Mi café est non tu café: Specially curated information for coffee lovers
If you can’t get through a single day without coffee then this article is for you. Reading this, you might be thinking, I don’t need such information. I know where we get the best coffee in the society, even at different locations in the city. And the places you frequent might know exactly how you like your coffee. Even if you go to another city, you can just explain how you want your coffee made and they will do the needful. Now, let us assume you go to another country and you need to order it there. You might go to google translate and just say whatever your device tells you to. Now, that is where you might commit a huge mistake.
In Spain, if you say ‘un café’, you will be served black coffee, no questions asked.
In some cultures, regular coffee is typically coffee with milk. But in some others, like in Spain or Denmark, café or kaffe is black coffee. If you want your coffee with milk, you need to order cortado (half milk, half water) or café con leche (heavier on the milk).
In Denmark again, you might simple say “en kop kaffe” but they will serve you black coffee. So, if you want milk and sugar, you say “en kop kaffe med mælk og sukker”.
If you these these are complicated, I wonder what you will say when you read ahead.
In Italy, if you don’t want to sound like a complete idiot, you don’t just need to know how to ask for the coffee you want but also when is it socially acceptable to have that coffee. For starters, don’t order a coffee to go because most cafes in Italy are counter service and table seating only which people enjoy standing or sitting there itself. macchiatos are enjoyed as an afternoon pick me up and espressos Here, caffe is an espresso (black, one shot) and doppio is double but people usually prefer ordering twice rather than going for a double. These are usually had after dinner. Cappuccinos (equal parts espresso, milk foam, and milk) and caffe latte (one part espresso, two parts steamed milk, with a little milk foam on top) are to be enjoyed only before 11 AM, before breakfast or with breakfast. If you want a milky coffee drink that can be had all day, macchiato (espresso with a splash of milk) is your answer.
In France also, un cafe (also called un petit café, un café simple, un café noir, un petit noir, un café express, or un express) is black coffee or espresso. If you want a bigger cup of relatively weak coffee, you can order un café américain or un café filtre.
If you like the taste but not the strength of espresso, order un café allongé and you’ll get an espresso in a large cup which you can dilute with hot water.
On the other hand, if you’d like something even stronger than espresso, ask for un café serré.
· un café au lait, un café crème, un crème — espresso with hot milk (large cup)
· un cappuccino — espresso with foamed milk (large cup)
· un café noisette, une noisette — espresso with a dash of milk or a spoonful of foam (small cup)
You can dip croissants or baguettes in any of these, specially café crème which is served in a wide mug. But here again, coffee is enjoyed with milk or food only during breakfast. After lunch or dinner, they have espresso. And you preferably shouldn’t (or maybe wouldn’t at some plcaes) get a takeaway. If you are in a hurry, you can just have it standing.
In Netherlands, it’s essential to be familiar with various types: zwarte koffie (black coffee), koffie met melk (coffee with milk), koffie met melk en suiker (coffee with milk and sugar), and koffie verkeerd (incorrect coffee). The latter is particularly intriguing — it describes a coffee where there’s more milk than coffee, hence the term “incorrect coffee,” as it’s essentially milk with coffee. In addition to the basic coffee types, there are also coffee specialties, including espresso, dubbele espresso (double espresso), cappuccino, and latte macchiato.
In Ireland, filter coffee can be found only in specialized coffee shops and in other places you can get the americano. But there is one thing you must try here, “Irish Coffee” which is a yummy drink of hot coffee, whiskey, sugar, and cream.
In Ethiopia, where coffee first came from, they have special ceremonies for making and serving coffee. These ceremonies can take up to two hours. They call coffee “buna” there and have it with salt or butter instead of sugar.
In Greece, you can get hot or cold espresso and cappuccino, frappe (cold), nescafe (hot), elleniko café or Greek coffee (hot). For espresso and cappuccino, you need to say freddo if you want it cold. To order any type of coffee, you specify how you want it: plain (sketo), sweet (gliko), or somewhere in between (metrio). For example, if you want a cold espresso with a little sugar, you’d say: “Freddo espresso metrio.”
In Mexico, apart from the usual coffee types you can get a café de olla, which is coffee brewed in earthenware pots with cinnamon sticks, which gives a different flavour enhancing effect to the coffee according to many.
In Turkey, there is a proveb which goes like this,
Coffee should be “as black as hell, as strong as death and as sweet as love.”
Here, you will be served coffee after meal from a copper container called cezve. And don’t look confused at the cubes in shades of white, orange, pink and don’t try to dissolve them in your coffee. They are Turkish chewy candies which are relished with coffee.
Sources:
https://www.travelchannel.com/interests/food-and-drink/photos/coffee-culture-around-the-world
https://www.thoughtco.com/ordering-coffee-in-france-1371160
https://www.foodandwine.com/travel/restaurants/how-order-coffee-in-italy-without-sounding-idiot
