Candida Martinelli's Italophile Site Shops at: Zazzle & PrintFection
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Italian
Coffee, Tea and Chocolate, Coffee Brands, The Moka
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| 4 great Italian coffee designs on T-shirts | ||
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Vintage Coffee Posters from AllPosters.com Another Coffee Print/Poster Gallery Below
Vintage Coffee Ad Prints from AllPosters.com
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IntroductionCoffee stimulates not only the mind, but it can stimulate obsessions too, about coffee. I tried to explain this to a woman as I was teaching her to prepare espresso with a Moka. I told her, to her obvious disbelief, that an Italian man would marry any woman who knew how to make the perfect espresso. Just at that moment, an Italian man passed through the kitchen (to check on the coffee making, I suppose). He looked over our shoulders at the Moka just about ready to go over the low flame. He murmured his approval and then whispered longingly, "Marry me!" After that moment, I was a god in that woman's eyes about everything Italian.
The Moka Versus the Bar - How to UseWhile Italians use the Moka at home, they all admit that the best espressos are made at the neighborhood coffee bars by trained and diploma-holding baristas. It mainly has to do with the freshly ground beans, and the temperature of the steam. Coffee Bars are about the only places in Italy where fast service is the rule.
Barista with diploma making the best espresso Part of what makes it so good is that the beans are ground the moment you order the coffee. Grinders aren't so expensive now, and you'll taste the difference immediately in the coffee you make at home from freshly ground beans. Here are a few links to grinders at Amazon.com with prices, so you can see what I mean. I put in the expensive last one that is a home-version of the bar-version, just for fun.
My list of Grinders at Amazon.com
How to Use the MokaSupposedly, and I'm really not a god about this:
These Mokas from Amazon.com show that the price varies with design and brand name. But the quality of coffee is generally the same. Only some keep the espresso hot longer than others. But you really should drink it right away--espresso!
My list of Mokas at Amazon.com Some people like to take the first drops of coffee that come up and pour it out quickly into an espresso cup, add a spoon of sugar, and stir it to make a sugary foam, then pour in the coffee when it is ready. Bialetti has a "cappuccinomaker" that has you put the coffee, water and milk in the Moka to get your cappuccino. It's called a Mukka Express Cappuccinomaker. I like the cow print one.
If you want to dream, or have plenty to spend on espresso machines, look here at my collection of luxury espresso machines. And Visit my Coloring Pages for images of a Moka for children to color.
Lavazza, Segafredo, Illy...Lavazza is the most popular coffee brand in Italy in the home market. The bars prefer Segafredo. I prefer Illy. Each has a slightly different blend or roast. Lavazza is slightly bitter. Lavazza, Italy's home favorite, a sharp flavored coffee blend.
The Lavazza Store at Amazon.com My list of Lavazza at Amazon.com Illy is smooth and almost sweet. Illy Caffé, a smooth Arabica bean roast, my favorite.
Illy has an online store that sells coffee makers and coffee and cups in the U.S...and here are some Illy products at Amazon.com.
Segafredo is somewhere in the middle between smooth and bitter. Segafredo is the Coffee Bar's favorite.
Lavazza Ad CampaignsOne reason Lavazza is the number one brand in Italy is their highly creative television advertising campaigns that have been entertaining Italians as long as commercials have appeared on Italian TV. The earliest TV commercials were shown during what was called the Carosello, or carousel, that would appear at the end of the television viewing evening (which was early in the early days of TV!). There is a whole generation of Italians who knew it was bedtime when the Carosello came on TV. The late actor Nino Manfredi starred in a series of comic commercials for many years for Lavazza, but was eventually replaced by a group of famous Italians including Bud Spencer of Terence Hill and Bud Spencer fame.
The wonderful Nino Manfredi from his popular TV ad campaign for Lavazza coffee The current series features two men who die and go to an Italian's fantasy heaven. It's a place where you can drink coffee in perpetuity and never suffer any adverse side-effects. That is St. Peter showing them the ropes in the photos below. And of course, the coffee you drink in heaven is Lavazza!
Lavazza's latest TV ad campaign featuring an Italian idea of heaven, a place where you can drink Lavazza coffee all day long with no adverse side-effects Here's a clip of a Manfredi Lavazza commercial for you to enjoy via YouTube. Click on the lower left arrow to play the video.
Here's one from the new series.
The company has one of the most creative websites I've ever seen. Each item you select, and there are many, is a multimedia show in itself. Click here to go to the opening window of the Lavazza site. Once there, just click on their coffee cup to start the show.
Tea and ChocolateThere are not many tea drinkers in Italy, at least not at the level of coffee drinkers. Herbal teas are growing in popularity, but herbal everything have always been available in Italy at the Erboristerie. A woman in Torino told me the story of a friend of hers who married an Englishman. The first time her friend entertained the man's mother, she prepared a pot of tea that she had learned how to make just for that occasion. What she didn't realize was that the milk served with tea should be served cold, unlike the warm milk served with Italian coffee. The result? She succeeded in severely scalding her new mother-in-law's mouth! The poor woman couldn't taste a thing for the rest of her visit to Italy. Italians do drink hot chocolate, however, and it is made by the knowledgeable barista in a very special way. He uses the milk whipping canister and adds two spoonfuls of pure powdered chocolate and one spoonful of white flour to the whole milk. Then he whips it with the steam nozzle on the espresso machine (on the stove you just whisk it) until the drink blends and thickens. You add the sugar to taste after it's served. It is a cross between a hot chocolate and a chocolate pudding, and it's the best thing to warm you up on a cold winter's day. Yes, it does get cold in winter in some parts of Italy. You can learn a lot about chocolate in Perugia, Italy, where, of course, the barista always uses Perugina chocolate. The factory is now owned by Nestle who have a site that can tell you everything you might want to know about Perugina and Baci, Perugina's chocolate kisses each wrapped in a famous quote, including where to buy their products. Click here to go to the opening page of the Nestle site. And if you want to purchase some, but don't have an Italian store nearby, here are some available from Amazon.com. My list of Perugina at Amazon.com (Check out the Italian Kisses shirts at my PrintFection shop, where you have lots of shirt colors to choose from, and you can enjoy bulk order rates from the second shirt onward!)
Italian Specialty Foods On-LineYou can use this Search tool to check Amazon.com for all brands of coffees, or other specialty food items, if you'd like. And here are two a direct links to books all about coffee.
Just enter 'Gourmet Food' in the 'Search' field, and the name of the product in the 'Keyword' field. Then click on the 'Go' button. (The coffee makers and grinders are under the 'Kitchen and Housewares' 'Search' category.)
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Coffee Magnets from AllPosters.com
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