We have a store room in Italy. It's not magical, and it doesn't lead you to Narnia. No, it's a common sized store room that you would find in any flat on the boot shaped peninsula.
The biggest difference with this store room however, are its contents. OK, there are the usual suspects; light bulbs, cleaning products, mop, vacuum cleaner, fold away chairs and so on. If you were to look closely you would start to notice items not commonly found in Italy. Baked beans, Paxo, HP brown sauce and importantly, Yorkshire Tea!
The most unusual of suspects though is... Nescafé! Yes, we seem to have loads of the stuff, the combined strength of which would make up for 2 espresso's, at most. Over the years, the arguments that have ensued over baggage weight to transport these very items, have been things of folklore legend.
The issue is this, the Italians seem to bloody love it! It's a requested item, it's given as a gift, people will come to the house early in the morning just to have a cup; not great when I greet them with my Don King hairstyle and old man pyjama's!
Una tazza di NeshKafay
Put simply, question the Italian on the validity of calling this a coffee, they can't. They announce it as more of a "English 'coffee'" something different, something foreign, something for the morning after the espresso.
And they don't even say Nescafé. Italian diction makes it sound more like an Armenian wedding invitation than a Swiss company product nestled in the bosom of lake Geneva. Yes, the Italians ironically can't pronounce the name of a coffee.
So Nescafé for me, in my house is actually known as "Eengleesh Kowfee". How ironic because now it seems, the Brits are also fed up with the complicated nature of Italian named drinks.
Long live the "Frothy Coffee"
It seems that Debenhams have promoted a very English approach to coffee language barriers, and reduced the names of the most common of Italian coffee exports to the past.
The Capuccino has now become, and wait for it "Frothy Coffee". What about the Macchiato, I hear you scream? "Coffee with a splash of foamy milk". How about the Caffe Latte? "Really really milky coffee" and so on.
If an Italian walked into Debenhams though and used the same system, let's say for a "Doppio espresso, macchiato con cacao" It would turn into "Two really really short coffee's in the same cup with a splash of foamed milk and some chocolate powder"... Italians, such snobs!
Yes, no matter the country it seems that the easiest way to order a coffee, is to be literal.
The biggest difference with this store room however, are its contents. OK, there are the usual suspects; light bulbs, cleaning products, mop, vacuum cleaner, fold away chairs and so on. If you were to look closely you would start to notice items not commonly found in Italy. Baked beans, Paxo, HP brown sauce and importantly, Yorkshire Tea!
The most unusual of suspects though is... Nescafé! Yes, we seem to have loads of the stuff, the combined strength of which would make up for 2 espresso's, at most. Over the years, the arguments that have ensued over baggage weight to transport these very items, have been things of folklore legend.
The issue is this, the Italians seem to bloody love it! It's a requested item, it's given as a gift, people will come to the house early in the morning just to have a cup; not great when I greet them with my Don King hairstyle and old man pyjama's!
Una tazza di NeshKafay
Put simply, question the Italian on the validity of calling this a coffee, they can't. They announce it as more of a "English 'coffee'" something different, something foreign, something for the morning after the espresso.
And they don't even say Nescafé. Italian diction makes it sound more like an Armenian wedding invitation than a Swiss company product nestled in the bosom of lake Geneva. Yes, the Italians ironically can't pronounce the name of a coffee.
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| We have all shapes and sizes in our "piece of England" store room |
So Nescafé for me, in my house is actually known as "Eengleesh Kowfee". How ironic because now it seems, the Brits are also fed up with the complicated nature of Italian named drinks.
Long live the "Frothy Coffee"
It seems that Debenhams have promoted a very English approach to coffee language barriers, and reduced the names of the most common of Italian coffee exports to the past.
The Capuccino has now become, and wait for it "Frothy Coffee". What about the Macchiato, I hear you scream? "Coffee with a splash of foamy milk". How about the Caffe Latte? "Really really milky coffee" and so on.
If an Italian walked into Debenhams though and used the same system, let's say for a "Doppio espresso, macchiato con cacao" It would turn into "Two really really short coffee's in the same cup with a splash of foamed milk and some chocolate powder"... Italians, such snobs!
Yes, no matter the country it seems that the easiest way to order a coffee, is to be literal.
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