coffee mapping
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 😊
A Renaissance of Coffee
It is very rare to have the opportunity to experiment a coffee-based drink, right where it was invented!
Yet we had such luck today: at Caffè Colombo, in Vigevano, they proudly show a poster remembering their creation: Caffè Cremino – or “Caffè Cremino®” to be precise! 🙂
According to the poster, it was created in 1997. The exact recipe is of course a well-kept secret whose details are unknown, but after tasting it once, we decided it will not be a sacrifice to try it again in the future, in the attempt of understanding more about it!
The fluffy milk foam, with fragments of chocolate and the horizontal layers of different components resemble marocchino (which was invented just a few km away in the nearby town of Alessandria). However, the taste is noticeably different. And definitely good. Kudos to the creator!
Enjoying it in the local piazza is a perfect experience of “coffee dolce vita”, under the shadows of the umbrellas which protect us from the Summer sunrays and together with a gorgeous gelato.
Even the Duke of Milan, which had the Piazza built 500 years ago, was unfortunately unable to experience such perfect combinations! We feel so lucky to have our own small private Renaissance of taste, and rest a bit before heading back home, through the heat 🙂
Ancient architects, painters with vivid colors, ice cream and coffee makers – all of them contributing to a perfect moment which will stay in our memory!
Arabic or European or American Style?
It is no longer the time of coffee prepared on a camp fire, under a starry night in the desert 🙂 So nowadays international hotels and restaurants in the dynamic UAE offer mainstream European or American style brew, with good quality but not much of a local perspective.
I expected to see more traditional style coffee: maybe similar to Turkish coffee, but certainly different from EU or USA style. Given the fact that coffee was originally spread from Yemen according to a lot sources, it was very interesting to see that the touristic places I visited kept no memory of its history.
That is what I expected before traveling 🙂
Since I had limited time (I was there working) I could not dive deep into local coffee culture, made of artisanal roasters and a variety of coffee shops-. The places where I have been did not have many choices. Most of the time, the menu was limited with espresso, its varieties and american coffee. I started with American coffee.
The result was not as I expected. I can not say that the coffee tasted bad but there was no trace of special taste of arabic coffee. My second trial (apart from the coffees that I drank during the day) was at an italian restaurant in the marina. That I is why I checked espresso this time. The coffee was very similar that you can find regularly in Italy. With the view, I can say that it was enjoyable and worth to try 🙂
My espresso with the view
In the end, I regretted leaving the UAE without experiencing the traditions of a place so close to Yemen, the cradle of coffee. On the other hand, I am also sad because the local traditions could not penetrate the walls of hotels and restaurants for foreigners, which remain limited to European or American type of brew.
I had a physical journey, but I could not make a journey in coffee: not much changed between Berlin, Houston or Dubai
This standardization of the offering seems to me a form of self-censorship rather than an actual need, because tourists and travelers may definitely be interested in tasting something different. I hope the local coffee culture will one day proudly manage to take its place, next to the espressos and filtered coffees on the menu of any kind of venue! The richness comes when you integrate different cultures 🙂
Image credits:
1st Image: http://www.thenational.ae/opinion/editorial/uaes-coffee-culture
2nd Image: https://it.pinterest.com/maktabicarpets/qahwah-love-arabic-coffee/
Other two images are mine
COFFEE MAPPING 