Coffee City

Melissa Allison follows the world's biggest coffee-shop chain and other Seattle caffeine purveyors.

September 30, 2009 12:27 PM

Brushing up on the rules of Italian coffee drinking, in case Lavazza finds a local franchisee

The Daily Telegraph in London has an amusing, if overly Biblical-sounding, guide to drinking coffee in Italy, Europe's premier coffee culture.

With one of its biggest roasters, Lavazza, hoping to open in Seattle or Bellevue, it seemed like a good time for a refresher.

Rule Number One: No lattes and other milk-heavy drinks after noon.

Italians also don't dig doppios (double shots of espresso), preferring their caffeine shots in "small, steady doses," according to writer Lee Marshall.

Un caffe is never called espresso, because espresso is the default, and it's drunk standing up. "Coffee is a pleasurable drug, but a drug nevertheless, and should be downed in one standing. Would thou sit down at a pavement table to take thy daily Viagra?"

Thanks to Kerri Goodman-Small at Coffee Talk's Daily Dose for finding the Telegraph story. Photo credit (of people sitting at a cafe in Umbria; must be tourists): http://www.flickr.com/photos/travelho/ / CC BY-SA 2.0