I published a post on how to order an Italian coffee in Italy years ago on this site – the definitive guide to Italian coffee for coffee lovers! Since then, it’s been one of my most popular posts, and I’ve had requests to make it into an ebook and expand it ever since.

I’m happy to say it’s now available for Amazon Kindle! This concise ebook is great for anyone who loves coffee, anyone who is traveling to or loves Italy, and makes a great gift!

If you have a mobile device or even just a computer, you can read this ebook – the Amazon Kindle App is available for just about every device aside from Kindles (read below for links & info!)

Here’s more information about How to Order an Italian Coffee in Italy – I’d love it if you bought a copy!

How to Order an Italian Coffee in Italy is a comprehensive and concise guide to all of the major variations of coffee, or caffè espresso in Italian, as they can be found in Italy.

A descriptive look at the most common coffee options for travelers to Italy, with close-up photos of each variety and the proper names in Italian with pronunciation guides so you’ll be ready to order your favorite variety in any bar in Italy.

Also included are descriptions of special coffee drinks, non-coffee drinks you can find in a bar, and all about sweeteners for your coffee.

Bonus chapters include: Italian breakfast – what to expect and order to eat with your coffee; Understanding the bar culture in Italy; and How to make coffee at home like an Italian.

Buy How to Order an Italian Coffee in Italy in your Amazon store!! (note: the content is in English regardless of the Amazon store you buy it from):

• How to Order an Italian Coffee in Italy on Amazon.com
• How to Order an Italian Coffee in Italy on Amazon.co.uk
  
• How to Order an Italian Coffee in Italy on Amazon.de
  
• How to Order an Italian Coffee in Italy on Amazon.fr
• How to Order an Italian Coffee in Italy on Amazon.it
• How to Order an Italian Coffee in Italy on Amazon.es

Loved the original post? Here’s why you should buy the ebook:

• you’ll always access to the content wherever you are, no internet connection necessary
• more than twice the content than in the original post
• new chapters on Italian breakfast and bar culture
• dozens of full-color photos (black & white photos only on Kindle devices, full-color on mobile devices/computers & Kindle Fire) including new and updated photos
• new pronunciation guides to help you order in Italian
• you can gift the book to any of your coffee-loving friends with a single click!

Frequently Asked Questions:

I don’t have a Kindle – can I read this ebook?
Yes! Here are links to the (free) Amazon Kindle App software for Android phone, Blackberry, iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad, Windows phone, Web OS or Mac or a PC. After you download and install the Kindle App software, you can buy the book and read it on your device!

I don’t have a mobile device or Kindle - can I read this ebook?
Yes! If you don’t have a mobile device or Kindle, you can still read this ebook. Here are links to the (free) Amazon Kindle App software for Mac and PC. After you download and install the Kindle App software, you can buy the book and read it on your desktop/laptop!

You can now also read Kindle books in your browser! To start reading, go to http://read.amazon.com using Chrome, Safari on iPad, Safari on desktop and now Mozilla Firefox.

Is the ebook available in X format?
I’m working on making the ebook available in other formats, but for now it’s available on the Amazon Kindle platform and can be read on all the above devices.

Can I give this book as a gift to someone?
Yes! Gifting ebooks is becoming one of my favorite things! All you need is that person’s email address, and on the Amazon page near the buying options, click on “Give as Gift” and insert their email address. Boom! Instant gift!

Why are you charging for this content when it’s free on your site?
The ebook is not just a copy of the original post – it’s actually twice the content, including expanded existing content and new chapters on Italian breakfast and bar culture in Italy which aren’t in the original post. I added pronunciation guides so you can order that much easier, and I also added several new photos and updated some of the existing photos, too.

Can I lend your book with the Kindle Lending program?
Yes, I enabled lending for this book. Hopefully your friend will love it and buy their own copy after, too.

Why isn’t X included in this version of the ebook?
I had to stop expanding at some point and publish it, but if you have a suggestion for what should be in a future edition, let me know! I’m open to suggestions.

You misspelled X or forgot X in the book.
If you find an error in the text, I appreciate you letting me know so it can be fixed for future purchasers. Contact me with specifics.

Have a friend or family member who’s a coffee lover who might like this book? Tell them about it, or gift it!

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So delicious.

Quick and easy, only a few ingredients and one pot are needed to make this meal, and very little prep aside from the cleaning and soaking of the mussels. It can also be cheap since mussels are only a few euro for a kilo here in Italy. I’ve done this dish back in Milan as well, though without the salty sea air the experience does wane a bit. I love eating a pepata di cozze on the beach at lunch.

Pepata di Cozze – Steamed Mussels

I love the simplicity of this dish, but if you want pasta with your shellfish, try spaghetti allo scoglio (frutti di mare) or spaghetti con vongole – clams

a few cloves of garlic
olive oil
1 kilo of mussels
pepper, freshly ground
flat-leaf parsley (optional)
small tomatoes (optional)
white wine (optional)

1. Prepare the mussels if they haven’t been cleaned – soak them, scrub them well and remove the beard (step-by-step directions on cleaning mussels) and rinse them.
2. Get a large, deep cooking pot you have a lid for (glass is best so you can see in), and heat several tablespoons of olive oil in the bottom of the pan. Add the garlic cloves and sauté until they start to brown.
3. At this point, you can also add in a glass of white wine or the tomatoes if desired, and heat that back up to a fast simmer before the next step.
4. Add the drained mussels to the pot, and close the lid on top. In 4-5 minutes all the mussels should have opened – if not, turn up the heat a bit and put the lid back on for a few more minutes. Depending on how many mussels / size of pot / etc it shouldn’t take more than 10 minutes.
5. Take the pot off the heat (and turn off), and add the chopped up parsley and ground pepper. Discard any unopened mussels.
6. Serve in soup bowls and toast pieces of bread to serve at the bottom of the bowl or on the side.

The aftermath of pepata di cozze.

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The locale? vino roma on the lungotevere, along the Tiber river just above the Castel Sant’Angelo, where Hande and her husband, who are both sommeliers, run wine tastings and other events.

The star of the evening? Franciacorta, a sparkling wine that comes from Lombardy, in the region where I live. Franciacorta has a DOCG status, controlled designation of origin guaranteed, which means only wine using grapes from the Franciacorta area can be called so. I can’t articulate all of its qualities (ask Hande about them), but I definitely appreciate its crisp bubbliness, and it’s one of my favorite things to drink. So I was more than ready to concentrate on the theme for the evening.

We all brought a bottle each of Franciacorta to share. When we arrived, we went up to the roof with everyone to enjoy a crisp glass of Franciacorta and bottles #1, 2, 3, and 4.

Where else can you get a view of Rome like this?

St. Peter’s in the distance – the view is only marred by yet another crane hovering above it (cranes a very normal sight in Milan)

The sunset washed everything with a golden glow, and I set about taking pictures of all the people present.

Our lovely hosts, Hande and Theodor – aren’t they cute together? :)

We came back downstairs to pop bottles #5, 6, 7, and 8.

This cheese not only aesthetically pleased me, but I couldn’t stop nibbling at it – formaggio con mirto – cheese with myrtle berries, the same berries when distilled that become the Sardinian liquer mirto.

A perfect aperitivo, Franciacorta accompanied by a 5-grain zucchini and pesto salad that I whipped up in my friend’s kitchen, a summer eggplant salad, and lots and lots of cheese and pizza bianca (and yes, I made sure to get a fresh piece at Roscioli.

Souvenirs from the event – wine corks and vino roma brochures. Corks from bottles #9 and 10 went right on top.

Bottles #11 and 12. And the pièce de résistance, the roasted porchetta head! After the body slices were devoured, the head was set up and cracked up by none other than Ms. Katie Parla, who made quick work of getting to the good parts.

I definitely recommend checking out vino roma if you’re headed to Rome. They do wine tasting, wine & cheese lunch, Rome food tours, and sparkling wine events, too!

vino roma: Drink wine. Not too much. Mainly Italian.
http://www.vinoroma.com/

To see other pictures from our evening, check Un’Americana a Roma’s round-up.

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Of course, I think about the absolutely fun time I had with Elise of Simply Recipes, Kathy of Panini Happy, Jaden of Steamy Kitchen and Deb of Lunch in a Box – their company made every course fun and we spent a lot of the time laughing.

But I remember the food, too. As Jaden said, it was a “Splurge of a Lifetime.” Definitely check out her pictures which are much better than mine – I left the DSLR at home for once, so I included some pics from my point-and-shoot below and an epic video of Grant making us dessert. Click through to see each photo bigger on Flickr.

I also reflected that I don’t want to eat like that often. Grant Achatz, the creator and chef, calls his type of dining “an emotional experience” and compares it to going to the theater or listening to a symphony.

I have to agree.

But it’s also a strong reminder that I rarely want to eat like that, so I can savor the times that I do, and continue to focus on how I want to approach food: real, simple, healthy.

Molecular gastronomy is at the opposite end of the spectrum of how I like to cook (with the exception of Parisien macarons and a few other sweets that definitely take some intricate steps), and it’s definitely the opposite of Italian food: simple, natural, and unpretentious. For fun, ask both an Italian and a French what they think of each others’ cuisine and sit back and be entertained (bonus points for doing it with them in the same room).

But.

But.

Much like being the guest at a very elaborate wedding, I was very pleased to be there but very glad that I wasn’t responsible for creating those dishes. And further confirmation I don’t want to go into the restaurant business. At least not doing that. (Hats off to those who actually attempted the Alinea at home cookbook)

And I admire people that put such passion and creativity into cooking. Grant Achatz’s memoir “Life on the Line” came out in March and I really enjoyed listening to his recent interview with Terry Gross on NPR’s Fresh Air – if you didn’t know, he was diagnosed with tongue cancer in 2007 and lost his sense of taste for quite some time.

One of the things he said about the small portions they serve really resonated with me, especially since you know I’m eating better all around. His courses are often just one bite, sometimes a handful of bites. His reasoning?

“..by your fifth bite, you’re done with [the thing you're eating]. You know what it’s going to taste like, the actual flavor starts to deaden on the palate. If we were to make you take 10 more bites, by the time you got to bite 15, [it's] just not that compelling anymore.”

I think this is absolutely true and something to remember especially with our indulgences, which we should still have – complete deprivation is not the answer (as long as it’s not making you ill in some way). We probably only need a few bites to really enjoy it, and it’s a great feeling to stop before you get palate fatigue. Moderation, and keep your palate fresh.

I won’t walk you through the entire menu (and I sheepishly can’t remember all the ingredients, there were so many) but here are a few highlights. Where I could remember I included the course name in quotes and bolded.

The first course “Roe” was obviously several types of roe – fish eggs. I admit my stomach dropped into my shoes as I’m not a big fan (though I’ve eaten roe) and I didn’t want to admit having problems already at the first course. But down it went, and it was helped by the wine pairing served with the course.

Luckily for me, everything only got better from there.

I loved the presentation of “Pork Belly” but couldn’t describe the taste after so long.

“Lilac,” “Crab,” and “Hot Potato” were also nice but didn’t leave a lasting flavor or emotional impression.

“Wagyu Beef” was one of my favorites, a sort of deconstructed barbecue: pieces of wagyu beef, a fried potato concoction, and powdered “A-1 steak sauce.”

The piece de resistance, a stone vase that had been sitting in the middle of our table until this course, and when water was added, barbecue/smoke-scented smoke came out from the dry ice within.

I loved the concept of this course, “Tomato“, a summer garden filled with many vegetarian delights – the Parmesan snow in the lower right was cold and melted in your mouth…

…but what affected me the most was the bowls of basil and tomato branches and the dirt they were sticking out of. That really made me feel like I was in a garden (and I love smelling tomato branches when I buy them from the market).

“Black Truffle” with one of the ingredients listed as “explosion” is one of the most known dishes (or perhaps at the time). Notice that the spoon is resting on a bottomless plate – you had to put the entire thing in your mouth, close your lips, and bite down to get the hot broth explosion which was as good as we’d hoped.

One of my favorites which I didn’t expect it to be – “Pigeonneau” which was, you guessed it, squab (young pigeons raised to be eaten). I’ve had pigeon before – in Tuscany it was cooked in a cast iron pan and I kept reaching for the brown sticky leftovers – but it reminded me how much I liked it. The meat was very tender and the rest of the pastry had little surprises like the onion you see there (love onions).

Two of my favorite courses served together: “Bacon” which wasn’t, on a swing, and “Sweet Potato” stuck on smoldering cinnamon sticks that smelled delicious!

We had a lot of fun with these dessert “cigars” called “Bubble Gum” and rocking our raspberry “Transparency” shards in their appointed rockers, as well as the cool “Watermelon” ball looking thing in a glass.

“Mustard” has been forgotten…

…but “Rhubarb” is notable because the plates were set on pillows filled with lavender-scented air that slowly deflated as you ate (Grant talks about this in his NPR interview).

The “Chocolate” dessert course was my favorite, of course. Where else can you get a chef like Grant Achatz to cover your table in silicone and spend several minutes creating the dessert directly in front of you? Thyme, tobacco, blueberry, maple, and freeze-dried chocolate mousse were the flavors in this dessert and we had a lot of fun eating it, but perhaps more fun watching it get made – art in progress!

All the ingredients ready to be used in our “Chocolate” dessert.

And we got to talk to him the entire time. If you pay close attention, he explains it all as he’s doing it and answers some of our questions very patiently. (Click through to see the video below on my site or YouTube]

I told him thanks in my own way.

We got Grant to sign our menus which have become a fun keepsake for that night.

Grant explaining to us how a masterpiece works

The lovely ladies: Elise from Simply Recipes, Kathy from Panini Kathy

Biggie from Lunch in a Box, and Jaden from Steamy Kitchen

I’ll be speaking at BlogHer 2011 in August in San Diego, so hopefully I’ll get to see these ladies again, and we can have some more emotional experiences together in the form of food :)

What about you? Have you eaten at Alinea, or somewhere similar, and do you dream of this type of dining experience?

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