How to drink Espresso the Italian way

In the Italian city of Trieste, coffee holds a special status. It’s home to the Mediterranean’s biggest coffee port and hosts one of Italy’s biggest coffee brands. Some coffee varieties have very special names here and locals are known to drink copious amounts of coffee and follow a certain etiquette when consuming this beloved drink. Euromaxx reporter Meggin Leigh met barista and coffee sommelier Marco Bazzara to learn what makes a good espresso and how to drink it.

CHAPTERS
00:00 Intro
00:16 Espresso Do’s & Don’ts
01:52 Coffee culture in Trieste
02:46 What makes good espresso
03:59 Outro

CREDITS
Report: Meggin Leigh
Camera: Riccardo Dussi
Edit: Carolin Haberland
Supervising editor: Ruben Kalus

#espresso #coffee #italy

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This is how a lot of people start their day…   …with a hot cup of coffee.  But are you doing it right? Oh Please, stop! No! Please stop, stop! Ah, what are you doing? Why are  you adding some sugar in your cup? No, please stop!

I’m here in Trieste, Italy, the unofficial  capital of espresso. We want to find out the do’s and don’ts of Italian coffee culture, how to make the perfect espresso and what makes Trieste   such a unique place for coffee lovers.

This is Marco Bazzara. He’s a master roaster and coffee expert, and my teacher today in all things espresso. Tell me the biggest mistakes, the common  mistakes, people make with espresso? The biggest mistake is the pronunciation.  What’s another common mistake? The second one is the way we drink coffee.

You can drink it slowly or maybe you can slurp just a bit of liquid on your tongue. Oh, ok. That is the technician way to  find the quality of coffee. Oh it’s strong! Ah what are you doing? Why are you  adding some sugar in your cup?

The problem is that you change the aroma’s perception. What do I do if I want something a little lighter? You can take a cappuccino. Why not? This is a very small cappuccino.  This isn’t what I’m used to. In Trieste we are used to drinking cappuccino like  this one. So in a small cup.

The main goal is to  perceive the cream as velvety as you can and the full-body perception. Let’s have a try! That’s a bit lighter. The sweeter it is, the better it will be. It’s said that the residents of Trieste  drink an average of about 1500 cups of  

Coffee per year. That’s twice the national  average. Trieste is the Mediterranean’s   main coffee port and a hub for the  coffee industry. In the city center,   there’s a cafe a on every corner and most  locals can’t imagine a day without their coffee.

I like my coffee cold in the summer because  I can’t live without coffee. So in summer,   I have to drink it cold. Like  this one, Caffè Shakerato. I like espresso, the normal one. I’m  a student so I need a lot of coffee.

The way I enjoy my coffee is a Capo  in B which is basically our version   of a macchiato which is served in a small wine  glass. It’s just traditional of the territory. When it comes to the roasting process, picking  the right beans is essential for a good espresso.

What are we looking for in a good espresso bean? We are looking for the good color. When we roast  our coffee, we need to use a light medium profile.   Because only using this kind of profile we  can enhance all the aromas inside the bean. What kind of bean is this for espresso?

This is a mix of the two main coffee species.  So we have 60% Arabica and 40% Robusta. How do I identify a bad espresso? It’s quite easy to identify a bad espresso  because the more Robusta we use for example,   the bad Robusta quality, the worse will  be the bitterness sensation on our tongue.

While Italians in general love their coffee,  what makes people here outspoken experts? I think that one of the most representative  things in our city is that our citizens are   not proper coffee experts but do  drink coffee everyday. So they can   have an espresso every morning  in a bar. That’s what we do…

And that is what gives  Trieste its coffee reputation. Trieste is definitely the  place to come for espresso,   but there are certain things  to remember. For example: But remember the taste is in  the tongue of the beholder!