WOW, one of my fav topics!!!!

Ok, the first thing to do it's making up your mind if you are talking about coffee, expresso and cappucino the way we have them in Italy or not. Because it makes all the difference in the world. I mean, everywhere in the world you can find bars where they tell you they have the real Italian coffee etc...but, as a matter of fact, they have not!

When we Italians ask for a coffee, we mean to have a small amount of strong coffee (compared with what other people in other countries usually have when they order a coffee) in a little cup (it is called tazzina ). We usually add sugar and, if we like, we add some milk (cold or hot) -- that is the so called caffè macchiato -- or cream (rarely). This is the kind of coffee you usually have at home. When we ask for an expresso we mean an even stronger coffee, something you can prepare only with the espresso machine, while a cappuccino has a greater amount of less strong coffee and more milk, which must be fluffy on top, otherwise you are not having a real cappuccino but just milk & coffee. The typical Italian breakfast is cappuccino & cornetto (a double-horned little pastry, you call it "brioche" or "croissant" in French).