Coffee Culture in Italy

As everybody may know, Italy is the most popular place for coffee. I wanted to take the time to write down some facts that I have come across. 
The coffee culture in Italy is huge and Italians are very passionate about their coffee.

Turin has the oldest standing coffee shop at the moment. It opened in 1763 and is called Caffe Al Bicerin,  this would be an amazing place to go! They apparently have an historic drink called 'Bicerin' and the recipe has always been a secret unknown to anybody. 


The most iconic images in Italy, coffee wise, is a stove-top peculator called 'macchinetta' and is found in almost every Italian kitchen. This coffee maker produces the most perfect espresso you will ever see. 


One of the most surprising facts that I have come across is that in Italy, if you order a latte, you will get a glass of cold milk. What we consider a latte here is called a 'caffe macchiato' in Italy. 


Italians also strongly believe that you should never order a cappuccino after 11:00 a.m. They view this as a breakfast drink only. 


You should not use the word espresso. If you want an espresso you should be ordering it as 'un caffe' which is a single espresso. Italians do drink a lot of coffee but they like to do so in small doses so a double espresso is not common.

Most Italians do not sit down and enjoy coffee like we do here. Coffee should be downed in one sitting, standing. Speaking of that, they do not make their drinks too hot. Since it is so common to drink your drinks standing or on the go, they make it at a perfect temperature. 


All of this information is so amazing to me and I really hope I have the chance to visit Italy and experience this culture which is so different than ours. If you have been to Italy before and have experienced this culture please let me know what it was like. I'd love to hear more!