5 Things You NEED to Know About Espresso in Italy (Don't Embarrass Yourself!)

☕ ESPRESSO MASTERCLASS! Chef Antonio Caruana breaks down the 5 ESSENTIAL rules for ordering and drinking espresso like a true Italian!

5 CRUCIAL Rules:
✅ #1: It's ESPRESSO, not EXPRESSO! - There's no X in the word!
✅ #2: Read the Room - Know where you are and when to order what
✅ #3: Timing is Everything - No cappuccino after 10 AM (seriously!)
✅ #4: Size Matters - 1-2 ounces max, drink it HOT and FAST
✅ #5: Know Your Vocabulary - Ristretto, lungo, doppio - what they actually mean

SHOCKING Truths:
🇮🇹 In Italy, they just say "caffè" - not espresso!
🥛 Cappuccino after 10 AM = tourist mistake (some won't even make it!)
🔥 Drink it standing at the bar in 25 seconds - that's it!
💰 It's cheaper and meant to be a quick social moment
🍪 Pair with small pastries, not full meals

VOCABULARY Breakdown:

• Ristretto = Less water, more potent (for the brave!)
• Lungo = More water, less intense
• Doppio = Double shot (not double liquid!)
• Macchiato = Just a touch of steamed milk

From someone who's spent years in Italy - this isn't about being snobby, it's about understanding the beautiful culture behind espresso!

Recommended Italian Coffee Brands:

• Kimbo, Lavazza, Illy, Segafredo

Follow Burnt Hands Perspective:
Instagram: @theburnthandsperspective
Subscribe for more authentic food culture!

#Espresso #ItalianCoffee #Italy #BurntHandsPerspective #CoffeeRules #ItalianCulture #ChefAntonio

Welcome to the show! Burnt Hands Perspective

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:24

Listen up here. The restaurant industry is grueling and unpredictable. Just like this show. From the front of the house to the back of the house and all in between. We will turn up the heat. You turn up the volume. I'm Chef Antonio Carijuana. Welcome to the Tell All Podcast at Burnt Hans. We're back, 2026. 2026. This is it. We haven't recorded in a while.

SPEAKER_01 0:44

We haven't.

SPEAKER_00 0:45

It's the first one in a long time.

SPEAKER_01 0:46

Had the holiday off, so to speak.

Espresso Vs. Expresso Rant

SPEAKER_00 0:47

Yeah, right, from November to now. So thanks for sticking in there. Thanks for hanging out. Regroup. It's a regroup. You know what we're talking about today, dude?

SPEAKER_01 0:55

So we have coffee, but we're going to talk about espresso.

SPEAKER_00 0:59

Expresso.

SPEAKER_01 0:59

Not expresso.

SPEAKER_00 1:01

Expresso.

SPEAKER_01 1:01

Oh, we're going to talk about that too.

SPEAKER_00 1:03

Let me tell you something. Anyone who says that, please continue to fuck yourself today. Because it's not espresso, man. There's no ex in the word. It's espresso. Espresso. Espresso. Pick me up. Pick up.

SPEAKER_01 1:14

Please school me on that. Last. Please school me.

SPEAKER_00 1:16

So I think people call it an expresso because it's supposed to be express or something. I don't know. I don't know where they get that, or maybe it's just a translation in the word.

SPEAKER_01 1:23

I think it's the American accent where you just say things super fast. And then if you say espresso, it's like espresso, like it just comes out quick. So it morphed. Yeah, it's just like it morphed, right?

SPEAKER_00 1:32

So people think it's espresso. It's not espresso. Son of a bitch.

SPEAKER_01 1:36

Express yourself.

SPEAKER_00 1:37

Right, yeah. Express this. So espresso, it's beautiful. It's a beautiful thing, okay? And it's very important in Italy. Okay? It's very important in American and Italian. It's very important around the world, obviously, because it took off. So a lot of people don't know how to drink it though. That's the best part.

SPEAKER_01 1:52

We talked about that.

SPEAKER_00 1:52

Yeah, man. So it's crazy. So there's all kinds of variations, and thanks to the American coffee house, you know, those things have gone crazy. Where if you go to Italy, they're not as crazy with the different varieties. There's a few that are really predominantly. Staples that you would get in espresso every day. Yeah. That's that's we'll talk about that. You get your cappuccino, which is in the morning. But there's rules for that too. Yes, of course. You got your macchiato and your latte. And these are these are um different times, different days, different times of the day, different reasonings for having them. And then you come to the American coffee market, then they have the uh long drawns, the Americano, which I have stories for.

SPEAKER_01 2:28

Flat white, flat like all the things.

SPEAKER_00 2:30

Flat white, the chai, add this, add that, the cream, the the caramel, the salt. Eight pumps of sugar. Right now, actually, we're some actually, you know, we have lots, uh, Cafe Latte downtown here in Norfolk, which is awesome, and they do some really great stuff. But we're drinking their coffee right now. It is morning. But it's beyond my uh it's it's before my cup, my espresso time.

SPEAKER_02 2:49

It is.

Italian Coffee Culture Basics

SPEAKER_00 2:50

My espresso time for me is during the day. So I I go for my espresso after in the afternoon, after dinner, uh things like that. Uh cappuccino now in the morning time is where I go. And this is kind of like a giant one. Right, and I think what everybody does now in America is they get their they get their um they get confused for what a cappuccino actually turned into these flavored fucking bombs here. Yeah. These flavor drinks, you know? Whereas you got your caramel, your salt, your coconut, your milk, your chocolate, your uh what else? Lavender, whatever. Berg honey, berg honey, toasted nut.

SPEAKER_01 3:23

Toasted marshmallow. You know what I mean? Uh don't get us wrong. I mean, I like all of it. But when we talked about this before with the coffee, I mean, you've spent a lot of time in Italy. A lot of people have not been over there, but they they want to kind of practice the culture here. And if they went over there, what are some of the things like we're gonna kind of go over the top five things to ordering and drinking espresso today? So, what are some of the top things?

SPEAKER_00 3:45

Let me tell you this. It's talking about the first five things. The first few episodes of 2026, we're going into our lists. We're gonna do the list of the top five things of this, top five things of that, according to my experience. According to Zoom, according to Zoom. According to me, and kind of what goes on in the world. I didn't make this stuff up. I'm just kind of projecting it to where.

SPEAKER_01 4:02

Well, I think it's again, we thought like it got bastardized over time. Like most of the things we talk about have kind of lost their luster or their translation. So we're getting back to the literal, literal part of I guess each of these topics we're gonna cover in the next few episodes, just to kind of get back on track and get back to the you know, the purpose of the show of going deep on certain topics. So it's fun. You've talked to me a lot about it. I have spent very little time in Europe, so you know, very little time, Greece, Italy, Malta. And I see some of the culture, but I know that I would probably embarrass myself in certain regards of ordering things incorrectly or at the wrong time of day. And they do have kind of a standard there for drinking, even just espresso.

SPEAKER_00 4:41

Sure. Okay, let's go to it.

SPEAKER_01 4:42

Let's let's roll into all of it.

SPEAKER_00 4:44

Five things to know, not so much to do, but five things to kind of know about drinking espresso. Or keep in mind, especially in Italy, it doesn't really translate some of it here because we don't have those same cultures different, right?

SPEAKER_02 4:55

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 4:56

So, first thing I'm gonna tell you all right now is stop ordering cappuccino after 10 o'clock a.m. It's a breakfast drink. Traditionally, it's a breakfast drink. It's something you drink with your pastry, a shogatella, something like that. Yeah. When you're gonna have your little, you take your morning uh cappuccino, you sit there, sip, talk, discuss, online, get your day started.

SPEAKER_02 5:13

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 5:14

That's the cappuccino. It's it's very important. So when you go to a restaurant at night and you go to ask for a cappuccino after, it's it's by not by law, there's no friggin' law about it, but but by standards. There's coffee law. It's not a thing, okay? Stop drinking cappuccino after 10, 10:30. Do whatever the fuck you want. Drinking at damn midnight, I don't care. But I'm just saying if you want to know the rules and traditions of where it is, that's kind of the staple.

SPEAKER_01 5:38

But if you're in Italy and you are at dinner and you order that, they're gonna, I mean, they're gonna give you the look.

SPEAKER_00 5:43

Well, they're gonna give you a look, but some people won't make it. Oh, really? Some people, yeah, some people won't make it because it depends on where you are and where they are. If they're in a touristy area where they're used to the tourism, it's not only America.

SPEAKER_02 5:54

Okay.

When To Order What

SPEAKER_00 5:55

It's not only America. You go to Britain, you go to London, you go to uh Australia, people are taking cappuccino whenever they want to.

SPEAKER_02 6:00

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 6:00

In Italy itself, they will sometimes they don't want to clean their wand, they don't want to run the steam gun, they don't want to just do that type of work because the workflow is different. They don't have a barista there at nighttime in a restaurant. They don't have time for that shit. You want espresso. That's it. You have an espresso, that's that's a wrap. You take an espresso, go home.

SPEAKER_02 6:16

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 6:17

You know what I mean? So maybe a little morrow with it or something like that. Yeah. So moving on from Cappuccino. Okay?

SPEAKER_01 6:26

We covered that. That wasn't even going to be in there. Cappuccino just got like, you know, first everyone. So here's another tip.

SPEAKER_00 6:31

So here, listen, if you're if you're over there and you want a little something, take it differently. Try something new, like a macchiato or a or a latte, right? A latte is still more towards the bottom half of the morning into the afternoon. Um, again, drink it whenever you want to, but I'm just giving you the save yourself some uh uh eye rolls, save yourself some embarrassment. But if you want to take those eye rolls because you really want coffee, well then take them. Fuck them. Let them eye roll.

SPEAKER_01 6:53

You're paying for it, right?

Why Cappuccino After 10 A.M. Bombs

SPEAKER_00 6:54

So, what what I'm saying is if you want to go over there and live in the life and walk in the shoes, that's kind of what I'm telling you, right? Okay. So macchiato is uh is probably the best way to get away with it because there's just a touch. You still have to steam the milk, but it's just a touch. So you're still getting potency of the coffee, the espresso, whatever the bean they're using, whether the quimbo, the vatsa, um the millions of them that are out there. Um so what when you're having a a macchiato, that that makes more sense later on in the day because it's just a small splash, just a touch of steamed cream. Okay or milk, rather. If you go into the latte, coffee latte, that is more cream. Just a little less than a cappuccino. The cappuccino, the difference is the foaming on top. A latte is just a cream into it, so now you basically have coffee and cream. Just a latte, yeah. Yeah, with a with a cream. So moving on to that, there's not much steaming. You do have to steam the milk because you want it hot in there, but it's the closest thing. Now, if you're an American, you go over there, you want Americano, that's adding cream or milk to the coffee in the cold state. Now you just have an American-style coffee. More is more specifically for the name. It was designed in Italy to satisfy the tourism or the people going over there who are so we're so used to as Americans. Getting up in the morning, we have our cup of coffee.

SPEAKER_01 8:12

That's our culture.

SPEAKER_00 8:13

We put our creamer in it, we put our sugar in. I do it every day. You know, when I wake up in the morning, I want my cup of coffee.

SPEAKER_01 8:17

That's my culture. I have it right now.

SPEAKER_00 8:18

I'm an Italian American. There's still the word American in there, right? So I like my American coffee. This is not to bastardize, but I'm just saying if you want to go to Italy and kind of fit in and do what the Romans do, that's what you have to do.

SPEAKER_01 8:28

This is what you have to do. So, all right, so five rules when it comes to espresso. So we we did take notes on this because there's a lot of random notes. So timing is everything. So we want to talk about the timing. So when you get it, like you know, ordering out throughout the day, how like drinking it, what's it?

SPEAKER_00 8:44

Fucking hot. It's a shot, it's a quick shot, it's a it's a shot of energy. You walk up, okay. Here's the fun thing about when you go to Italy and you look at these little coffee shops. You walk in, you'll see men mostly. It's more of a social moment, right? It's more of a time of the walking down the street, let's take cafe. You know what I'm saying? We go inside, have a have a cafe. So you you walk inside and you take your espresso, you put your euro down or your two euros down, whatever, you slide it across the bar. The the person behind there making the coffee will just put your little paper cup with your little wooden stir, they'll put it in there and they'll slide it to you. End of story. You stand at the bar and you say, hello, you talk for a minute, one, maybe two sips, you put it down. That was your experience.

SPEAKER_01 9:24

That's it.

SPEAKER_00 9:25

That's it. Done. 25 seconds of your life that was pure bliss.

SPEAKER_01 9:29

So it is expressive.

Macchiato, Latte, Americano Explained

SPEAKER_00 9:30

You can't fuck it up. You can't fuck it up. Now, if you go in there and you sit down and you're trying to nurse this thing.

SPEAKER_01 9:36

Which a lot of people do.

SPEAKER_00 9:37

And let me tell you why they do it. Because you're you're getting way more than you're supposed to here.

SPEAKER_01 9:42

Okay, so let's talk about that's that's point number two. So we did timing. So number two is size matters.

SPEAKER_00 9:48

Size matters.

SPEAKER_01 9:50

Not in the biggest.

SPEAKER_00 9:52

We're gonna re smack it, flip it, and reverse it. Listen, you're gonna have one to two ounces of coffee in your cup. You're gonna get it if you go to Italy Never Ben, you're gonna get this thing, and it's gonna look like they have a little smudge in there with some nice, beautiful crema foam.

SPEAKER_01 10:06

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 10:07

The foam might be thicker than the amount of coffee if it's good. You can put a little sugar in there, do whatever you want, because it is gonna be better, it's gonna be very, very strong. And you're gonna take it. Maybe two.

unknown 10:19

Done.

SPEAKER_00 10:20

Hot as hell, burn your face right off your head. That's the way you want to drink it. And that's the way it's drank. So you'll sit there ordering it. It's more about the process and the procedure than it is about the actual coffee.

SPEAKER_01 10:31

And here you're getting sometimes, what, one and a half to three ounces?

SPEAKER_00 10:34

Sometimes not even one and a half. You're getting three ounces that sometimes people take the whole cup.

SPEAKER_01 10:39

Yeah, the whole espresso cup, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 10:41

And they'll fill that thing up. And people will get mad if it's not full. Or I'll see even better when they have a cappuccino cup and they ask for a double espresso and that thing's almost full. That's just a completely waste of watered down garbage. Double espresso doesn't mean double the amount of liquid, it means double the amount of potency. Okay? So you're you're going to have double the amount of grind in your coffee with the same amount. That's a double. You're drinking syrup, man. You're getting you're getting wasted.

SPEAKER_02 11:09

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 11:09

Right? So you have a better shot at snorting cocaine at that point than you do than you do walking out of that coffee shop feeling right if you're getting it done right, you know?

SPEAKER_01 11:18

Espresso's a little cheaper, I think. It's cheaper, right?

SPEAKER_00 11:21

And there's nothing to come down in so hard again.

SPEAKER_01 11:23

Yeah, yeah, you're not you're not uh going to jail for that. Um it's like don't do coke, kids.

SPEAKER_00 11:28

That's horrible. It's horrible. Stick to the coffee. But no, for real. If if you drink that, you're gonna go into a little coffee bar, a little cafe, whatever it is, a little coffee stand. Sometimes they have a little literally a doorway in a hall in a walkway on the street. There'll be just a little archway, you walk in it, and the only thing in there is a coffee, coffee machine and a little bar. You lean up against the bar, say hello, you talk, other guy people are in there, women, men. Again, it's more male-dominated for the socializing part of it. Of course, women drink especially, they love it, because don't get me wrong. But you'll see a lot of times older men take it as a social moment and leave.

SPEAKER_01 12:07

Which you see a lot in Europe. I mean, when they're at, you know, you have the you know, the chess tables out, people are sitting at cafe tables or sitting outside. It's mostly men.

SPEAKER_00 12:14

I mean they're I mean women women are a little bit more sophisticated about it. They do it with the uh, you know, the uh little coffee machines on their on their stove top, not the machines, but the little um uh you have those little things, you put your coffee in it, and then you kind of pour it out for everybody around the table. You drink a little bit slower at home. Yeah, we're talking about espresso, meaning the pick me up when you're walking down the street, you're busy, you're going from one work to next, you're going somewhere, you're doing something, yeah, boom, you stop for your espresso. It's very important.

SPEAKER_02 12:41

Exactly.

SPEAKER_00 12:41

I do it not so much here. I here at home, I do I take espresso probably twice a day.

Timing: The Hit-And-Run Shot

SPEAKER_01 12:47

Yeah, I mean you like it. I do it, you know, more so on mine's based on necessity, so I don't try and drink it as much because I have too much energy and I can't sleep anyway.

SPEAKER_00 12:56

Mine's not an energy thing. Mine's more of a okay, I need a minute to that your your decompression. Yeah, that's right. Exactly, decompression. So it kind of settles me down a little bit. It's not so much about the caffeine. I don't know if the caffeine actually really does anything for me.

SPEAKER_01 13:07

It's not that much.

SPEAKER_00 13:08

Um, that's enough where I'm gonna be like, I need one now. You know what I'm saying? If I had a four of four, you know, if I had a cup of it, maybe that'd be a different story. Okay, but it but everybody does it. So espresso in Italy, very quick, very social. It's all about the procedure, it's all about the process. You spend more time, give the give the person your your euro, whatever it takes, your two euros, and then step away from the bar. They don't want to talk typically, it's not a conversation thing. Maybe it's a good morning, you know. Um see you later. Hit it and quit it. Whatever it may be.

SPEAKER_01 13:38

Yeah, totally fine.

SPEAKER_00 13:39

But yeah, hit it and quit it. Get the hell out. It's not much socializing with them, it's more about the moment. And even when you're in there with a man or a woman, if you're just stepping by, there's typically not much talking. You just take your espresso.

SPEAKER_02 13:51

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 13:52

Agree that you just had an exquisite moment in your life, right? Put your little thing down and walk out and you just carry on.

SPEAKER_01 13:59

And you're good.

SPEAKER_00 13:59

Life is good. Okay. That's espresso, folks.

SPEAKER_01 14:01

That's that's okay. Okay. But hold on, but wait, there's more. Um, so three is sugar and cream. So people here, you know, like you said, kind of make it into a freaking latte. Like they put in, you know, all this sugar, all this cream. So, what's the Italian way for sugar and cream? Like, you can have it if you want it, right? That's not looked down.

SPEAKER_00 14:20

Yes, there is sugar. I put sugar in mine. I typically do if it's a packet, if I do a regular espresso, I do just a quarter of the packet.

SPEAKER_01 14:26

A little bit.

SPEAKER_00 14:27

And I think that's again, it's not for the flavor, it's for the procedure. Because I got chikka chikka chikka chikka chikka chik.

SPEAKER_01 14:33

Just like the noise.

SPEAKER_00 14:34

You gotta look like you're all right. Especially when you're over there, you're like, bonjour. You know, and then you and then you pour your little thing in there, you mix it with your wooden spoon, slap it on a thing. It's all for looks, right? It's all for the game, it's all for the procedure.

SPEAKER_01 14:50

All right, so tip number four is vocabulary or pronunciation, because we started this off with you know, yelling at people about the way they pronounce espresso here in the States. So, first of all, when you're there, order properly.

SPEAKER_00 15:03

That's special, sure. So here's the deal. I'm an Italian American, so no matter how much I try and speak Italian or how much I speak Italian or don't or do, like most Italian Americans, we have a different dialect. Our dialect is not dialect of Italy. So it's going to be different, and you're gonna hear all kinds of people comment your accents wrong. That's not how you say it. This of course it's not, because everywhere you go, especially with an American Italian, of course it's not dialect. We're not dialect of Italy, right? So we we do what we gotta do. Anyway, we know what to say here. So you have different, we have we have the ristretto, which is uh it's the shortest pour of coffee. Okay, so that is when you have less water with the same amount of grinds as you would on a normal pour. Yeah, okay, just an espresso. So if you have a regular espresso, you have that. So the um the the ristretto is is very thick, it's very potent. It's less water, same amount of coffee. Yeah, you gotta be brave for that one. That's where you go if you want to wake up, right? Boom, bang, quick, walk out. No sugar is needed with that. If you're getting sugar with that, you shouldn't order it.

SPEAKER_02 16:04

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 16:05

You know what I mean? Because you're you're not you're not getting it. You're not getting the point. Okay, right. And then after that, you go into there's another one, you got you got uh lungo, which is the long version of it, which means more water, less coffee. So same amount of coffee, but you want it poured long, so you're getting more, it's getting a little more tolerable. Diluted, but slightly slightly. So you want it longer. That's when that big coffee cup looks full, yeah, more full. That's because it went long with the water.

SPEAKER_01 16:29

Which is more of the American style you see in restaurants, right? That's more of the long.

SPEAKER_00 16:33

Exactly. Because they hit a button and they typically walk away for a second, come back, and it's done. Yeah, and that's so the machine's set to typically be long. That's how it typically is. Here, yeah. Right. It's most desirable and it's it's more uh affordable and economical for a restaurant owner. Yes. It stretches more. Then you have dopio. Dopio means double. So you know double espresso, dopio. Then if you want to get really crazy, you have dopio long, which is the long and pulled, right? The long and doubled, you'll long and pull. So, you know, can't trust that. And then, of course, the macchiato, which I've already explained. That's just a look, that's just a regular espresso with just a touch of steam milk. Okay. That's just to niile down the bitterness, put a little cream in there for you, or milk. And then you can add your sugar, whatever you got it. So there's all kinds of different variations you can have it there, and there's no wrong way, right? And even even the cappuccino after after 10 o'clock or after 11 o'clock in the morning, it's not wrong. You do whatever the fuck you want to. But to some people over there, they really take it seriously. And I don't think they're so mad about the coffee. I just think that it's done the dumb Americans asking for some bullshit. Yeah. I think that's what it is more. I don't really think it's about you drinking a cappuccino because I got a feeling it's already a mindset.

SPEAKER_01 17:40

Listen, my family's there.

SPEAKER_00 17:41

My family's from there, and I go visit people there, and I have a lot of friends there, and I can tell you right now, in the house when the doors are closed, there's some cappuccinoing going on after fucking 10. So let's be serious, man.

SPEAKER_01 17:50

Yeah, it's it's not, you're not, you're not hiding it from us. I think that one thing you should learn, whatever country you go to in Europe, like just a quick tip, learn how they say dumb or stupid American in their language, because you will hear it more. Something like in Germany, we heard it so much, just all the time. They just be sitting behind the counter and you know, they they think you can't understand them and they'll start, you know, stupid Americans.

SPEAKER_00 18:14

I don't think it's and the funny thing is.

SPEAKER_01 18:15

And they're not saying it in a derogatory way, they're just saying like you didn't take time to learn the culture and come home.

SPEAKER_00 18:20

Correct. I think there's more, I think their their word for ignorant is stupid. You know what I'm saying?

SPEAKER_01 18:24

That's their word for ignorant.

SPEAKER_00 18:25

And a lot of Americans are ignorant, just like they're ignorant when they come here. You know what I'm saying? It's it's funny watching them walk around our streets looking like a pigeon on a street.

Espresso As Ritual, Not Marathon

SPEAKER_01 18:32

But I do also think that people from other countries make more of an effort to learn our culture than Americans do when they travel. Because Americans are entitled and they go to countries and they're everybody like I I remember some oh this was funny. Somebody said on um the like the app, you know, when you go into the other countries how you have to scroll through the country you're from. They literally said, Why is the United States not at the top? Because they thought the United States was the top country and it should be at the top of every one of those, you know, the things you have to scroll through. I was like, it's in fucking alphabetical order. The United States is not number one everywhere in the world. It's literally you. It's like at the end, scroll for the United States. Like we are not at the top of the list, and you think that everybody should adapt our culture, where over there they speak three to four languages in each country to adapt to each other. Of course, yeah. We can't even get our kids to go into it.

SPEAKER_00 19:27

Someone speak of French, Italian, Ger uh Deutsch, whatever, you know, whatever they're close to. So Polish design, you know, it depends on where you are.

SPEAKER_01 19:35

But I'm sure they all say espresso.

SPEAKER_00 19:37

They all say espresso, yeah. They don't say espresso. You know, and the money here's the best part about it. Here is the more funny thing. That's here's another point, gang. Okay.

SPEAKER_01 19:47

This is a bonus tip.

SPEAKER_00 19:48

It's cafe. They don't even say espresso, they say cafe. Un cafe, un cafe, un cafe. Okay, and that's what they have. That's so that's how you espresso because there's no other thing. So we over here say espresso. Over there, it's just coffee.

SPEAKER_01 20:00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 20:00

So when you go get coffee over there, that's what you're getting. There's no coffee, there's no differential. You'd have to say something other than that. If you wanted a un cafe, it means you're getting espresso.

SPEAKER_01 20:10

You're getting that.

SPEAKER_00 20:10

So if you want something if you want it different, you have to explain that you want it different.

SPEAKER_01 20:14

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 20:14

So there's no espresso, you're not gonna say un espresso. No, okay. How you don't have to say that. That's what you're getting, anyways. That's what it is, right?

SPEAKER_01 20:21

Yeah, you're not getting over here.

SPEAKER_00 20:22

We say, I'll have a coffee. Okay, they bring you a coffee.

SPEAKER_01 20:25

A regular black coffee. Same thing, exactly. Same thing. Okay. That's it. That's their black coffee. So all right, so last thing we want to touch on is espresso with food. So frowned upon, you know.

SPEAKER_00 20:35

Yeah, it's not frowned upon at all. I mean, uh it the thing is, is there's not enough of it. So if you're gonna have, you know, typically with a pastry or something sweet, if you're gonna have a little uh biscotti or a cookie, something sweet.

SPEAKER_01 20:46

While you're doing the cappuccino in the morning.

SPEAKER_00 20:47

The cappuccino or something, but typically espresso, again, it's just a boom. There's not enough of it to enjoy with something. Yeah, you know what I'm saying? So by the time you're done eating something and you you you use the you the the amount of espresso you actually get in Italy, you're you're going to not have enough to wash down whatever it is in your mouth. Right? There's just not enough of it. It's not it's not an abundant fluid.

SPEAKER_01 21:08

You're not getting that. So don't when you if you do travel there, don't plan, you know, that's not what you're planning. You're planning to walk up, stand, sit, take it, keep going.

SPEAKER_00 21:15

My favorite thing with that a croissant, a chocolate croissant, or a uh or a uh choigatella or a um uh just biscotti or uh pignoli cookie or a maranti cookie. You know, something small. You eat it, and then when you're done, you got your sweet tooth done, and then you hit it with a bitter of the coffee and then walk away.

SPEAKER_01 21:31

And then just go.

SPEAKER_00 21:32

But sitting there and and drinking, it's just not enough liquid, man. You know what I mean?

SPEAKER_01 21:36

Baby sips.

SPEAKER_00 21:37

Get along.

SPEAKER_01 21:39

So that's kind of espresso chat for today. We wanted to go through, so like we said, we're kind of going to be. We hit all five. We hit it. We did hit all five. So we got through all five tips. Um people can share, I guess. You know, if you have traveled overseas or things like that, like share if you have any embarrassing moments that you felt like a dumb American um ordering in other countries. I think that would be entertaining for us to listen to.

SPEAKER_00 22:01

So so to cap off the list here espresso, not espresso. Number one.

SPEAKER_01 22:08

Number two is uh, well, we had read the room.

SPEAKER_00 22:13

Read the room. Yep. Read the room, make sure you know where you're at. Number three, understanding what it is you're ordering and when and what time of day.

SPEAKER_01 22:19

The Italian way.

SPEAKER_00 22:20

The Italian way. Understand that when you go get it, it's a quick pick-me-up, it's a quick thing standing at a ball.

SPEAKER_01 22:27

Timing is everything.

SPEAKER_00 22:28

Timing is everything, it's a quick situation. And number five. Size matters. Size matters. It's small. It's got to be hot. You've got to burn your face off. That is how you drink it. That's uh especially. That's beautiful. That's the way it is.

SPEAKER_01 22:42

Okay, that's it.

SPEAKER_00 22:43

Coffee in Italy.

Pronunciation And Key Terms

SPEAKER_01 22:44

I know. We had coffee talk. Coffee talk on the new season in 2026. That's right. So, yeah, so we appreciate you guys. We're going to do some of these. If you have other topics that you want us to talk about, definitely drop them below because this is going to be fun to kind of go back to more of the opinions and the you know the culture side of the food and beverage industry. So we're going to cover a lot more of that this year.

SPEAKER_00 23:06

Yep, absolutely. And you can get all kinds of different coffees right here in America. They all import now, they all export, it all comes here. Uh, if you want to know what to get, just get some, you know, there's Lavatsa, there's Chimbo, there's um uh Segafredo, Ily. These are the big ones you can purchase in in most upper upper end grocery stores.

SPEAKER_01 23:26

Most yeah.

SPEAKER_00 23:27

Uh Wegmans, uh, Harris Teeters around here locally.

SPEAKER_01 23:30

You can even purchase them at Mercado de Grazia right here. 245 Granby Street in Norfolk.

SPEAKER_00 23:35

I do carry Ily product and La Vat's. So um we are.

SPEAKER_01 23:39

Sorry, that was a shameless plug at the end of it.

SPEAKER_00 23:40

That was good. But but definitely go for those. My favorite, probably chimbo. K-I-M-B-O. It's a great coffee.

SPEAKER_02 23:48

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 23:48

Even if you get it ground already in the can, it comes beautifully. It's it just stays really fresh. It's good. Keep it in your freezer, use it as you need it out of your freezer.

SPEAKER_01 23:56

I love it. Don't let it get old.

SPEAKER_00 23:57

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 23:58

Don't let it get old. No. We're getting older, and don't let your coffee get older. That's right. All right. Well, cheers. Thank you guys so much. Make sure.

SPEAKER_00 24:05

Not old. Oh my gosh. I'm here all week. But um bumps. Ciao for now.

SPEAKER_01 24:10

Ciao.