Coffee Knowledge Encyclopedia: Why is coffee called Americano, Latte, and Cappuccino?

What kind of coffee do you like?

Most people would choose one of the following: Americano, Latte, Cappuccino, Mocha, or Macchiato. If you love coffee, you may already know that these names all come from Italy.

Starbucks, Costa, McCafé and other foreign coffee chains all use these as their main products. In other domestic coffee shops, these Italian coffees also occupy a large part of the coffee menu.

▍Starbucks product list

Their popularity is not limited to China either; Italian coffee is an integral part of middle-class life around the world.

The United States is the home of Starbucks, so it goes without saying that in the United Kingdom, latte coffee has replaced beer, which the British people have loved for three centuries, and has become the basis for calculating the national consumer price index since 2003. In Germany, McCafé, which specializes in the above products, also firmly occupies the first place in the coffee retail industry.

▍The UK National Consumer Goods Index was previously calculated based on Newcastle Brown Ale

However, in terms of its origin, Italian coffee is actually the least white-collar coffee: before its final comeback, it had long been a favorite of migrant workers in Italy.

Manmao Cafe

What is Italian coffee?

Coffee lovers must know that all Italian coffee is based on Espresso (usually translated as "Italian espresso").

The so-called American coffee is actually espresso mixed with water; latte is the Italian word for "milk", which means espresso plus milk; cappuccino is espresso with milk and milk foam; mocha is milk coffee with chocolate; macchiato is espresso with milk foam. If it is called caramel macchiato, it is often milk coffee with caramel syrup added and then covered with milk foam.

In Italy, Espresso is the most popular basic coffee. Almost every Italian will order a cup of Espresso in a street coffee shop after work as a way to spice up their life.

In the eyes of many people, the reason why Italian coffee is popular is that Italians are literary, lazy, and love life. Naturally, Italian coffee has the highest taste and should occupy the top of the coffee discrimination chain.

Major coffee chains that specialize in Italian coffee are also happy to promote this statement. For example, Starbucks claims that they started selling Italian coffee because CEO Howard Schultz discovered the charm of Italian coffee when he traveled to Milan in 1983.

However, this statement cannot explain why Britain and Germany, each with their own local coffee culture, would kneel down before the classical, noble and refined Italian coffee culture just like the nouveau riche businessmen in the United States.

▍British coffee brand Caffè Nero

In fact, today's so-called Italian coffee has nothing to do with these high-sounding adjectives. It is a product that only appeared in the industrial age of the 20th century.

The earliest historically confirmed coffee beverage appeared in the Arabian Peninsula in the 15th century. Although it was introduced to Europe by Italian merchants during the Renaissance, it was not accepted by Europeans until the 17th century.

At this time, the Mediterranean trade dominated by Venice had declined, and the coffee drunk by Europeans was mostly imported by the Dutch or British East India Companies.

Before the 19th century, people in Europe and America, including Italy, drank the most traditional brewed coffee introduced to Europe by the Turks. From the 19th century onwards, filter coffee invented in Parisian cafés became popular throughout Europe.

It wasn't until the early 20th century, with a series of technological inventions, that regional differences in coffee began to emerge across Europe.

coffee

In 1908, German Melitta Bentz invented coffee filter paper; in 1933, Italian Bialetti developed the moka pot for brewing espresso with steam; in 1938, Swiss Nestlé developed instant coffee; during the same period, French Melior invented cafetière, which uses the squeeze immersion method to make coffee.

▍Coffee filter invented by German Melitta Bentz

▍Bialetti still sells moka pots today

▍French cafetière, soaking coffee powder in hot water for a long time to obtain a unique flavor

At the same time, with the development of industrial production, the roasting and supply of coffee beans gradually shifted from scattered distribution to concentration in the hands of a few large companies.

In order to establish regional monopolies, these companies began to propose the concept of regional coffee based on different coffee-making methods, and gradually tamed consumers, such as selling lightly roasted Arabica coffee in Germany and Northern Europe, and heavily roasted Robusta coffee in France and Italy.

▍Some monopoly coffee bean suppliers

The concept of Italian coffee gradually took shape in the early 20th century under the influence of a series of technological, economic and political factors.

Low-end Italian choice

Espresso, the main product and base of Italian coffee today, was not invented until 1905.

This year, La Pavoni officially began to produce and sell a machine that can use high-pressure steam to make a cup of coffee in 45 seconds. This type of coffee was therefore named Espresso, which means both pressure and speed.

▍The earliest commercial Espresso coffee machine

The birth of the Espresso coffee machine was due to the rapid industrialization of northern Italy at the end of the 19th century. The rapidly expanding middle class flocked to the American-style bars that had just been introduced to Italy to have fun. The previously popular brewed coffee and filter coffee could not adapt to the fast-paced production and sales of the bar, so Espresso came into being.

Initially, Espresso coffee machines were used in high-end bars. Their loud noise and fast production process had a sense of modernist ritual in the eyes of people who were new to the technology.

▍The first Espresso bar opened in Milan

However, because Espresso coffee machines are quick, efficient, and extremely labor-saving to produce, they quickly became popular in pubs on the streets after commercial production was achieved.

It was at this time that a decree determined the fate of Italian coffee.

In 1911, under the influence of the left-wing movement, the Italian Parliament passed the Trade Rules (Disciplina del commercio), authorizing city councils to set maximum prices for basic consumer goods, and fresh coffee was included as a daily drink for the Italian people.

Initially, the maximum price was only a reference for members of local chambers of commerce. However, after the Fascist Party came to power in the 1920s, it attempted to control national commerce through chambers of commerce. It not only required all operators to join the chambers of commerce, but also greatly expanded the authority of the chambers of commerce.

After the fall of the fascist government, the chamber of commerce system remained, and with the disappearance of state control, its actual power expanded further.

As a result, price ceilings for fresh coffee were tightened and continue to this day.

▍The term barista, which became popular because of Starbucks, was invented by the fascists in 1938 to replace the term barman, which was considered too American and not Italian enough.

When the maximum price of fresh coffee was first set, efficient and convenient espresso coffee machines had already become popular, and the cost of producing a cup of coffee had become extremely low. As a result, the pricing of fresh coffee was greatly affected.

At the same time, most of the tavern owners who participated in setting prices as members of the Chamber of Commerce were individual business operators based on families. They unanimously decided to lower prices, and thus lower profit margins, making the entire industry unattractive to foreign commercial capital, so that they could run their own shops with peace of mind.

▍A typical Italian family coffee shop, where the owner, barista, bartender, and buyer are all from the same family. The labor cost is extremely low, so the shop can still make a stable profit at a low price.

Due to the extremely low profits, high-end bars and chain restaurant companies no longer invest in coffee production and sales. The business of making and selling fresh coffee has since become the exclusive domain of individual taverns scattered across the country.

As a result, the Italian coffee industry has formed a "low price, low profit, low service" business model, and relies more on Espresso coffee machines that are simple, fast, and can minimize manpower investment.

▍In 1948, the new Espresso coffee machine invented by Milanese barista Achille Gaggia began to be put into production and quickly popularized. This coffee machine uses a piston to press water vapor into coffee powder. Just turn the handle and you can make a cup of Espresso in 15 seconds. It is still popular today.

Espresso has thus become the most popular basic coffee in Italy, and combined with common ingredients such as milk, it has evolved into a variety of fancy flavors such as latte, cappuccino, mocha, macchiato, etc., each with its own flavor and the same low cost, thus forming the basic system of Italian coffee.

After World War II, the development direction of Italian coffee became even more unsatisfactory: as the Italian economy once again ushered in rapid growth, the central and southern regions of the country rapidly urbanized, and a large number of rural people poured into the cities. Taverns that also sold coffee, alcohol, and snacks became the common choice of these low-end Italians, and Espresso also ushered in a new round of growth and popularity.

On the one hand, low-cost taverns have become the ideal leisure and social venues for the emerging urban working class. The inexpensive, strong, caffeinated espresso, as well as other inexpensive fancy coffees, are just what the working people like.

▍strange to meet you (Roberto Benigni & Steven Wright)

On the other hand, street taverns serve the working class and can be opened without any skills. Especially the master who makes espresso coffee, almost no professional skills are needed, and the vast rural labor force can be competent after simple training.

From 1956 to 1971, the number of such taverns in Italy grew from 84,250 to 118,029, a 40 percent increase.

It was not until the 1980s that Italian coffee, an out-and-out low-end industry completely isolated from elegance and culture, was blessed by the American business model by chance, and since then it has burst out of the streets and conquered the world.

The Counterattack of Italian Coffee

As early as the 1950s, espresso machines were introduced to France, Switzerland, and Austria, which are adjacent to Italy. However, like Italy itself, Italian coffee in these countries is mainly available in small, low-end bars, mainly serving the urban working class.

Italian coffee's journey to conquer the world actually began in 1987.

In this year, Starbucks, which originally focused on roasting coffee beans, turned to operating branded coffee shop chains and began to expand rapidly around the world. At almost the same time, Costa, which was founded by Italian immigrants and also originally only sold roasted coffee beans, also opened its first store in the UK.

Italian coffee, with espresso at its core, has since completely betrayed its own class and become the favorite of the middle class and business people all over the world.

The success of this counterattack is first of all due to the long-term hard work of British and American Italian expatriates in the catering industry.

Since the end of the 19th century, due to poor national integration and extremely backward economic conditions, a large number of residents in southern Italy chose to leave their homes and go to other countries to make a living, especially the United States.

Between 1890 and 1910, approximately 2.7 million southern Italians entered the United States. In the 1920s, the Italian population living in New York was greater than that in Florence, Venice, and Genoa combined.

It is understood that there are professional logistics service companies in the catering industry in China, and this field is still in the development stage in China. For the long term, MAANCATCOFFEE will use third-party logistics companies. At the same time, MAANCATCOFFEE has begun to establish an independent logistics system. Currently, logistics centers have been established around Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou, and two more logistics bases will be added in the future. The gradually formed independent logistics will greatly reduce the operating costs of franchise stores.

At the same time, with the continuous changes in the coffee market, the development of diversified services has become an industry trend. It is reported that MAANCATCOFFEE will turn its stores into diversified spaces. In addition to providing high-quality coffee products and unique cat culture and two-dimensional culture, it will also introduce high-end European and American beverages from Italy, France, the United Kingdom and other countries. In addition, "coffee media" will be one of the important projects independently developed by MAANCATCOFFEE this year. The so-called "coffee media" is to rely on new media on the store side to develop advertising value-added services. Cheng Chun revealed that "coffee media" will place commercial advertisements and public service advertisements, and the commercial advertising revenue will be shared by franchise stores and the company. At present, cooperation intentions have been reached with some automobile companies, cosmetics companies, media companies and charitable organizations. In addition, MAANCATCOFFEE will also develop online services to provide consumers with more convenient delivery and advance ordering services.

Seeking a "diversified" path

Or welcome market turnaround

At present, the coffee brands in the Chinese market include not only European and American big names such as Starbucks, but also local coffee is booming. MAANCAT COFFEE may be the only leader in the industry. Industry insiders generally believe that MAANCAT COFFEE's brand strategy of seeking "diversification" in 2018 will bring unprecedented opportunities for corporate development. Cheng Chun said that the coffee industry should not be "labeled". MAANCAT COFFEE uses cat elements and the second dimension as the brand's focus, which is to create a borderless and comfortable and imaginative space for customers.

Coffee drinks such as latte, cappuccino, mocha, and macchiato have since changed their simple image in their native Italy and become the mainstay of the lifestyle of white-collar workers around the world.