L'Italo-Americano

THURSDAY, AUGUST 10, 2017 www.italoamericano.org 14 L'Italo-Americano LA VITA ITALIANA TRADITIONS HISTORY CULTURE FRANCESCA BEZZONE M y neighbor is from Naples. We bonded over our personal obses- sion on a Spanish novela and our love for coffee: we'd invite each other for one several times a day. She has one of those fancy cof- fee machines with dozens of cof- fee pod varieties and, one day, she had just received some fla- vored ones. Of course we wanted to try them and we decided to share one coffee to see if we liked it. All normal so far. A tazzina of piping hot cherry fla- vored espresso sitting on the table, and her son comes into the kitchen: we start chatting, myself and his mom try a sip of the cof- fee, we both liked it: of course he wanted to try it, too. I was about to pass the cup to him when his mother shouts "no! Don't! You can't drink one cof- fee in three!" I had never heard anything like that, but explanations came quickly: in Naples, you can't share a coffee in three, or the youngest will die. Considering her son was the youngest, I did understand the panic. This little anecdote to make you understand that coffee, in Italy, is not only a matter of taste and tradition, but also a matter of secret "scaramanzia" and quasi- religious rituality. It sounds strange to you? Well, read on to find out why it is not, at least for the people of Italy. Making coffee is a matter of alchemy Indeed it is. At least the one you make with our beloved moka. It is a simple process, mind, but in Naples, the undis- cussed world capital of coffee, they pay attention to the littlest of details: first of all, choose your water carefully and, god forbids, never use it warm to make it boil quicker, your coffee won't be nice. Better choosing fresh water, poor of calcium, even if that means picking your bottled water to do it. An old belief says the reason coffee tastes so much better in Naples is the water from the Serino river, brought to the city by an ancient aqueduct. However, Naples has- n't received that water for decades so the only secret about its coffee lies in, well… the fact Neapolitans make it better. Anyway, back to the moka and its secrets: always according to Neapolitan tradition, the cof- fee needs to be put in the filter in a particular way, without push- ing it with your spoon. Or if you do it, you should make little holes in it with a match. "The coffee needs to breathe!" they say. And they may have a point, but I've always pressed my cof- fee in the moka, and I'll keep doing it: you see how we Italians are with coffee? It's a ritual, not a drink. And what to do once it's ready? I have friends stirring it with a spoon while it's still in the moka, because "the coffee at the bottom is stronger and the one on top is weaker." I don't know if it's true, but let me tell you, they don't take it well if I don't do it. If you think diatribes are over now that your coffee is in the cup, you'd be mistaken. We have a dirty moka to take care of. On this, I agree with Neapolitan coffee alchemic tra- dition: never wash it with soap, it would ruin the flavor and aroma of your next coffee. Cleaning a moka is a job for water only, believe me. One last note taken from Naples' own Bibbia del Caffè: gifting people with coffee, sugar and a well-kept but used, moka is a fantastic way to show them you care. You see, a used moka is ready to use, it'll make perfect coffee immediately, a new one, on the other hand, needs to be tried and tested for a while. An Irish friend of mine came to visit me a few weeks back and got into the habit of having moka espresso at my house; she loved it so much she decided to buy a moka for herself to bring home, but I had to make things clear about never washing it with soap and making a bunch of throw- away brew before drinking it. She wasn't too convinced initial- ly, but took the advice on board nevertheless. Coffee is a matter of magic Admittedly, this is popular not only in Italy, or at least in certain parts of it, but also in other Mediterranean countries: reading your future on the bot- tom of your coffee cup. The habit has very ancient origins: it is said the people of Mesopotamia knew about it already, but it became popular in Europe at the apex of Ottoman power in Eastern Europe. Mind, Turkish coffee, made by adding coffee to boiling water into a metal pan, is usually used for this, but we Italians don't say no to an espresso reading: Drink your coffee, cover the cup with a saucer, turn it upside down. Wait for it to dry and voilà! Your future is ready to be read, at least if you know how to do it, that is. Neapolitan Rituals I told you already about the "don't share an espresso in three" thing, but Naples does have a series of quirks and pecu- liarities also when it comes to making the coffee. For instance, you can actually get your coffee in different types of cups: your regular porcelain one, a glass one or in a shot glass. In Naples, apparently, it's also common for the barista to add sugar to your cup before brewing, so make sure you tell them if you take it sugarless, as I do. It is also com- mon to keep coffee cups warm as, apparently, coffee is more aromatic in hot cups. It's amazing how much histo- ry and passion lies behind a ges- ture as simple as making a cup of coffee and we Italians are the demonstration of it. But you know what, coffee deserves it: its warm bitterness and luscious body make our days easier to go through, relieve us of stress and support us through endless weeks at work. What would the life of Italy be without coffee? In Italy, coffee means Naples: it comes as no surprise to know many of the rituals related to coffee making and drinking come from this beautiful city. © Fabio Giuseppe Pizzuto | Dreamstime Stirring the coffee while still in the caffettiera: do you do it? It's amazing how much history and passion lies behind a gesture as simple as making a cup of coffee and we Italians are the demonstration of it Coffee and "scaramanzia," an entirely made in Italy match

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