I had ordered a Latte. A lady with 2 children was also ordering coffee. She smiled at me, as I was busy taking money, and said “Itna Mehanga Coffee kaise Latte”? (How will you bring such a costly coffee?) There are many types of coffees – I have been simply ordering coffee without knowing what it is all my life! I understood, for the reasons unknown, that ‘Espresso’ coffee means it is that coffee which is served with milk and sugar, very frothy with chocolate powder sprinkled on it. I know how wrong I have been in my understanding!
Do the people know what they drink? All these years I had been ordering coffee (as I did today – ordered Latte) without knowing what it exactly means. I really wonder about all other people. I doubt seriously of their knowing. I do not know how many coffee simpletons like me are there in this world! Let me write something to benefit people like us. Right now, I am sitting and sipping coffee at the Costa Coffee Delhi airport Terminal – 3 and over that Latte I am writing this coffee piece.
Expresso: Is made when you force boiling water through finely ground coffee beans. It is a coffee concentrate and very strong. This is enjoyed in shots, where one shot is one ounce.
Latte: It is an espresso coffee served with hot milk and milk foam on top. This is prevalent in America and loved by all Americans.
Black Coffee: It is the most common type of coffee, easy to make and is served with no add ins.
Mocha: It is espresso coffee made with cream and chocolate – giving the taste of all three. A typical mocha depends on our preference – more coffee or more chocolate.
Americano: It is Espresso with hot water. Name came from WW-II. The European baristas added water to Espresso to serve the American soldiers, hence it became Americano.
Cappuccino: It is a classic Italian drink made of espresso, steamed milk and thick foam in equal parts. The name comes from the resemblance to the hoods worn by cappuccino monks.
Flat White: It is a type of coffee made with espresso and hot milk. A common type of coffee drink in India with sugar.
Cafe au Lait: Made of dark roasted coffee and hot milk. It is popular in France, where it is served with breakfast.
The above types are only a sample. There are many other types of coffee too. I am trying to explain the most popular types which we come across in any coffee shop. Having said the above, the coffee type I like the most is the South Indian Filter coffee. The taste of this coffee is heavenly.
Buy coffee powder of good brand, easily available in every store in south India. A typical cylindrical steel filter is used in this part of the world. Put the coffee powder, pour hot water in it the essence/concentrate slowly drips in to the container below. It is a unique kind of coffee concentrate. Add hot milk and sugar to it, we have the filter coffee. In every south Indian home filter coffee is served.
The world BARISTA is an Italian word. It means ‘a person who makes and serves coffee (such as espresso) to the public.
During a trip to Italy, while sitting at a road side beautiful café in Milan, I had ordered for an ‘Espresso’! I thought I would get a big cup of hot coffee, with milk & sugar with lots of foam on top. All I got was an ounce of dark coffee concentrate. It was bitter and one can finish it in a gulp. I could not drink it. Yet to hide my ignorance I paid € 7.00 towards the cost of espresso with a brave face!
About the Author
Dr. K. Raja Gopal Reddy is a seasoned internationally qualified Insurance professional.
What you are reading here, may not answer all the questions we have, but has the absolute power of asking unsettling questions which increase the interest in the strange world, and show the contradictory wonders lying just below the surface of the commonest things of life. Look at this disturbing but beautiful thought of Friedrich Nietzsche “God is dead. God remains dead. And we have killed him”.
Dr. Reddy can be reached at: raja66gopal@gmail.com
