Ordering Coffee in Italy

Coffee. Caffè. One of the greatest loves of my life. And a passion that I share with the 60-odd million Italians in this beautiful country.

It hardly needs saying that Italy is serious about coffee. While many other countries drink it, few other places on earth are as culturally inseparable from it. And it is this entanglement between a simple beverage and a national identity that results in the many unspoken rules governing how it should be enjoyed.

Italians are nothing if not passionate about preserving 'how things are done'.

So with that in mind, let's talk about how to enjoy coffee like an Italian!

1. Coffee is not only a morning drink in Italy. If you are awake, you can have coffee. Morning, noon and / or night. HOWEVER...

2. Milk in your coffee is only for breakfast. The generally accepted cut-off time is around 11am, but anytime before midday is probably ok. No cappuccino after lunch! 

3. The variety of coffee-based beverages is limited. You can walk into any coffee bar in the country and be confident ordering a cappuccino, a caffè macchiato or just a straight up shot of espresso (un caffè). Anything else is not guaranteed. No flat whites.

4. There is no chocolate on top of the cappuccino. You are an adult so you will survive.

5. Speaking of being an adult, it is perfectly acceptable to add alcohol to your espresso. This is known as a caffè corretto (literally 'corrected coffee'). Only a few days ago I was in my local bar and a construction worker ordered a caffè corretto with sambuca. It was barely 8am. 

6. Most locals will order and drink their coffee standing at the bar. Embrace this and you will be rewarded with a cappuccino that probably costs around a euro. If you take a seat at a table, you will be charged table prices and (depending on where you are) these can be significantly higher.

You'll need to raise the limit on your credit card if you sit down anywhere with a view of anything that might appear on a commemorative mug / tea towel / fridge magnet.

7. Do not, under any circumstances, request for your coffee to be served extra hot. You may be asked to leave. A cappuccino is served at a temperature appropriate for drinking at the moment you receive it, not half an hour later. 

8. Milk is milk - full fat and dairy. If you can clearly see a menu offering alternatives then by all means go for it, but most bars only use standard cows milk. Forget any skinny habits for the time being, and content yourself with the knowledge that cappuccini here are much smaller in volume and therefore total calories is probably still lower than at home. 

9. Speaking of calories, make sure your first coffee of the day is enjoyed at a pasticceria. Cafes can only call themselves a pasticceria in Italy if they make their pastries fresh on site, and they will change your life.

My favourite go-to is a cornetto con crema, which is basically an Italian croissant (more sweet than buttery) piped with thick custard. You'll forget all about the smashed avocado toast back home. Plus it will also only add another euro to your bill.

10. Takeaway coffee isn't really a thing. Some cafes will have takeaway cups, but Italians will generally only use these on the very rare occasion that they are genuinely taking the coffee to someone else. You will not see anyone walking around sipping a coffee.

To this end, many of the lids that takeaway cups come with do not actually have a hole in them for drinking out of! If they even have lids at all. I've seen tourists trying to negotiate a cling film layer that had been used in place of a lid, with disastrous results.

In Italy there is always time to spend five minutes enjoying a cappuccino from a proper cup! 

11. And for the final rule, a classic trap. If you order a latte, you will get a cup of milk. 

We will leave how to pay for your coffee for another day, as that is a whole different topic. Suffice to say that this is the gauntlet through which all foreigners and locals alike must run each time they try a new bar. There is no consistency. There are no rules. The best course of action is to learn a few lines of Italian which you can ask the barista or the waiter manning the cash register. Posso pagare adesso o dopo? Can I pay now or after? Read more about payment mayhem here.