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capuccino!
Visitor
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Italy-- The Empire Rules Again! - 2008/02/04 14:55
Haven't any of you baristas,afficcionados,connoisseurs wondered what espresso and cappuccino is like in the birthplace of it all?
I would love to go to Italy on a corner cafe and sip a short espresso and a cappuccino!
I love almost everything Italian including the food!
Germany too!
But...
What really is a cappuccino or espresso like in Italy!
Visiting Little Italy in Toronto does not necessarily provide answers.
But today in a small, quaint and eclectic cafe I discovered a Barista who has been to Italy just to try
their coffee. He also has won international barista competitions.He told me that there is less foam in the Italian cappuccino and he refers to it as "wet" cappuccino. I have been trying these wet cappuccinos and have already made them prior to meeting him on my
Silvia without realizing it!They are fabulous! And naturally all of them have a desigh on the top.
He told me that foam is a Nort American obsession not an Itaian one with regards to the cappuccino.
Then we discussed his Elektra espresso machine which is obviuously an Italian machine like the Gaggia and Silvia. However the Gaggias and Silvias are from Milan.
He also mentioned that there espresso is stronger or has more flavour I can't remember which.
Food for thought!
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colin
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Re:Italy-- The Empire Rules Again! - 2008/02/04 15:02
I think you should head down to Every Day Gourmet Coffee and introduce yourself... if you have not been there yet. I am sure Sara would love to meet a Toronto coffee enthusiast.
Colin is the Senior editor and creator of the CoffeeCrew.Com Website |
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cappuccino1
Visitor
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Re:Italy-- The Empire Rules Again! - 2008/02/04 15:17
Sorry for the typos- not paying close enough attention and typing too fast.
Will spare a visit to Everyday Gourmet.
As mentioned the barista I met said that there is less foam in an Italian cappuccino. Visits to Little Italy in Toronto proved that the North American cappuccino i.e. more foam is quite prevalent. My Barista acquaintance mentioned that the Italian espresso is "stronger" or I cannot rememeber his exact words.
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colin
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Re:Italy-- The Empire Rules Again! - 2008/02/04 15:37
Stronger is a word that is not really in the barista's vocabulary -- in the World of espresso there is no such thing as "strong" or "weak"...
It is a double or nothing World in Espresso my friend.
There are a wide variety of variances between drinks in North America versus Europe...
and I pretty much blame Starbucks for their attempts at high-jacking the coffee lexicon.
Colin is the Senior editor and creator of the CoffeeCrew.Com Website |
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cappuccino1
Visitor
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Re:Italy-- The Empire Rules Again! - 2008/02/04 20:27
I apologize for using the term stronger. I think I misquoted the barista- he did change the word strong to something else but I cannot recall. However I have found that the Italian type of cappuccino is quite nice-I have heard from more than one person who visited Italy that the Italians use less foam in their cappuccinos. The barista I talked who had been to Italy mentioned that this was also the case because they like to dip their biscotti in the cappuccino.
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colin
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Re:Italy-- The Empire Rules Again! - 2008/02/04 20:33
Not your fault - the term is used widely... but is misleading and generally pointless.
Sort of like the people I run into that use terms like: "Coffee that is too strong..."
It can be over-extracted or under-extracted...
but there is no such thing as coffee that is too strong.
Colin is the Senior editor and creator of the CoffeeCrew.Com Website |
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javatone
User
Coffee Lover
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Re:Italy-- The Empire Rules Again! - 2008/09/26 22:37
I was fortunate to spend a few weeks in Italy recently.
The coffee and the coffee culture are both wonderful.
Even the seediest and most unassuming lttle joints seem incapable of making a bad cup of coffee. Tiny espresso shots are most often what the "locals" seem to prefer---usually spiked with large lumps of sugar. No paper cups!! No BIG North American style "grandes"...just beautiful little china cups of espresso or cappucino,or..... served up at the bar or at a little table and always at a reasonable price ( well you pay in Euros!!!...so it seems reasonable) AND important to me anyway, since I enjoy cappucino--always with real milk, unlike some other European countries who seem to have an unhealthy fascination with quasi-milk--the kind that lasts forever on the grocery store shelf without refrigeration BUT always tastes kind of funny.
Bravo Italia!
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