants at any counter in Lisbon. Start With the Bica Ask for um café anywhere in Portugal and you'll get an espresso. In Lisbon people call it uma bica. In … [Read more...] about Portuguese Coffee Orders: Bica, Pingado, Garoto and Galão at the Lisbon Counter
Cuban Cortadito: Sugared Espresso and Evaporated Milk at Miami’s Coffee Windows
The cortadito is the Cuban cortado, and it's sweet on purpose. A Spanish cortado is espresso and warm milk. A cortadito starts with café cubano, strong espresso from a dark roast that's sugared as it brews, and then gets its milk, often evaporated. The Espumita Everything depends on the espumita, the pale, sugary foam that sits on top of Cuban coffee. To make it, you catch the … [Read more...] about Cuban Cortadito: Sugared Espresso and Evaporated Milk at Miami’s Coffee Windows
Ethiopian Coffee Ceremony: Green Beans Roasted at the Table and Three Rounds of Buna
In Ethiopia, coffee isn't something you grab on the way out. It's an event. The coffee ceremony, jebena buna, starts with raw green beans and ends, an hour or more later, with a third cup nobody is meant to skip. It happens in homes every day, and it's how guests are welcomed. There's a saying for how central it is: buna dabo naw, "coffee is our bread." Buna is Amharic for … [Read more...] about Ethiopian Coffee Ceremony: Green Beans Roasted at the Table and Three Rounds of Buna
What Is a Cortado: Espresso and Warm Milk in Roughly Equal Parts
A cortado is a shot of espresso cut with about the same amount of warm milk. That's the drink. It comes in a small glass or cup, usually around 4 ounces (120 ml or so), and it tastes of coffee first and milk second. The name is Spanish. Cortar means to cut, and cortado means cut: the milk cuts the espresso, softening its acidity and bitterness without burying it. In Spain it's … [Read more...] about What Is a Cortado: Espresso and Warm Milk in Roughly Equal Parts