Italian Coffee Culture: A Guide for First-Time Visitors

 

Every person who has visited Italy will recall a moment. It is the very first occasion when you come to the bar, can hear the hiss of an espresso machine, can smell the roasted coffee beans in the air and you suddenly notice that coffee here is not just a beverage.

 

It is a rhythm. It is a break in the midst of a hectic morning or an instant burst of energy and then moving on to the day. This small ritual can be quite confusing the first time when you arrive in Italy, and when you grasp the idea, you start to feel that you are a part of something quite local.

The first one is that coffee in Italy is nearly always taken on the move at the counter. They enter the shop, shake hands with the barista, order a small cup of espresso, gulp and get out after enjoying it in some very relaxed sips. It is fast but never rushed.

 

No one expects to linger unless they please to, and the atmosphere is most marvellous and unpretentious. You can observe people wearing suits, learners with their notebooks, elderly men with the newspaper, all of them are having a simple moment.

 

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It is also a language on its own in ordering. An espresso is simply a caffe. A macchiato is an espresso with a little bit of foam. Only in the morning should a cappuccino be taken. It is not consumed by locals after lunchtime as it is deemed too heavy in the afternoons.

 

When you order one at four in the afternoon, nobody will give you a scolding, though he or she may look at you with a kind smile to indicate that you are doing something cute that is alien.

 

The Italian Coffee culture is the type which unites people. Bars represent a small convergence point of neighbors to see each other, where baristas know your order, where two minutes of your day can change your mood.