Around the Coffee in Five Countries

Italy

Italy is well known for having the best coffee in the world but ordered in a unique way. It does seem to work for them but when I ordered an espresso it came at a very high temperature, at which I could not drink straight away, and I had a burnt tongue after as I decided to neck it. I saw that every time I ordered an espresso, it was always accompanied with a glass of water (sometimes still, sometimes sparkling). When you drink the water after a sip of espresso it tends to cleanse your palate. So that the next time you have a sip you will enjoy the flavour of the coffee more. Italians don’t order an espresso because of the caffeine and the strength of the coffee; they order it because it is very rich and flavoursome. In Italy, I also found that you should not have a latte or a cappuccino in the morning as they cringe at the idea of having a stomach full of milk in the morning. If you want to stay in their tradition, you should only have an espresso in the morning and have a latte or cappuccino later, such as for lunch or even dinner. For me I found that Kimbo coffee was the best I tasted out there by far, it was just so succulent and rich and just had tons of flavour to the coffee. I highly recommend Kimbo coffee but use a Moka pot to brew it to get the best flavour out of the coffee.

Turkey

Sip, talk, and repeat! This is what their tradition is all about. When the Turkish drink coffee they tend to be around friends or family, you rarely see Turkish drink coffee on their own as they like being communal. Turkish people tend to have their coffee very sweet, when you order you must tell the barista how sweet you would like it. Turkish coffee is served in small cups, like an espresso size, but it's not meant to be consumed quickly like an espresso. Turkish coffee isn't just about drinking it. Fortune telling is also a key component of Turkish coffee culture, reading the signs and symbols in coffee grounds after the coffee has been consumed. Because the coffee is made by boiling grounds, this allows them to settle in the cup during drinking, and once they are finished, whoever has been drinking the coffee places the saucer over the cup, shakes the cup a bit, and then turns it upside down, leaving the coffee grounds to be read. There are a variety of signs, and like with any fortune telling custom, you may get different predictions from different fortune tellers (just like the scene in Harry Potter).

USA

Starbucks or a cup of joe. That’s what I think of when someone talks to me about American coffee. I do know for a fact that a third of the population drinks at least a cup a day and half the population drinks a cup at least once a week (which is a lot of people, we are talking around 150 million people a week). Anyway it's not about how much they drink, it is how they do it. Americans like to drink cold coffees, such as Frappuccino. Even in the winter, you will see them with an iced Frappuccino. They love to get decorative and put cream on top and toppings such like mini fudges, sprinkles, marshmallow, and a variety of sauces. In my opinion I think Americans love to add tons of add-ons to make it like a dessert rather than a nice hot beverage. Men in the United States drink coffee just to get them though the day, but the females drink their coffee to be social and gossip in bars or cafes.

Cuba

Cuba is the perfect home for coffee plants, as the soil is more fertile, and the climate is so perfect. Cubans like to have different coffees throughout the day. In the morning they love to have it with or without milk, the coffee is served in a regular coffee cup and accompanied by sugar and small cup of hot milk on the side, this is called a café con leche. For dinner they like to have coffee in a small cup which resembles an espresso shot, the Cubans love to add sugar and it is always served alongside cold water like the Italians do for breakfast but Cubans like to have this around dinner time. This is called Café Cubano. What they tend to do when there is a group of friends or family members is they order what they call a Colada, this is basically a coffee to share, you order this, and it comes with a larger cup of Café Cubano that comes with smaller cups to serve your guests, family or friends (such a great idea).

England

British people go for the lazy approach when they make coffee, as the English are known for drinking gallons of tea a week. We tend to copy or try to impress people with our coffee methods. We do love using the Nespresso machines as it is very easy to make and quick, but it gives a bad taste of coffee. When we meet with friends and family we tend to go to the big named brands such as Starbucks, Costa, Nero’s and Pret de Manger and order the milkiest cup of coffee, also sometimes adding a syrup to it to change the flavour and give it a sweetness boost. I just think English people love to gossip around a pot of tea and some cake.