Caffè here and there, then and now, part 2

As I mentioned in part 1, it was never easy finding a good espresso in Italy.

That was always surprising. But it’s still true. We still haven’t had a great espresso on this trip. I keep asking people for recommendations, and they always struggle to come up with one. One person even said that he goes to his regular place because his friends run it, not because it’s good; he recommended another place, which we haven’t had time to try yet.

BTW, I say “espresso” but here in Verona it’s still more common just to say “caffè” (=coffee) when you want an espresso. There are a couple ways to specify that you want an espresso, though, especially as a tourist (we don’t want to accidentally get an Americano = an American style coffee). One way is simply to say “espresso” (or “espressi” if you’re ordering two, as I am for L and myself). You can also say “caffè espresso”, or “caffè normale” (=a normal coffee, i.e. an espresso).

But a more fun way, which used to be the truly local way, is to say “caffè liscio” (or “caffè lisci” for more than one). What makes it fun is that liscio means “smooth”, so you’re ordering a smooth coffee/espresso.

Our friend M taught me this a long time ago. And as a true local, he would sometimes just say “un liscio” but for some reason, that never worked for me. People would stare at me uncomprehendingly until I caved and said “espresso”. Of course I caved — I wanted my espresso!

You might recall that the first brand of espresso I had was LavAzza, and we have remained somewhat loyal to it, except at home, where we always get our home coffee from Vernon Coffee Roasters (no, I’m not an influencer, just a very satisfied customer). On this trip, we haven’t gone to a lot of different cafes, but we can’t recall seeing LavAzza in any restaurant or cafe. (Except today, we got LavAzza at the restaurant we went to with M and S and family!) The price of coffee has been skyrocketing the past couple years, so maybe LavAzza is just too expensive. We haven’t seen Illy, the other major national brand, either. I’ll have to ask around for what’s going on.

Here’s a photo of our morning coffee break at Cafe Martel, our regular place here in Verona. Notice the matching cup and saucer — that’s pretty common, and in cafes, they often have the brand of coffee that’s being served: on the inside this says Segafredo.

Of course you can also see the pastries we got: brioches filled with apricot, and risini (a rice custard tart, but more about that later.)

Next in the series: some thoughts about the places we get caffè/coffee.