Un caffè per favore - Coffee time is a sacret moment in Italy
I love Italian caffeterias and bars. There is always local magazines to read too.
Italian coffee culture is not just about drinking coffee or having caffeine, it is a rhythm of daily life, and a small but meaningful ritual repeated again and again throughout the day. It’s a lifestyle, a love language, and possibly a national sport, practiced daily, passionately.
In Italy coffee is most often simply called caffè, and what that means is an espresso: small, strong, aromatic, and served in a thick porcelain cup. It is usually drunk quickly, often standing at the bar, exchanged for a few coins and a brief word with the barista. This moment may last only a minute, but it carries familiarity and comfort. Coffee does not always require time, sometimes it is just a pause, a breath, before moving on or going somewhere else.
Cappuccino has its own very specific place in Italian life. Made with espresso, hot milk, and a generous layer of milk foam, it is considered a morning drink, typically enjoyed with a cornetto (similar to croissant) or sweet pastry. In Italy, ordering a cappuccino after lunch, or worse, after dinner is considered stupid or just impossible. Milk is thought to be heavy on the stomach, and cappuccino belongs to the early hours.
Caffè latte, with its larger amount of milk, is even more firmly associated with breakfast or for children and is often something Italians prepare at home rather than order at a bar. It is comforting, slow, and familiar, a coffee meant to be sipped rather than swallowed quickly. My morning coffee is often self-made caffé latte which is still stronger than cappuccino.
Then there is the macchiato, literally meaning “stained.” This is an espresso “stained” with a small amount of milk or milk foam. It sits somewhere between the sharp intensity of un caffè and the softness of cappuccino, a choice for those who want just a hint of milk without breaking tradition. This is OK to drink publicly from morning to evening.
Coffee in Italy adapts to mood and moment. It can be taken alone, quietly, perhaps with a newspaper or simply one’s thoughts. It can be shared with friends, used as an excuse to meet, talk, laugh. It is also deeply present in working life: coffee with colleagues becomes a short social glue between tasks, while coffee with family carries warmth, habit, and belonging.
Italian coffee is less about caffeine and more about connection, to routine, to people, to place. It teaches that even the smallest rituals, repeated with care, can become something beautiful. ☕
Me having coffee, my friend having an aperitivo. Alcohol drink like Limoncello Spritz here comes always with little salty snack as aperitivo.
Good time to have aperitivo is after lunch and before dinner.
Un cappuccino e un cornetto, per favore. I love looking at Italian people in bars having coffee, conversations, being social.
At home macchina per il caffe, real Italian la moka, coffee makers. Bialetti, of course.
