Caffe a Roma, un caffè aggiornamento!

(Coffee in Rome, a coffee update!)

Ciao a tutti! Hello everyone! It's been a while since we last posted, so I thought the next most appropriate post in this blog would be my most favorite topic in the world, FOOD <3. It's been 11 days, and Camy, Isaac and I have learned a thing or two about eating and drinking well in Rome :) Let's start with coffee! 

To be honest, I was really disappointed in my first cappuccino here in Rome. As I wrote in my last blog post, the first cappuccino I got was from Cafffe Camerino ("with three fs" is their motto, don't know why :P). I didn't tell you this for the sake of not grossing you out, but after I drank that cappuccino my stomach hurt really bad. Let's just say I was visiting the toilet very often for the rest of that day. I felt miserable, and depressed at the same time because drinking caffe is at the heart of Rome's food culture. Almost EVERYONE here drinks a shot of espresso or some kind of coffee drink at least once during the day, in fact there are coffee bars all around the city. So I felt like I wouldn't be able to experience the rich taste of coffee in Rome because my stomach was too sensitive. Little did I know that my body was adjusting to the Roman diet! Ever since that day, I've been drinking cappuccinos almost every morning and my body has not responded badly in the slightest, besides being super alert and a little jittery. Anyways, let's cut to the chase and explore Italian coffee drinks!

Caffe #1: My favorite: The Cappuccino

At Gio coffee bar

According to my Italian teacher, un cappuccino is made with equal parts espresso and milk :) With a little sprinkle of sugar or a pastry on the side this drink is delicious!

Caffe #2: The Marocchino

Bar Orologio

The Marocchino basically consists of half an espresso shot of coffee and a heaping tablespoon of cream. It is finished off with some chocolate shavings. This is honestly pretty spectacular, the chocolate gives it a great sweet but bitter touch!

Caffe #3: The Caffe Latte Freddo

Terra at Bar Orologio

My friend Terra is holding the caffe latte freddo, a cold latte (which consists of, according to my teacher, more coffee and less milk) that is sweetened with sugar. 

Interestingly, in Italy only cold coffee drinks are pre-sweetened. Hot drinks always come with packets of sugar on the side for sweetening. All cold coffee drinks are followed by the word "freddo" which, as you can probably guess, means "cold". haha. Camy and Isaac mostly like to get freddo drinks :)

Here they are with their cappuccino freddo and latte freddo:

Camy and Isaac at Cafffe Camerino

Funny Story: I tried to ask the coffee bar owner of one of my favorite coffee bars Bar Orologio what his favorite coffee drink was in broken Italian. At first he thought I was complimenting his coffee, saying "you make good coffee". It took a few minutes before one of the other students saved me by asking, in italian "which coffee do you prefer?" He immediately responded "Un caffe espresso" as if it was a given :P. So, my friends, if you are a true Italian, your favorite drink will be a simple shot of espresso. Have I made it there yet? No, but maybe by the end of this trip, I will :)

Ciao! ciao ciao!

Kaori

p.s. I made a video under ©iao! productions of our experience in the Pantheon. You can view it here: http://youtu.be/T0ugjc2ERGs