It’s no secret that we humans love coffee. It is one of the most widely consumed substances on the planet, being consumed in every country across the globe. Take a walk around an American city and you’ll see countless people with coffee in hand going about their day. Take a walk around an Italian city and you’ll see countless people having a caffè while seated at a cafe or standing at the counter of any bar. Yes, Americans and Italians are no exception to the trend of coffee drinking. Though, actually, we’re some of the biggest consumers of the brown, caffeinated liquid, in the world, with Italy coming in at 15th and the United States coming in at 24th on the list of coffee cups per capita. While we all go crazy for the brown bean, how we consume it and in what ways we consume our coffee have some differences. Italy has a robust culture of coffee, while I’d argue that the United States does not.
Americans love their coffee, especially in the morning. Italians love their coffee, anytime and anywhere. Painting with broad strokes of generalization, for Americans, coffee is a vehicle for caffeine to get into the body. For Italians, coffee is a ritual and a social habit. Not to say that Americans don’t meet up socially for coffee, have coffee dates, etc. because we obviously do. However, if you were to remove coffee from both countries, the lack of coffee tradition in Italy would have devastating effects on their culture.
In Italy, the tradition of consuming a morning coffee at the counter of the bar before work is a decades-old ritual. It’s actually one of my favorite things to see and observe as a tourist when I’m in Italy. While I opt for a cappuccino at a table (since…I’m on vacation) the coming and going of Italians during the start of their days is an Italy people-watching pastime for me. Extending beyond the morning hours, Italians will use anything as a reason to head to the bar, sit down, and have a coffee while chatting, whether it be for work or personal reasons. This holds true for arguably any time of the day. It doesn’t matter if it’s 1pm, 7pm, or even 11pm, sitting down for a coffee in Italy won’t come across as being strange or out of place. Coffee is such a cornerstone of Italian culture and embedded into society that something strange would perhaps be someone who doesn’t drink coffee (though they exist).
While Americans drink coffee after meals – most commonly after dinner – not having coffee after a meal wouldn’t seem too out of place or too crazy of a thing to not do. However, to most Italians, the after-meal coffee is almost as important as the meal itself. If you are out with Italians and have just finished eating lunch, you could comfortably bet your life savings on the fact that they’ll be getting coffee. This is true when I’m with Italians in the United States, with Italians in Italy, and even when I was with Italians in Japan. Almost a year ago I had two Italian friends over for dinner. One of my friends who had been living in the US for almost a year was simply elated and almost nostalgic at my “caffè?” upon finishing our meal. It was a nice moment for me to be able to offer a tradition as simple as an after-meal coffee to an Italian who had been distant from her culture for several months and to see how important the tradition is.
This article would be amiss to not mention the passion and the strong feelings that Italians have for their coffee. Once again, I’m not saying that Americans are not passionate about coffee, but the Italian passion is on a different level. Similarly to wine and food, Italians are very opinionated when it comes to coffee. Good coffee in the right form is vitally important to Italians and their tradition. The right form is espresso and its various variations, and good coffee in the sense that it tastes good (obviously). One of my favorite little things about touring with Andrea Bocelli is that the Italians travel with their own espresso machine. While completely unsurprising, I chuckle at the fact that the Italians go to the lengths to travel with their own espresso machine, rather than rely on the venue to provide it for them (or worse, only drip coffee). This great passion behind coffee is actually a great thing for anyone who both visits Italy and likes coffee. You are pretty much guaranteed to be served a decent coffee wherever you go in Italy. Much like the wine and the food, you won’t find distasteful versions of it (except for tourist traps), because the Italians won’t buy it if it’s not good. So next time you find yourself in Italy and craving a coffee, rest easy knowing pretty much whichever bar you go to, you’ll find good coffee.