Coffee lingo

LEXICOLOGYThe words for coffee are delightfully interwoven into the fabric of language and culture of people who have been consuming it for centuries. Let’s get some shots of history here to find out how coffee got its different names.EspressoThis type of coffee is a scary one but everyone around the world seems to like it very much. It is made in a complicated machine that presses steam through tightly packed grains of coffee at a pressure of over nine atmospheres, or nine times the normal pressure exerted by the earth’s atmosphere. Since there is a lot of “pressing” involved in making this coffee, you call it espresso. Even though all types of coffee brewing requires different technology, Italians were extremely passionate about using highly sophisticated technology to get a perfect cup of bittersweet, aromatic espresso. Initially, espresso was brewed “expressly” for someone; people would call it customized brewing! And yeah, like express train, espresso travels direct and nonstop through the machine and falls into your cup. The idea of modernity and our fascination for speed are also elements of espresso culture. Espresso has connections with the word “express”, too; for example, when you express yourself, you press thoughts outwards from your brain through your mouth like the espresso machine. Cappuccino This type of coffee has nothing to do with its process of making. In 1520, a monk called Matteo Da Bascio was worried about the state of his fellow Franciscans who had fallen away from the original teachings of St Francis. They got into luxuries like wearing shoes so Matteo decided to start a new order of pure, “Barefoot Franciscans”. Obviously, Matteo’s step was not accepted by the Old Franciscans. They did everything to stop him from preaching his version of religion. After facing a lot of criticism, Matteo was forced to flee into hiding. Camaldolese monks were kind enough to take him. But in order to blend in and to be on good terms with Camaldolese monks, Matteo had to wear their little hoods called, in Italian, cappuccios. Later when Matteo’s preachings got official recognition in 1528, they decided to continue wearing the cappuccios. His followers were therefore nicknamed the Capuchin Monks. The Capuchin Monks spread quickly all over Catholic Europe, and their hoods became so popular that when the frothy, creamy and chocolaty form of coffee was introduced it was named after the light-brown robes of the monks: the cappuccino. LatteCaffe latte has been here since 1840s. In Italian, latte means “milk coffee”. French and Spanish call milk coffee “cafe au lait” and “cafe con leche” respectively. Lait, leche, and latte are all derived from Latin’s lac, which means milk. So to make latte, you just combine espresso and steamed milk together to get a milky version of coffee. Milk coffee is not a recent invention; in Europe and America people enjoyed having a cup of milk coffee in the morning so the word latte was finally borrowed from Italian for milk coffee later on in 1980s and since then latte has been widely used by coffee lovers.Though English has several names for coffee, Central Europe has its own terminology for the types of coffee they consume. Even Germans have a different name for milk coffee: milchkaffee. MachiattoA caffe macchiatto is a “stained coffee,” as it’s espresso served with just a spot of hot or foamed milk. In Italian, macchia means “spot” or “blemish,” from the Latin macula for the same. But like latte, both caffe macchiatto and the abbreviated macchiatto have been a hit among English speakers since the 1980s.Mocha Mocha comes from Mokha, a coastal city in Yemen and historically important marketplace for coffee. Mocha coffee, also known as moccachino, has a chocolaty flavour. In ancient times, when coffee was shipped from the famous Yemeni port of Mocha to destinations all over the world, the word Mocha became synonymous with Arabian coffee. The Dutch combined Arabian coffee with coffee grown on the island of Java to make the first coffee blend, Mocha Java. Since 1773, English speakers have been adding extra chocolate and syrups to their lattes so they could conveniently call it mocha. AmericanoAnybody can tell that americano has to do with Americans. This type of coffee was born after the Second World War when American soldiers found espresso too strong for their taste. So they began adding more hot water to their cups of espresso. With this little change, they started calling a diluted espresso, “americano”. While some Italians found this americanization of Italian espresso upsetting, some felt it was good to call a sub-standard, diluted espresso an “americano”.Compiled by SG

from The News International - US http://bit.ly/2CFKAua