Once, I found myself meeting the smiling eyes of a local whilst ordering a cup of cappuccino at a local café in Venice. I thought it was a smile of appreciation for a tourist. I didn’t realize until later that it was the locals’ secret smile. The smile of someone who knows better… for someone who doesn’t know any better.
Coffee drinking in Italy has a number of rules about what to order and when to order. Social rules which are frequently broken by most tourists.
See, ONLY tourists drink cappuccino in the afternoon. Since it is milk based (hence, heavy for the stomach), one should only drink a cappuccino before 11am. Cappuccinos should never be ordered after a meal. Espressos, on the other hand, are completely different. You can drink it any time of the day, even after a meal.
If you want to drink coffee like the Italians, check this out…
To help the traveller choose the coffee, here are my tips: when you order a coffee or “caffé”, don’t expect a 20 oz. cup. “Caffé” is the equivalent of an “espresso”. You don’t even need to call it espresso – if you ask for a coffee, you’ll get an “espresso”. It is seriously strong and served in a tiny cup (a demitasse). The ristretto is an even tinier cup of coffee, but because it’s “stopped short” of a “Caffé”, it’s not as bitter. On the opposite, the caffé lungo is a tall caffé.
If you crave for coffee, you can order a “caffé doppio”, a double shot of coffee, or a “caffé americano”, which is basically a shot of coffee with more water added afterward so you have a bigger cup.
“Caffé macchiatto” or stained coffee is a coffee with a little bit of milk, while “caffé con panna” has cream on top instead of milk.
The “caffé latte” is quite popular amongst the tourists too. It’s a shot of coffee with a lot of steamed milk and topped with a little bit of foam. While people pleaser cappuccino is a coffee just topped with steamed milk without holding back the foam (tourists add cocoa on top).
Little known “Caffé coretto” has a little bit of alcohol (grappa, whisky for gentlemen, amaretto for the ladies, but you can choose what you want) in it.
Coffee is usually drunk on the spot without even sitting. You’ll see a lot of Italians in the morning on their way to work stopping at the bar for a quick fix. But even tiny bars have a couple of chairs, if you want to take your time.
If you are confused and don’t want the tsks tsks thrown your way, just go to the nearest tourist trap… there’s a 99% chance that the people inside would also be slowly sipping their hot cappuccinos at 4 in the afternoon.
