Guest Post: Author of Passeggiata, GG Husak
Today I have the pleasure of introducing you to G.G. Husak, author of Passeggiata: Strolling through Italy. G.G. and her husband Al make a yearly pilgrimage to Italy in March, enjoying the Bel Paese from the inside, and this book is the result of their trips.
G.G. writes that Italy has become comfortable and familiar for them “even though we know ours is a fringe position and that, as visitors, we have the luxury of a romantic and imaginative perspective. Still, we are pleased that we can stand at a counter in a café in a small town and drink cappuccino with the local folks, pretending that, in our jeans and black jackets, we blend in. We feel as if we belong, at least for the moment.”
The book is a collection of tales from their stroll, or passeggiata, through various Italian cities and towns, and the following is
G.G.’s take on Italian coffee:
Returning to Italy means a return to the best espresso and cappuccino in the world. One of our simple pleasures is watching the owner of a small café prepare the espresso or cappuccino as we lean over the bar. We smell the coffee beans, feel the steam, and hear the froth of milk.
Instead of a complex language describing the size, additions, and ratios of our drink ingredients, in Italy, we simply ask for a caffé or cappuccino, not wet or dry, not small or large.
We know that if we sit at a table in a cafe and have our coffee served to us, it may cost several dollars, but if we stand at the counter, drinking the same coffee without table service, it will be 50 cents.
We know that ordering “coffee” or “caffè” will bring us a cup of espresso, rather than American style coffee. If we want a lighter drink, coffee with milk, we order a cappuccino or latte.
We know that Italians drink espresso, rather than cappuccino or latte, later in the day, adding milk only in the mornings. Waitpeople have gotten used to visitors like us enjoying both in the afternoons. In a café we know to leave a small coin beside the cup as a tip, even if we are served standing.
We are accustomed to seeing loose sugar in a bowl on the bar with a couple of communal spoons, no little bags of sanitized sugar and no sugar substitutes. There is also no mess, no torn wrappers, no empty powdered cream containers, no paper to-go cups and no wooden or plastic stir sticks. You get a cup, a saucer and a spoon.
Occasionally an office or shop worker from down the block will come in and get a small tray of coffees, presumably for coworkers, and leave with a round tray and several ceramic espresso cups. Later they will bring back the empties.
Recently in Rome, I was shocked to see my first ever take-out coffee shop, with a sign advertising cups “to-go.” I guessed that they were targeting the tourists. But thinking of the waste of paper and plastic that we have unfortunately come to see as normal in many coffee shops at home, I can’t imagine that Italy would ever go down that road.
What do you think?
Do Starbucks and the like have a chance in Italy?
29 Beans of Wisdom to “Guest Post: Author of Passeggiata, GG Husak”
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Michelle Kaminsky is an American attorney-turned-freelance writer who lived in her family's ancestral village in Calabria, Italy for 15 years. This blog is now archived.
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Uffa! Magari che no!!
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OK, but how do you *really* feel?
The first time I was in Italy I felt like a complete fool b/c I actually ordered a latte “to go” and was surprised that they didn’t even have paper cups with sleeves and lids. A couple of days later, I finally realized that that just wasn’t something Italians did; they would stand at the counter, drink their drink until it was done and THEN move on with their day. I think they just know how to enjoy life and enjoy every moment of life at leisure, including something as simple as morning caffe! Viva Italia! Personally, if I were Italian, I would feel insulted if a Starbucks tried to set up shop in the country that invented the whole thing in the first place ! Happy Friday, too 🙂
One morning rather early in our relationship, Paolo brought me cappuccino from the bar…and it was loosely covered with plastic wrap. Too funny!
Where do you get a caffe for 50 cents these days? I for one would hope that a Starbucks goes belly up if they ever insulted Italy and the Italians by opening up a store there. Speaking of caffe I’m using my electric Mokka more and more these days. the caffe is not as good as Naples but just as good or better than Tuscany or Umbria.
Here it’s 60 cents as far as I know. I usually get cappuccino 🙂 Glad to hear you’re loving that Moka…they are amazing little machines!
Oh I really hope not, Michelle. They’re everywhere. About 6 years ago I went to Beijing. On the first morning I walked to a local market from the hotel – only about 2 miles. I passed 3 Starbucks and 2 MacDonalds. I thought to myself, I could be anywhere in the world.
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That is a tragic picture you’ve painted 🙁
Italians are coffee snobs (according to them, their’s is the best and everything else is dirty water) and a Starbucks could only do well where there is high tourist traffic and only if they eliminated all the Italian sounding names of their products 😉
Every time we go back to Canada my husband is always perplexed by the sight of people holding coffee cups everywhere they go. I don’t miss that at all. I quite like the coffee culture here, but I still have my filter coffee maker at home to satisfy my need for a mug of French Vanilla!
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I hear you Joanne…I’m sipping on an American brewed coffee right now 😉
Italy doesn’t need Starbucks or the like but many countries in the world still have coffee that is mediocre and very expensive or just plain cheap bad coffee or even expensive and bad coffee. I’m not a militant anti-Starbucks person because Starbucks has been good for non-coffee drinking cultures and made their coffee consumption go up and also introduced a benchmark for what coffee should taste (or might taste) like versus some blend of Nescafe instant coffee or just any bad coffee.
They’re also useful at airports where they notoriously have bad everything at a painfully expensive price. Starbucks is a welcome sight to me at most airports because of this.
Some of my British friends became ‘Latte Converts’ after visiting Starbucks from their Nescafe with cold milk deals. I bought my coffee from Carluccio’s in London because it was right in front of my office and their coffee tasted worse than the Starbucks in Tokyo but what the heck…
So Starbucks to me, is a useful stepping stone for some from some bastardized watered down not very good version of coffee to good coffee – so I think they have served and still serve their purpose in traditionally non-coffee drinking cultures…but have no raison d’etre in Italy!
P.S. In an ideal world you’d have Italians popping up on demand even in the middle of the vast plains of Mongolia to make you your espresso or cappuccino but well, the world isn’t ideal and we don’t have Aladdin’s magic lamp which only gives you three wishes anyway.
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This is an excellent point; it’s quite difficult for me to imagine a place with mediocre or *worse* no coffee at all, but I suppose you’re right that at least Starbucks can be a gateway…nice positive spin! I like it!
*Clarification: The coffee at any random Starbucks in London tasted worse than a random Starbucks in Tokyo.
Interesting….
The founder of Starbucks got the idea from visiting Milan. What are they going to do, sell fake Italian named products back the Italians? Get the you know what outta here.
Starbucks is planning a massive expansion in Europe. They have over saturated the American market (which forced them to close hundreds of stores last year and lay off thousands). They are in every country except Italy.
Apparently their own market research showed they would take a bath here. One they are too expensive. Two the coffee here is very good unlike in France. Why pay an arm and a leg for crappy bad coffee, when you can get excellent one from your local bar (where everyone knows you) for .80?
In Rome you do see office/store workers run across the street with little espresso cups but they drink the coffee one they reach their destination not on the street.
There are MickyD’s, Burger King and although I haven’t seen it, a Pizza Hut here.
Wifi places are popping up all over Rome where you can get a coffee or an aperitivo and work/hang out. We don’t need a Starbucks.
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I am so stuck on the Pizza Hut. Just. Wow.
Bringing Starbucks to Italy would be like taking coals to Newcastle…pointless! I can never figure out what to order when I go to a Starbucks in the US. I meant, what the heck is a frappucino anyway?
About the excerpt, differences I noticed between her coffee experiences and mine include: I have never left a tip in a bar ever, not because I’m cheap, but because it is absolutely not expected; an espresso costs about 70 euro cents around here if taken standing at the bar; and, all bars here have a “ragazzo,” a guy anywhere from 14 to 40 who delivers the coffees ordered out to offices.
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Frappuccino is a funny word, I agree…and no, I don’t tip either (although I am a bit cheap, as you said, that’s not the reason) 😉
If I lived there…I would not visit a Starbucks. Though, I did see a Starbucks in PARIS of all places, and there was quite a line. So, you never know 🙂
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Time will tell I suppose….
“Do Starbucks and the like have a chance in Italy?”
Oh gosh, I hope not! I have never had a cup of American coffee and only started drinking espresso 5 years ago. I’m still a light-weight, drinking maybe 4-5/week max. But there is nothing like the smell, taste and immediate satisfaction. Also love the sound of the spoon twirling zucchero in the porcelain cup and the “clank” of re-setting the cup on the plate. You can’t get that at Starbucks! 🙂
*Love* those sounds too, Megan…excellent point 🙂
No, Please no! Some things must remain sacred. Although in the US. I enjoy the plethora of choices you can get with coffee at a place like starbucks, it just doesn’t fit with Italy. To borrow a phrase by a mechanic I once knew “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”
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The prices alone would be difficult to swallow, especially here in the south….
I could never bring myself to walk into a Starbucks and order any type of coffee drink while in Italy….it is just sinful and scandalous!
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Hah! I love that description 🙂
Go ahead, let Starbucks open in Italy. It will last about as long as it takes to drink a good Italian latte, although the flavoured coffees and their hybrids could have trend value among the young.
Young Italians would definitely jump on the bandwagon, I think…they seem to love anything foreign 😉
I didn’t comment on the tipping, but since saretta brought it up – she’s right. Tipping is not expected when you buy a cup of coffee (whether standing at the bar, or sitting at a table). If it’s the proprietor who is serving you, which is often the case in small cafes it can also be taken as an insult.
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I’ve never been told it’s offensive (some places actually do have tip jars that I’ve seen), but no, I don’t tip either.
Oh my Lord I hope not. Have been watching this the last few years from afar in DC. I worked briefly at my corner Starbucks in January 2000. I had to go to their coffee college (sigh…except I did met some really nice people) & they were talking about Italy. I was the only one in the regional office for the training that had any Italian experience beyond going to Rome for a week. I really did laugh out loud when they talked about their planned expansion. They might get the UK, I said, but Italy? I really didn’t think the Italians would give in, especially with the Slow Food movement so strong. I do know that not one of my many Italian friends & acquaintances will give in, no matter what. They are adamant & I believe them. As for me, Starbucks is on the corner & the other places that are independents are just “that much” too far for a quick cup. But really, I only drop in to get the New York Times when it’s been swiped (again). And to say hi to some really great people who’ve helped me with Darfur events. (They work there.) I make my coffee at home, on the top of the stove, just like I was taught in Naples:)
have a great weekend, all
ciao-meow, Susan & Giulia, la gattina
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Sounds like you have a nice mix of things going on there; I have to admit, I still rather enjoy big ole cups of coffee too; needless to say I make them at home 🙂
Love the Italian cafe experience. Especially the cafes filled with locals of a smaller town chatting away. It was a visit to an Italian cafe by Howard Schultz that, apparently, started Starbucks.
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So funny that Starbucks emerged from an Italian bar…wow, huh?!
Ragazza and Gennaro are right, Schultz was inspired by café in Italy. And yes Starbucks has made big inroads here in France (46 shops at last count, I believe). But, as someone else pointed out, that’s because the French don’t make good coffee (as my Italian husband will attest).
I work with a sometimes REALLY cranky Irish lady at a bookstore here in Paris. Inevitably, tourists come in to ask us where is the Louvre, where is the nearest internet café, where is the nearest Starbucks. One day someone came in looking for Starbucks and my colleague just started fuming. WHY do these people come to Paris and go to Starbucks?!! The shame, the shame, etc. I pointed out that most of the clients in my neighborhood Starbucks are the local (French) teenagers, and the place is always packed, and that while we Anglo-Saxons may love France for its café *culture*, French *coffee* itself is nothing to write home about!!!
So, I can’t imagine Starbucks in Italy, but I think it’s here to stay in France. And not just for American tourists. (For the record, I’m not a coffee drinker and maybe get one of those frou frou coffee drinks 2 or 3 times a year, so it’s not really my thing.)
I also like how in Italy (and in France) at the bar they automatically give you the little glass of water to accompany your coffee.
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Thanks for the description of coffee in France…your coworker (and job!) sounds fun 🙂 Here we don’t automatically get water everywhere, but it is quite common–and very much appreciated!
OMG Arlene, there is a Pizza Hut in Rome? I thought armageddon had arrived the day they opened that first McDs at Piazza di Spagna (the one at the Pantheon almost put me in my grave!) but PIZZA HUT?
(See Shelley’s At Home in Rome – reallyrome.com – post the other day on the new Pizza Hut ad where I was absolutely sure that no Italian had ever heard of Pizza Hut)
Say it ain’t so! You must go there immediately and report back on your blog (see, free topic!).
As to Starbucks, Michelle. I don’t know. After my last trip to Rome where I saw heat-‘n-eat frozen pre-sauced spaghetti carbonara at a supermarket off of Largo Argentina, I knew that all the old standards were gone and Italy is now raising a generation of kids that will be grow up on fast food and won’t remember nonna’s cooking. Just like us. So why wouldn’t a Starbucks succeed in a gastronomic void such as the one now being created in Italy?
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Definitely more ready made stuff even in small town Italy, although I have to say the quality is rather excellent in the stuff I’ve tried…although we haven’t tried any pre-made pasta. I can’t imagine we will either 😉
Pizza Hut in Italy scares me too. Blech!
I’ll admit it I’m a huge Starbuck’s drinker, all my friends know they can’t go wrong giving me a Starbuck’s Gift Card.
That being said I am totally against Starbuck’s being in Italy nor would I enter one. Having a caffe’ in Italy isn’t just about the steamy liquid gold but the experience, history, and passion Italians have for their beloved bean. Anyone visitng Italy would be crazy not to embrace the culture and caffe’ and step up to the bar to order and drink a cup, Italian style.
Don’t get me wrong, that will be me in line at the first Starbuck’s on my trip home.
Hi Michelle, stop by my blog and enter my drawing celebrating my blogs 1st anniversary and 100th post.
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Will do! I still have until February 28th to mention it a post, right? I’m on it!
Starbucks coffee is uniformly dreadful everywhere. I just don’t get it. Never have. Never will. But then I don’t get Cafe Americana or percolated coffee either. Why would you want to burn coffee???? Only the Italians really know how to do coffee best. And then anyone who mimics the Italian style. After that my preference is Turkish/Greek/Arabic coffee – completely different of course, but boy does it have some kick! And then there’s the Arabic coffee with cardomom and cloves, and Indian Chai… the authentic stuff! So why, with so many wonderful ways to drink coffee around the world – all of them easy to learn how to make – would people buy Starbucks? I really don’t get it.
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Oh if only we could explain the appeal of mass market rubbish….
I have lived in, travelled through, or worked in at least 150 countries. There is no coffee like Italian coffee. Punto.
I am sure if Starbucks would come, just like McDonalds, they would have a degree of success. Not because of their taste, but because of the culture they bring with them.
Sad cheap Americanism.
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Indeed, Peter 🙁
Last time I went to Starbucks (I have gone maybe 3 times) the coffee was cold! Yuck! I don’t even buy their beans. Half of them are not roasted all the way or they were roasted to a crisp.
I would have to drive 20 miles to get to one so it’s not on my radar!
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Hah, guess you won’t be visiting them in Italy either 😉
I live in Southern California and ocassionally frequent Starbucks, but we have so many independent cafes here that I do seek them out instead of Starbucks. For me, when I am sipping my espresso or cappaccino I like to have a few moments to just relax and chat with a friend, and use a ceramic mug instead of a to go cup. Our world is too busy as it is – but I don’t budge on this daily necessity for myself. The Italian cafes sound like heaven – I hope to be able to visit them someday!
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I hope you can too, Cathi! Thanks for stopping by 🙂
I love Italian style coffee (being that I am Italian), and I love Canadian/American style drip coffee with cream (being that I am Canadian). But Starbucks is an unholy mix of the two styles.
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That may the best description of Starbucks I’ve ever read, Jean-Pierre. Bravo!
To answer your last question: I hope not!
I love this kind of information that makes one feel more ‘appropriate’ when visiting a foreign country. Just between the two of us, I do not like tourists who want to bring the country they visit to their standards. What’s the point of eating a Big Mac or having Starbucks in Italy? It is purely plainly hubris.
Have a great, spring filled week ahead.
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Spring? Really? Fingers crossed….
Finally catching up and this post reminds me of an entry I did on my blog a couple of years ago when visiting Paris and served a coffee drink in a paper cup. I called it The End of Civilization as We Know It.
I like a to go cup as much as the next person, when I’m in my car in traffic, but I also love sitting in a coffee shop, drinking an espresso or cappuccino out of a real cup.
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Hah, thanks for the link to your post 🙂
It does seem like Starbuck’s has inspired a few independent coffee shops in the U.S. that might not have opened without their inspiration and that might be good.
But it would be nice if the default, when someone orders a coffee, could be a real cup, as in Italy, instead of “to go.” I used to think it was because everybody in the U.S. was in a hurry and didn’t stop to sit down and relax…but now I realize almost everybody at Starbuck’s gets a carryout cup..even if they sit down at a table to drink it. And how the trash piles up!
I also used to worry that Starbuck’s might move into the coffee shop market in Italy, but no more. I trust that the Italian sense of the right way to appreciate both the coffee itself and the experience of enjoying it will prevail.
GG Husak
Author of Passeggiata: Strolling Through Italy
http://www.passeggiataitalia.com
I still think Starbucks has a place in more touristy areas and also with the youth…kids love to be different 😉