Do you like an Italian coffee? La miscela con più robusta o arabica? La tazza con pareti dritte e sottili o obbligue e molto spesse? Quanto caffè ?

DON’T OPEN THAT DOOR IN THAT BAR YOU WILL FIND JUST WASTE COFFEE!

Sorry for be late, my new article is on! Please note I’ll divide it in Half First “TASTING A COFFEE AT BAR” and Half Second “TASTING A COFFEE AT HOME”. In these months I have been visiting a lot of Coffee House and Bar all around Italy and Europe to better explain to you the best way to understand very fast if you can taste a good coffee or rubish in that coffee room. I state that my judgments are mine only and they are contestable by everyone. Sorry I will not name the coffee brands because I do not would want give a displeasure to my friends, owners or managers of many known and unknown coffee companies. So now I am pleased to offer you my “simple” conclusions on the world of coffee. As you know Linkedin needs short article so my one’ld be concentrated. My students know I like the concept and not sales and production statistics that you could easily find on the web. My intention is to give you some basic instructions to be managed every time you were going to be visiting a Bar or buying a coffee brand to take home. The coffee world is like a big wild forest, believe me. There are many points to analyze but I will try to give you some quick references to understand from outside the coffee bar immediately which coffee you are going to drink. Step1)THE GOAL: you’ve to taste a creamy, dense and very tasty coffee and not just a black hot drink. Step2)THE STORE SIZE:  remember that it’s not important if you are going to enter in a small or large bar. As you know the small barrel has best wine inside sometimes. Step3)THE PROFESSIONAL COFFEE MACHINE: Before entering look at the shop’s window if they have the automatic machine or the manual one with the levers (please see my pictures). If you see the automatic one, please do not open that door and go looking for another bar. If you see inside on the bar desk the manual machine with the levers, be quiet and sure, in that bar you will find very professional people. A five-year-old child just pressing a button can drive the automatic machine but never he’ld can be able to manage the manual one. Only expert and professional barman can drive the machine’s levers that goes to load water directly from the boiler and not stagnant water as automatic machine. In the manual machine for each group there is a direct escape to the coffee pod, this involves a completely different extraction compared to an automatic or semi-automatic machine. The coffee maker engulfs the living hot 128° water when he pushes the lever down and put water inside the group for the best infusion contacting the well mixed, ground and brown toasted coffee. After a 5 seconds pre-infusion the coffee must be cooked with levers not heated as in automatic machine. The professional barman will manually give 14-16 pressure on the coffee and not 0-8 bar as in the linear automatic and semi-automatic machines so the volatile aromas will be extracted very fast. The differences between the two types of machines are many but many managers prefer the automatic so they do not need to pay a real professional and because the manual requires more maintenance. Finding a bar in Naples without the machine with manual levers is difficult, but in the world and in other Italian cities you find almost exclusively automatic machines. But if you look for the car with the levers you find it and then also tell your friends and all lovers of real coffee. In Rome, Turin, Venice, Florence, New York, Tokyo and all over the world, factories as San Marco, Cimbali, Faema, etc. have sold machines with levers. I will write in the comments some addresses or you can ask them to send you the list of your city. Go there to taste a coffee and you will thank me. Step4) HOW THE COFFEE IS FOLLOWING DOWN INTO THE CUP. You’ve to be in look at the liquid that comes down in the cup when the barman is making a coffee. If it is thin and continuous like a drizzle of oil the barman is making a good coffee. If the liquid comes down broken up, you have to refuse the coffee because it is burned. If the liquid is very large you’ve to refuse it because the coffee is full of water. If the liquid is whitish, reject the coffee because the barman has not heated the water cylinder and is making coffee with not boiling water. Step5) THE CUP. Now look at the cup, it must be convex and with very thick walls. The cup must be very hot, over a hundred degrees because of hygienic reasons and to cook the coffee more. The Neapolitan people call this kind of cup “three C coffee "Comme Catz Coce" Fucking cup is burning the fingers. The coffee should not fall in the center, but bursting on the cup wall creating a thicker cream. Step6) HOW MUCH COFFEE? Each cup must be made by minimum seven grams of coffee, in some Neapolitan bars the coffee is made by eight changing the filter. Step7) MORE  ARABIC OR ROBUST? I will answer this very important question with a large article as soon as posible. Step8) COFFEE GRINDER: unlike the name the professional one does not have to grind the coffee but cut it into very thin slices. If the blades are not sharpened the coffee will be burned and it’ll make a very bad coffee. Step9) CLEANING FILTERS: every evening the barman must clean capsules and filters to prevent the partial obstruction that will drive water in a corner only, not using the seven or eight grams of coffee entirely, making a dirty and watered down coffee. Step10) CLEANING THE CUPS: do not use bleach to turn white the cup the bicarbonate with very little white vinegar will be nice and very effective. Step 11 and more as soon as possible.