Around the world with a little black coffee
Excuse me, do people drink coffee here?
Coffee-drinking culture around the world is extraordinarily varied, with remarkably different rituals. Yet whatever customs surround a little black coffee, drinking it has always seemed to set, and often regulate, the rhythm of the day. Can we imagine starting a day in Naples without ordering a cup steaming with caffeine? Of course not. Drinking the first daily coffee at the counter is an Italian ritual said to date back to the early sixteenth century.
Today, Italy has many coffee customs, the most important being matching the type of coffee to the time of day. Start gently with a warm cappuccino, but drink this sweet, milky coffee only before 11 a.m. During the day, move to a more intense macchiato, though only until lunchtime. After that, the appropriate choice is a digestion-friendly espresso.
More than Bella Italia
Our travels place the obvious European coffee giants in the “coffee zone”: Italy, Spain and Greece. Perhaps Greece is a slight stretch, but the Greeks invented frappé as well as democracy, so we will allow it! We also include the Scandinavian countries. It may seem surprising that northern peoples, not usually associated with exuberance and energy, are such enthusiasts for stimulating espresso. Yet Finland, Norway and Sweden are among the world's leading coffee-bean importers. Not all their customs would suit us: we find the Finnish habit of dipping local cheese in coffee, kaffeost, a little eccentric. But we do like the fact that Scandinavians drink an average of 3.5 cups a day, and that fika is a Swedish social ritual centred on the national drink: hot espresso.
The last European country we associate warmly with coffee culture is Greece, the home of café frappé, the perfect coffee for some. A little black coffee, vanilla ice cream and crushed ice can give even the hottest, least motivating morning a solid energy boost. What is our complaint about Greek coffee culture? Only that frappé is traditionally made with instant coffee. As you can probably guess, espresso can be chilled too!
Back to the roots
The mysterious Middle East was the first region to sow the seeds of coffee-drinking culture. Today, more than a thousand years after the first cup beneath a Bedouin tent, the countries of the Arabian Peninsula and their neighbours still celebrate their coffee. Although modern Emirati cafés in 2021 are more likely to use a professional machine for morning espresso, ordinary Saudis, Yemenis and Qataris still enjoy homemade qahwa: hand-roasted, ground in a mortar, brewed in a traditional dallah, cooked with cardamom, saffron, cinnamon and cloves, strained through palm fibres and finally poured with the left hand and served with the right...
Asian variations
Our search for the perfect little black coffee ends in Asia, a continent usually associated with tea traditions. Yet because some of the first Arabica plantations were established in Asian countries, coffee culture thrives in certain places.
Our favourite Asian coffee country? Definitely Vietnam, where only one drink is more popular than coffee: the local beer, bia hoi. The tradition of sipping black coffee is everywhere, and small Vietnamese coffee filters are sold on every corner. You can try brewing in them, but given their tiny size, our elegant, simple dripper may be a better bet: you will get more coffee! So how is coffee drunk in Vietnam?
Because of the heat, usually with ice, coconut milk (ca phe sua) or sweet condensed milk from a tin. A local speciality, developed during the Second World War, is coffee with whipped egg and sugar and, of course, crushed ice.
With cheese or whipped egg, in the morning or at noon, coffee should always be an important part of the day. Do you have your own customs and “home coffee culture”? Or, like us, do you simply drink it all the time? We would love to hear your thoughts!