Poca Schiuma, Per Favore.

How could I not blog this article?


Italy's arrivederci to cafe culture

Barbara McMahon in Rome
Sunday October 16, 2005
The Observer

Like pizza and ice cream parlours, the coffee bar is sacred in Italy. But the tradition of going for a cappuccino or an espresso is under threat from a new menace - the coffee machine. Thanks to aggressive marketing by manufacturers, who are practically giving them away free in offices, factories, universities and even train stations, self-service coffee is invading Italy and putting in peril the livelihood of many baristas.
New figures show half a million automatic coffee machines have been installed in the past year in public places, serving an estimated two million 'portions' of coffee. As more Italians become accustomed to the machines, a new language is being learnt. 'I'll have a number 64 or a 32' is replacing time-honoured descriptions of coffee such as con schiuma, macchiato, doppio, tiepido, lungo or corretto.


One of the reasons for the change is that Italians are struggling to deal with a faster pace of life, under pressure to do more, earn more and not waste time. An analysis of the crisis in the newspaper La Repubblica points out that it takes four minutes to get a coffee from a machine as opposed to eight minutes to get one in a bar. Cost is also a factor. The price of an automatic coffee is between 30 and 60 centesimi while a freshly prepared one in a bar costs from 70 centesemi to one euro.
The depersonalisation of the coffee rite is sneaking into Italian homes as well. Sales of automatic machines were recently declared in a brides' magazine to be the most sought-after gift of young couples.

Carlo Odello of the Italian National Institute for Espresso in Brescia, which monitors coffee standards, acknowledges the headway that coffee machines are making.

There are an estimated 130,000 establishments serving coffee nationwide and his organisation is concerned with keeping standards high, introducing a certification programme to safeguard and promote the quality of coffee. 'I can understand why automatic machines are creeping in but I do not think they should replace the rite of standing at a bar or sitting and watching the world go by,' he says. 'The skill of a barista cannot be replicated by a machine.'

Mario Spinnato, general manager of the Spinnato Antico Caffé in Palermo, agrees. 'For Italians having a coffee at a bar is a pause in the day. It's irreplaceable.'

Now for the up close and personal take on this story. I take my cappuccino with poca schiuma and I have yet to see one of these infamous machines with a line up of customers. Yes, for sure, most offices have an automatic espresso machine as well as many homes, but, big deal? You go at around 10 in the morning to a bar in any city, even little Chiavari, and you find a line up at the bar for a coffee. Not to mention the quiet competition for the customers during apperitivo hour. Free food reels in everyone. The cafe culture is in no danger of disappearing!

A tardi!