Coffee tasting
Pasticceria Colombo
My first review for the coffee shops in Vigevano starts with one of the pastry shops in the famous square of the city, Piazza Ducale.
When you enter the square, you see lots of attractive options for coffee and snacks! As the locals suggest, I recommend to make a turn around the square area to see the best places according to your taste. Or as I do, you can try one by one to check all of them 🙂
For the first review, I wanted to start with one of my favorite pastry and coffee shops. Since the offering for both sweets and coffee-based drinks is so varied, if you become a regular you can try limitless combinations!
Another benefit of becoming a regular is of course the opportunity to benefit from the warm welcome of the staff.
Some key information about the coffee
- The coffee brand that they use is Illy.
- I have seen at their door a statement that they have good evaluation for the coffee preparation Since the place is usually full, I can imagine that the coffee is quite fresh with respect to the average shop.
The cappuccino is quite fluffy J you feel the smooth taste of coffee ugh milk and not coffee dominated.
If you want your coffee to last longer and if you enjoy the taste of the milk in your coffee, I recommend you to order latte macchiato, which is served in a bigger glass.
During the good weathers, it is a very good idea to with outside (be aware that you need to pay more when you sit outside or inside. This is a common rule in Italy) and enjoy the view of square, old church and castle.
If you already have hurry and just want to enjoy a good coffee and continue to walk around, the coffee at the desk can be also a good option.
WHERE: Vigevano, Northern Italy, 35 km (21 miles) South-West of Milan
HOW: the town is connected to Milan (Porta Genova station) by a railway arriving at a short distance from the square. Parallel to the railway there is a road, allowing you to reach the town by car
WHEN: Spring, Summer and Autumn allow to benefit from perfect conditions outside. Sunny Winter days are also a good choice. The town deserves at least half a day visit.
My Journey to explore coffee
As a regular coffee drinker, I have always been thinking to addend a coffee course, to increase my awareness on the drink that i love. At last I had time and opportunity to do that! I can say that it was a wonderful opportunity and it turned out to be the best way to begin gathering info and experience!
It started with cupping, sensory training and the transformative journey of the coffee beans, from the plant to our cups.
During the training, I realized again that even though coffee looks quite a regular and simple drink, a lot of complicated factors intervene to change its quality and taste, since the blossoming of a plant in the plateaus of tropical countries till the final serving in some coffee house .
I also learnt that a lot of the coffee that we drink is actually low quality and poor taste compared to the potential of the drink itself.
- The source of the beans, the degree of the roasting, the fresh grinding just before you drink and how you brew is very important and it can completely alter the taste of the coffee that we are drinking.
When we were going back home after the coffee course, we had quite different emotions about the fresh information that we received. From one side it provided us with more awareness and indications to explore more about the drink but from time to time I think that ‘ignorance is bliss’. Because the more you think about the taste of a good coffee, the less you enjoy your daily coffee. That is why we decided to seek for alternative solutions to improve our daily coffee drinking. I am dedicated to seek enjoyable coffee shops with good coffee and ambiance.
I am sure it will be a long and enjoyable journey for me, but I am happy to start my discoveries, with coffee as a companion 😊
So sweet!
When you love the whole “Coffee family”, and find a Starbucks every mile (yes not km but mile 🙂 ), you are inevitably tempted to stop the car and drink some! It was one of those days, when it felt like Starbucks was waiting for us 🙂
This time I wanted to start my morning with a newspaper, a white chocolate mocha instead of cafe latte and a chocolate cake. Even though I was thinking that I can eat unlimited amount of sweets, the combination was too sugary for me.
In any case, I was happy 🙂
The calorie level of mocha (size tall: 350 kcal) was double the level of caffe latte (size tall: 150-160) but I was not expecting a sweet combination like this one because I had drank mocha elsewhere in the world around Europe and in Turkey (and afterwards even in Dubai). It reminded me of the articles that I read some months ago about the sugar levels in different drinks and I decided to take a look again.
I have found the article in Business Insider but the size was not the one that I drank. I switched to the original source, which is ‘Action on Sugar’ and found out that I had drank already 11 spoons of sugar (just from coffee). Apperantly it is around 177% of the daily intake that is recommended by the World Health Organization. The official announcement of Starbukcs about this issue was:
“Earlier this year we committed to reduce added sugar in our indulgent drinks by 25% by the end of 2020,” a Starbucks representative told Action on Sugar. “We also offer a wide variety of lighter options, sugar-free syrups, and sugar-free natural sweetener, and we display all nutritional information in-store and online.”
I can say that 25% reduction is not enough but it can be a start. I hope they will be able to find healthier solutions with less amount of sugar in the future. I want to continue to try different drinks based on coffee, but they should be healthier, so we can live more and enjoy more coffee 🙂
Home Roasted Coffee? Here is an alternative…
We had planned our visit to see Enchanted Rock State Natural Park, later deciding to include Frederiksburg, which is 8,4 miles (13,5 km) from the natural area. When we arrived to the historical neighborhood, I was nearly losing my hope to find a coffee roaster around.
There were no popular coffee chain on Main Street, and we did not know what we could expect. Then I had chance to taste american coffee at the Crossroads Steakhouse & Saloon and actually the taste was better than I had imagined. With the friendly service that they have, it was a pleasant experience.
Of course we did not give up to search for a specialized coffee place and at the end, with the help of social media, we found it!
Even though the town has a population of 10,5k (year 2010) according to Wikipedia, I was suprised and happy to see a roaster called ‘Ranch Road Roasters’. When we found it, it was already closed, so I waited for the next day to taste a home roasted coffee.
When we came back next day, we asked for the coffee of the day, which turned out to befrom Guatemala. We took our coffee and continued to the small garden on the back for a peaceful coffee tasting.
The taste was lighter than we expected, also beacuse of the size of the serving. Even though they use espresso size cups, they filled them so that the coffee ended up being diluted. As a result, it was easier and lighter to drink. As an Italian style espresso, it might have been a bit too strong for us. The person, who prepared our coffee, told us that all coffee there is roasted by them and we also saw the roasting equipment they have (as well as the white smoke from the chimney outside, when we left). Overall, we were happy about our experience and ready to go back in the future, should we have an opportunity. The person working was very kind and treated us with the same warmth, as if we were regular customers.
I can say that if the small town is on your way and if you crave for a home roasted caffein punch, the place can be an option for a trial.
COFFEE MAPPING 