{"id":2882,"date":"2013-02-01T13:11:09","date_gmt":"2013-02-01T13:11:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/?p=2882"},"modified":"2013-02-01T13:59:42","modified_gmt":"2013-02-01T13:59:42","slug":"the-language-of-coffee-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/the-language-of-coffee-2\/","title":{"rendered":"The Language of Coffee"},"content":{"rendered":"

Today, our guest blogger Ambra Sancin is going to tell us a bit about what il caff\u00e8<\/strong> means to her as an Italian who has grown up in Australia. But first, a quick bio:<\/font><\/p>\n

Ambra is a Sydney-based arts project manager in the cultural\/not-for-profit sector and specialise in communications, marketing and producing public programs for festivals and government agencies. Born in Trieste, Italy but whisked away to Australia as a baby, she has a special interest in working with diverse cultural and linguistic audiences, especially the Italian community. She professes to have catholic tastes and will foist her interests on you in her blog <\/font>\u2018The Good, the Bad and the Italian\u2019<\/em><\/font><\/a>:  films, food, felines, design, musical theatre and all things Italian. <\/font><\/p>\n

The Language of Coffee<\/strong><\/font><\/p>\n

Coffee means different things to different people: it\u2019s enjoyed strong, weak, black, white, long, short. It\u2019s then consumed in caf\u00e9s, at home, in the office or lately – on the run from a disposable cup.<\/font><\/p>\n

The last approach interests me as I see it increasingly in Australia, and judging from media images, elsewhere too. People dash madly to their destination sipping on huge tubs of coffee through plastic lids. The one exception is Italy \u2013 for now. A well-known US global coffee chain is threatening to tamper with this tradition by conquering Italy with its take-out culture, but to date has no presence in the country that inspired its founding. <\/font><\/p>\n

Granted, it\u2019s usual for Italians to drink their morning or mid-afternoon coffee standing at the caf\u00e9 counter rather than at a table, but this ritual is accompanied by a chat with friends or colleagues and the coffee is served in good ceramic cups.<\/font><\/p>\n

These changing habits got me thinking about the way my family enjoyed coffee in Australia after their post-war migration from Italy. I remember my parents\u2019 friends visiting semi-regularly on weekend afternoons for a strong caff\u00e8, biscotti and a liqueur such as Marsala <\/i>or Grappa<\/i>. <\/font><\/p>\n

I tried this a few years ago for a special birthday – with mixed success. I invited friends around on a Saturday afternoon and served birthday cake, coffee and some Prosecco<\/i> for a \u2018brindisi\u2019<\/strong> (celebratory toast). Sadly, some friends couldn\u2019t grasp the idea of a mid-afternoon soiree. Others didn\u2019t like sparkling wine, so brought their own beer instead. BEER! <\/font><\/p>\n

\"caffespecchi\"<\/a><\/font><\/a><\/p>\n

\"caffe-degli-specchi\"<\/a><\/font><\/a><\/p>\n

Sopra: Il Famoso Caff\u00e8 degli Specchi in Piazza Unit\u00e0 d\u2019Italia a Trieste<\/font><\/em><\/p>\n

Now, I have to declare an interest. I was born in Trieste, the Mediterranean\u2019s main coffee port. The north-eastern city is the undisputed coffee-roasting capital of the world and is home to the internationally renowned Illy<\/strong><\/i> brand. I also have to declare how puzzling its coffee terminology can be for a tourist. Trieste has its own coffee language and as I discovered when I re-visited as an adult in the early 1980s, things are not what they seem in relation to caffeinated Italy. Beware of ordering a \u2018cappuccino\u2019 in one of the city\u2019s historic cafes as you won\u2019t get what you\u2019re expecting, as outlined below*<\/b><\/font><\/font><\/p>\n

\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Trieste e provincia<\/font><\/b><\/td>\nResto d’Italia<\/font><\/b><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Nero<\/strong><\/font><\/td>\nCaff\u00e8 espresso<\/strong><\/font><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Capo (cappuccino)<\/strong><\/font><\/td>\nCaff\u00e8 macchiato<\/strong><\/font><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Capo in b<\/strong><\/font><\/td>\nCaff\u00e8 macchiato in bicchiere anzich\u00e9 nella tazzina<\/strong><\/font><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Caffelatte<\/strong><\/font><\/td>\nCappuccino<\/strong><\/font><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Deca<\/strong><\/font><\/td>\nCaff\u00e8 decaffeinato<\/strong><\/font><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Gociado (abbr. Goci\u00e0)<\/strong><\/font><\/td>\nCaff\u00e8 con goccia di schiuma di latte<\/strong><\/font><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table><\/div>\n

And this doesn\u2019t even touch on the \u2018capo in b tanta\u2019<\/b> (espresso with a drop of hot frothy milk, served in a glass) and \u2018capo in b tanta special<\/b>\u2019 (espresso with a drop of hot frothy milk, served in a glass, with a dusting of chocolate powder).<\/font><\/p>\n

I\u2019m not sure if other Italian cities have also developed their own secret language for coffee ordering, but it might pay to do some research before travelling lest you end up with a milky drink after your meal. And that\u2019s a real no-no in Italy.<\/font><\/p>\n

*Table of coffee terms courtesy of <\/i>Nicola Soranzo<\/i><\/font><\/font><\/p>\n

By the same author: \u2018Trieste and the Meaning of Coffee\u2019<\/font><\/a> <\/font><\/i><\/font><\/font><\/p>\n

<\/font><\/p>\n

<\/font><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\"\"

Today, our guest blogger Ambra Sancin is going to tell us a bit about what il caff\u00e8 means to her as an Italian who has grown up in Australia. But first, a quick bio: Ambra is a Sydney-based arts project manager in the cultural\/not-for-profit sector and specialise in communications, marketing and producing public programs for…<\/p>\n

Continue Reading<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":90,"featured_media":2923,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[229261,229260,229262],"class_list":["post-2882","post","type-post","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-culture","tag-caffe-trieste","tag-illy-caffe","tag-italian-coffee-trieste"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2882","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/90"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2882"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2882\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3025,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2882\/revisions\/3025"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2923"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2882"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2882"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2882"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}