(Photo source)
Like tea is to England, so is coffee, or café, to the rest of Europe.
I have noted several times my love for all things tea – tea pots, tea cups, tea spoons, and, of course, tea itself. But what many of you may not know is that I have an equal passion for coffee. Well, not exactly coffee – espresso. A coffee novice might ask – what is the difference – coffee is coffee. Not true. Now I won’t get into the specifics of coffee vs. espresso, I’ll save that for another post. However, as I see it, espresso is coffee on steroids. Or, to put it mildly, it’s like the a plain chocolate cake that has been magically transformed into a molten lava delight. For true coffee aficionados, once you have an espresso, you rarely go back.
Although I have been an espresso fan for years (thanks to the all-powerful Starbucks), I’ve rarely enjoyed a simple shot of espresso. I’ve always felt it was too strong of a taste and even stronger on my stomach. But this Christmas, I was fortunate enough to receive a Nepresso Citiz machine as a gift – and a true gift indeed! Despite having a monopoly on espresso pods, Nespresso really knew what it was doing when it made this machine. It can make authentic espresso just as if you were in Italy, France, Switzerland, etc – in about 15 seconds. Plus, the accompanying milk steamer/frother makes it extremely easy, and almost addicting, to make at-home lattes, as good or even better than the green siren. Oh, and did I mention the elite Nespresso club led by George Clooney? Aside from the damage all of this strong coffee is doing to my delicate stomach, the only problem I can see is keeping enough milk in the house to accommodate my new Nespresso habit.
And so, just as I imagine drinking my English Breakfast tea at Liberty in London, I now sip on my Nespresso latte and dream I’m in a Paris cafe. If only I could get George Clooney to personally deliver my milk, life would be one big grande latte. Ooh la la!
Ciao!
