Cimbali investigates how to find the best coffee whilst on holiday!

Choose great Coffee on holiday - Cimbali investigates how!

With the UK holiday season about to start, for most travelers, embracing the local culture is important and that includes coffee!  But for those of you who don’t know your Cortados from your Café Bombons or a Flat White from a Café au Lait – we are here to help you.

Variety is the spice of life! And there is no better way of seeing how diverse the world is than by looking at how the locals take their coffees.

Coffee is big business in the US with more than half of over 18s drinking on average three cups a day.  When travelling to the US, there are four popular coffees, which includes Café Tobio – one part regular coffee and one part Espresso and Café Breve which is five parts milk foam, one part steamed half and half and one part Espresso.  And Seattle leads the way with ten times more coffee stores per person than the rest of the US!

When in Europe, Italy has the largest number of coffee bars per capita with 100,000 cafes and 60 million people with these bars designed for socialising and drinking coffee standing up.  One of the most popular coffees is an Epsresso Romano which is an Epsresso infused with a slice of lemon.

Drinking coffee in Italy is a way of life 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 most popular drink with the Italians consuming twice as much coffee per head than us in the UK.

Some Italian coffees maybe darker, shorter and slightly more bitter than we are used to London, but they fit perfectly into the Italian way of life. A coffee is seen as a necessity to be drank at certain occasions during the day with the addition of sugar making it a sweet treat.

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.  

In Italy people drink an Espresso before they do anything else in the morning.  In the cities – life is so busy that many people drink their Espresso without anything else for breakfast. It then continues throughout the day (but no cappuccinos after lunch!)  – 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. 

While not far away in Spain, breakfast is usually a cup of coffee, choosing from a Cafe Bombon, one part Espresso, one part condensed milk, or a Cafe con Miel - cinnamon, steamed milk, shot of Espresso and honey.  But their neighbours in France generally opt for a Cafe au Lait, half milk and half Espresso, while in Germany they are partial to a Pharisaers, which is half Espresso, one sugar cube topped with whipped cream and two shots of rum!    

Happy holidays from all of us at La Cimbali UK.