La Cimbali’s Carl explores Tuscany through his love of Espresso coffee!

On a recent holiday in Tuscany, my wife took a photo of me each time I had an Espresso in a different location. The holiday was superb and the Espresso too – so it got me thinking about Italy and its love of coffee…..

Drinking coffee in Italy is an art and no more so than in the beautiful central region of Tuscany, covering an area of about 23,000 square kilometres.

When the first European coffee house opened in Venice in 1683 it served its coffee strong and short.  Five centuries later and not a lot has changed in Italy.  Espresso is still the coffee du jour or twice, 3 times or 4 times du jour!

Italian coffee isn’t like coffee anywhere else in the world. There are two important things to remember, the first is that ‘Italian’ expressions and phrases used in coffee shops outside of Italy either mean something very different or nothing at all!  Secondly, coffees are mainly served in a ‘bar’ and are what we call a ‘café’.

Most Italians drink coffee standing up at the bar and the prices are significantly less at the bar compared to if you drink the same cup sitting at a table.  As you will see from the photos -  I enjoyed my Espressos sitting down!  The Espresso comes without sugar, but cremina can be added which is foam whipped with sugar

In Italy people drink an Espresso before they do anything else in the morning.  In the cities – life is so busy that people drink their Espresso without anything else for breakfast. It then continues throughout the day – Coffee is a very social thing in Italy.

The Italian coffee tasted great each time I had one, and even better when surrounded by the fantastic views of Tuscany. 

Cimbali at the Caffe Culture Show, at Olympia, London

La Cimbali to get steamy demonstrating their M34 with Turbosteam and new Compact M24 coffee machines at Caffe Culture!

This week we are really excited to be at the Caffe Culture event on Wednesday and Thursday at London, Olympia.  The show is buzzing with true coffee lovers, both shop owners and buyers and they are loving our Barbarella coffee!

At the show, we will have plenty of our traditional and super automatic coffee machines on display, including our M34 machine with integral PGS (Perfect Grinding System) Blue Tooth Grinder.  This great mid-priced coffee machine also features TurboStream 4, which allows hand free milk texturing and heating.  Our professional barista Rob Ward will be demonstrating how to get the best from this machine, and offer practical advise on serving perfect coffee, from all menus.

We will also be launching our new M24 Compact coffee machine at the show - which is an entry-level traditional machine.  This compact machine uses coffee capsules, and is the perfect solution where there is limited space available.  It includes TurboSteam for easily foaming milk, even by unskilled staff, and the capsules are ideal for serving coffee in lower demand businesses such as restaurants.  Come along and see just how easy it is to make great tasting coffee using capsules.

Plus, we will have our M100 HD plus Magnum on-demand Grinder on display, and our S39 CP11 with PGS too, so there really is a coffee machine to suit everyone and all environments and locations.

You can find us located at Stand D6, through the main entrance over to the left.  See you soon!

Caffe Culture Show, London Olympia.  

Wednesday 14 May – Thursday 15 May, 9.30am-5.00pm.

Drinking three cups of coffee a day may help reduce the risk of diabetes a study has shown

La Cimbali has learned that Researchers at Harvard University have found that consuming more than 3 or more cups of coffee a day, may slightly reduce the risk of suffering from diabetes.

This American study has discovered that people who consume more than average amounts of coffee appear to be at the lowest risk of contracting diabetes. 

The research studied at Harvard University’s School of Public Health analysed the data of over 120,000 people’s coffee drinking over several years.  The research showed that those who increased their intake by more than a cup a day over a four-year period had an 11 percent lower chance of contracting diabetes in the years that followed.  Those who had a consistently higher coffee consumption of 3 or more cups a day had a risk which was 37% lower than people who consistently drank one cup or fewer cups.

Coffee has a lot of bio-active compound in it, including chlorogenic acid, which is known to improve glucose metabolism and also is a rich source of magnesium which is known to be associated with a lower risk of type 2 diabetes.

The Researchers have said that a bigger clinical trial is needed to confirm the findings, but they believe that this is evidence of how drinking coffee can help improve health, along with exercise and maintaining a healthy diet.