Europe travel guides – Top 10 Italian coffee variants

I love coffee. I always love to taste different types of local coffee in every country that I travel to. But if you ask me where to get the best freshly brewed coffee, I must say it is, “Italy!”. Italian loves coffee and they brew one of the best coffee in the world. When I visited Italy last year, I couldn’t resist but had coffees every day, included those whiles when I needed to stand at the bar to save my limited budget (drink coffee without sitting saved me half of the listed price in Italy). There are so many variants of brewed coffee selling in Italy. Which one do you know or is your favourite?

Those most common varieties of Italian coffee which you will see in every cafe’s menu are Cappucino, Americano, latte and Espresso. How about other less common variants you couldn’t get it elsewhere except in Italy? Off course those coffee varieties listed in the menu are always in Italian. So for those non regular coffee drinkers but wish to try a cup or two in one of the Italian cafe, here are some guides on the coffee languages you should learn before you can choose to order, with explanations in English: –

1. Caffè – simple. It’s brewed coffee;
2. Espresso – Normally served in small little cup of 30ml or 1 oz, Espresso is concentrated coffee brewed by pressurised hot water which extracts more essence from ground Arabica coffee beans;
3. Americano – One or 2 shots of espresso and added in more hot water to make it a normal sized cup;
4. Cappucino – Espresso mixed with equal portion of hot milk and steamed milk foam;
   
5. Corretto – One shot of Espresso mixed or “corrected” with a shot of liquor, normally Grappa or sometimes Brandy;
6. Shakerato – Combining a shot of espresso, a bit of sugar, and lots of ice, shaking the whole deal vigorously until a froth foam to become caffee Shakerato;
7. Caffelatte – It is different from latte (which the Italian refer it as milk). When you wish to order a milk coffee in Italy, make sure you order for caffelatte. It’s my personal favorite. 🙂
8. Caffe Doppio – We call it Double Espresso in Malaysia, which is an Espresso of 2 shots;
9. Macchiato – Similar to Caffelatte, but mixed with less hot milk, and
10. Caffe D’orzo – It’s not actually coffee but a substitute of coffee brewed with roasted barley.

These are Italian version in Italian language. Some of them might be called differently in other parts of the world but for genuine taste of Italian coffee, it’s always best to taste it in Italy! 🙂 – Travel Feeder, your ultimate photo travel guide to Europe

About The Author

Cecil Lee

The author is an avid traveler and photography hobbyist who loves to share with others his travel and photo-taking experience in many popular tourist destinations around Europe, Asia and Australasia. Read the exciting stories with many photos captured on his journeys.