How the Italians drink coffee

We live in a caffeine driven world, we all love to drink coffee, but the way in which we as a society drink our coffee is as distinctive as language.

In Canada we like to clutch our mug or paper cup in one hand, bag and briefcase in another as we march into work. Sipping coffee through a plastic lid is not particularly easy whilst walking quickly, so we are thankful for the red hand at the crosswalk as a chance to imbibe or more usually the coffee is escorted carefully to our workplace where we sit at our desk and hope that our beverage has not become lukewarm.

In Italy no-one carries their coffee around the streets. The Italians take so much care in dressing exquisitely the logo'd paper cup does not seem fitting, and poses considerable risk of spillage on Armani suits. Besides the Italians are a gregarious people, they cannot drink their coffee in solitary confinement at a desk, they must meet and drink coffee together, just as every meal must be taken in company, the long lunch hour, the large family gathering at dinner, the flirtatious mingling at a bar; Why should breakfast be an exception to the rule?

The Italian home may be equipped with a kitchen but in reality it is rarely used because it is actually cheaper to eat out for every meal in Italy than to shop and prepare your own food for yourself and your family. That has led to one of the most sociable and sophisticated cultural structures in Europe.

Breakfast at home in Italy comprises of coffee prepared on a gas stove using a pot that has cold water in the bottom, a small sieve in the middle containing the coffee and an empty compartment at the top which fills with coffee as the heat of the water is steam filtered upwards under high pressure. This is accompanied by a piece of cake, usually a plain sponge cake without cream or filling. For the Italians this will suffice as nourishment until 1:00pm, for anyone else this sugar/caffeine combo induces a savage hunger that is only satiated by binge eating the whole cake prior to 9:00 in the morning.

But most Italians leave their kitchen in a sparkling condition in the morning because for 3euros ($4:50CA) they will purchase their breakfast out and not have to wash up a single plate or cup. Even when an Italian does unexpectedly eat at home he/she will stilll feel compelled to purchase an espresso out, because to do otherwise is anti-social, like missing a step, the Italian version of getting out of bed on the wrong side.

The Canadian coffee shop regards the decor of it's premises of vital importance in retaining a regular client base, there is an all-important branding issue. In Italy everything is annoymous, no logos on the cups, no logos on the wall, most of the time not even a name on the premises, just a battered sign saying Bar. Why Bar? Because in Italy there are no coffee shops there are only bars, places where in the day you can purchase pannini and in the evening you can purchase Spumante Campari and the full range of alcoholic drinks.

Consider the poor tired bar owner, he closes his bar about 4:00am and he opens again at 5:00 am to serve coffee. Who knows of a Canadian coffe shop that opens at 5:00am? The Italian bars in the cold early morning light are utilitarian in their decor, whitewashed walls, unadorned tables, and empty chairs. The Italians do not sit down to drink their coffee their gather around the bar in shifting bubbles of conservation and mingling.

There are no line-ups. As you enter the door of the bar, if you are a regular and nearly everyone is, you catch the eye of the barman, by the time you have walked across to the counter, the drink of your choice is waiting in a white or blue china cup and saucer and placed on a paper coaster.

If you are not a regular, a slight nod as you enter indicates that you wish to order an espresso.
An espresso in Italy costs 1Euro the equivalent of $1.50Canadian. Anyone in Italy who dares to price their espresso at say 1Euro 50 invites that Italian signal of condemnation, the sucking in of breath through the front teeth, shortly followed by a mass exodus of clientele. The espresso is how grown-ups in Italy take coffee, sometimes a double shot, sometimes with a spot of cream, sometime accompanied by a small shot of vodka or other spirit. Even the Italian police will take a shot with their coffee in the morning whilst dressed in their Carabinieri uniform and no-one blinks an eye.

At the bar you will see 10 cups of espresso lined up and maybe one cappuccino. The drink that the rest of the world regards as intrinsically Italian, the cappuccino, is considered a child's or a woman's drink in Italy, for those weak souls who need the calcium. I'm not sure what the Italians would make of squirting caramel sauce on the top of a drink but definitely they would not define that creation as either a latte or a cappuccino.

In Canada we cannot imagine lasting until lunchtime without eating but in Italy it is the norm to dispense with food in favour of the espresso. However for those who wish to eat, at the counter of every bar there is a plastic case containing two heated plates gently warming a collection of Italian style croissant called Brioche. The french Croissant is doughy and yeasty but as you cross the border into Italy it transforms into the brioche a more flaky and crumbly pastry that must be eaten the same morning that it is baked and is at it's most heavenly when slightly warmed. The French dip their croissant in coffee, there is no dipping in Italy, after all who can fit a brioche in an espresso cup? You can choose from brioche vuota - empty, con marmellata, with marmalade, albicocca - apricot jam or cioccolato. If you want to try these delicious sweet concoctions for breakfast you cannot keep tourist hours, by 8:00 the container will be empty. Each brioche is wrapped in a paper serviette and eaten standing up. Italian bars open at 5:00 and by 8:00 the morning trade is pretty much done, all that is left is a scattering of brioche flakes on the floor.

How long does your breakfast last in Italy? Between 2-5 minutes. Any excess time is spent chatting. This is where you meet your colleagues, not at the office, but the bar next door and this is where you bond. What a convivial way of starting the day. If you want to see how Italians think and how Italy works drink coffee with them. But what about us, what do are coffee-drinking habits say about us Canadians?