In a Naples bar the glass of water often lands on the counter before the coffee does. In a Brussels café the extra is a biscuit in a red wrapper, sitting next to your cup. Neither one costs you anything, and neither one is an accident. What comes with a coffee is one of those small things that tells you where you are. Some of these extras are old habits of hospitality. Others … [Read more...] about Why Your Espresso Comes With a Glass of Water or a Biscuit
Italy
Arabica vs Robusta: Why Italian Espresso Blends Still Use the Cheaper, Stronger Bean
Nearly all the coffee in the world comes from two species: Coffea arabica and Coffea canephora, better known as robusta. Specialty coffee has spent decades teaching people that arabica is the good one. The truth is messier, and Italian espresso bars have known it all along. Two Very Different Plants Arabica is a natural cross between robusta and another species, … [Read more...] about Arabica vs Robusta: Why Italian Espresso Blends Still Use the Cheaper, Stronger Bean
Bialetti Brikka: The Moka Pot With a Pressure Valve Makes a Stronger, Foamier Cup for Milk
As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. The classic Moka Express lets coffee trickle up into the top chamber as soon as there's enough steam pressure to push it. The Brikka holds it back. A valve on top of the column stays shut until the pressure builds, then the coffee comes out in one quick, foamy rush. The result is shorter, stronger and topped with a … [Read more...] about Bialetti Brikka: The Moka Pot With a Pressure Valve Makes a Stronger, Foamier Cup for Milk
Italian Espresso Bar Rules: The €1.29 Counter Espresso and the Morning-Only Cappuccino
Italy drinks its coffee standing up. Walk into any bar at eight in the morning and you'll see a row of people at the counter, each with a small cup and a quick word for the barista, and then they're gone. The country has about 140,000 bars, and between them they pour something like 6 billion espressos a year. Nobody writes the rules down, but almost everyone follows them. … [Read more...] about Italian Espresso Bar Rules: The €1.29 Counter Espresso and the Morning-Only Cappuccino
Cortado vs Macchiato: A Dab of Foam Against an Equal Measure of Milk
The two get mixed up because both are small espresso drinks with a little milk, and cafés don't always agree on what either word means. The short version: a macchiato is espresso with a spoonful of foam, and a cortado is espresso with about as much warm milk as coffee. One is marked. The other is cut. What Macchiato Means Macchiato is Italian for stained or marked. A … [Read more...] about Cortado vs Macchiato: A Dab of Foam Against an Equal Measure of Milk
Naples’ Caffè Sospeso: The Coffee You Pay For and Leave Behind for a Stranger
In some Naples bars, a customer will pay for two coffees and drink one. The second is a caffè sospeso, a suspended coffee. It waits on the bar's tab until someone who can't afford a coffee comes in and asks whether there's a sospeso. If there is, they get it free. Nobody knows who paid, and nobody asks. Where It Comes From The custom grew up in the working-class cafés of … [Read more...] about Naples’ Caffè Sospeso: The Coffee You Pay For and Leave Behind for a Stranger
Bialetti Moka Express: The 1933 Stovetop Pot Brews at About 1.5 Bar, Not Espresso’s 9
As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. Alfonso Bialetti designed the Moka Express in 1933, an octagonal aluminium pot. The little moustached man on the side came later, in the 1950s. The pot has been on Italian stoves ever since. Ask an Italian how they make coffee at home and the answer, more often than not, is the moka. It's also the most misnamed coffee … [Read more...] about Bialetti Moka Express: The 1933 Stovetop Pot Brews at About 1.5 Bar, Not Espresso’s 9