17 December 2007 by Shifrah Combiths
Vive La Difference: Coffee Consumption in Europe and America
I delighted in my morning espresso runs. Patrons glided in, bubbling over with graceful French niceties I couldn’t understand, stood at the counter while they downed their drinks and promptly went on their ways. I sat at a table, journal open and pen in hand, people-watching and drinking my own espresso slowly. It was strong.
In the afternoons, we strolled past Europeans crowded comfortably around too-small tables upon which sat cigarette packages, one per person, open and ready while their owners engaged in riveting conversation. Accompanying this ritual were either cocktails or more espresso, maybe depending on what the rest of the day would bring.
While I did enjoy French and Italian espresso, I balked at the coffee served to me in the Czech Republic. It was essentially Turkish coffee, a gritty sludge that tasted like ashes to my untrained palate. Not wanting to offend the waiter by leaving the coffee apparently untouched, I snuck the little cup with me to the bathroom and washed it out, not realizing until it was too late that this – even more – belied my distaste.
Compared to our European coffee-drinking counterparts, we Americans are accustomed to coffee that’s quite diluted. This is not only because we typically don’t allow for much contact between water and the grinds. We are also not averse to sloshing cold half-and-half or milk into our hot brews or, worse yet, high fructose corn syrup-laced so-called creamers whose flavors, from pumpkin pie and egg nog to crème brulèe and chocolate, change with the seasons.
Europeans only cautiously add milk, and only if it’s warmed or steamed. In fact, cappuccinos, as they’re called in Italy, and café crèmes as they’re called in France, are considered a breakfast drink and they aren’t served past a certain time of day. But espressos are served well into the evening. They are even an after-dinner drink near ten o’clock.
Which brings us to another discrepancy. Most Americans consider espresso to be the most caffeinated coffee beverage. Bleary-eyed college students across the country order “triple espressos” on their way to class. But espresso actually has less caffeine than most regular cups of coffee. This is because, counter-intuitively, the darker the roast, the less caffeine content.
We tend to associate the strong flavor obtained through longer roasting times with higher levels of caffeine. But that’s not the way it goes. So, by adding an espresso shot to your coffee, you’re actually diluting the power it will pack. Europeans know better. In fact, they’ve named the diluted espresso drinks Westerners demanded after us: Americanos are espresso shots thinned with water.
Europeans are not above adopting our American coffee customs. City-dwelling female Swedes have provoked a new term to describe practices that may have come from stateside: “mamma-lattes” are stroller-pushing, latte-toting women. Seems standard to us, but it’s a change from the usual Swedish way of drinking coffee.
As other Europeans tend to do, Swedes most often drink their coffee black. Milk-suffused cappuccinos and lattes are a fresh trend. And taking the coffee to go, as these mamma-lattes have begun to do, is also a break from tradition. Swedish custom dictates a pleasant sit-down routine – fikas, mid-morning and mid-afternoon breaks from work and play to indulge in pastries and coffee.
No matter the differences and overlaps, coffee consumption the world over has its culture. The unassuming brown bean full of so much potential incites conversations and customs no matter where we are, lending yet another thread to the global web of shared things that binds us all together.