Coffee from Around the World: A Brief, Caffeinated History

Coffee is truly a worldwide beverage. A cup of coffee can be found anywhere from the most remote, tiny cafes to the super-luxurious hotels ones in the most expensive places in the world. Throughout its history, coffee became widespread in all the five continents and became one of the most popular drinks in the history of humankind.

 

It is no wonder that there are as many variations and recipes to make it as there are countries. Anywhere you may go, it’s probable that they will have a specific way to prepare a cup of it.

 

A full list of coffee recipes, thus, would require a whole book. In this post, I’m going to describe briefly the most popular types of coffee around the world instead. Most definitely many you will already know, but a few may surprise you. Have you tried any of these types of coffee? Do you want to? Did I leave out your favorite type of coffee? Let me know in the comments!

Espresso

Espresso is so popular that in many countries ordering “a coffee, please” is equivalent to saying, “an espresso, please”. In Italy and in Italian communities around the world this is a common source of confusion.

 

Invented in the late 19th century^[1], it slowly took over the whole world and became as ubiquitous as coffee itself.

 

Despite its simplicity, espresso is a drink on its own. It is brewed with a strong, pressurized jet of hot water, using an espresso machine, and that generates a full, heavy, rich, and creamy drink. 

Its main difference with general coffee is in the feel it creates in your mouth, much more like a velvet, smooth and flavorful cup than many simpler, hot brewed coffee. Nowadays espresso can be drunk straight, double (with simply double the amount), triple, or as the base for many other coffee drinks.

In Italy, a traditional Romano Espresso is served with lemon which is said to bring out the java's sweet, fruity flavors. 

Cappuccino

Whether its name actually came from the color of the Capuchin monks’ vest or not, Cappuccino originated in the European tradition, Austria in particular, of mixing milk with coffee, in the late 18th century^[2]. Back then drinking coffee was getting more and more popular in Europe and in Austria it was common adding milk to it. It was there that the first reference to a “Kapuziner” was registered. Yet, it wasn’t until the invention of the espresso machine that the Cappuccino as we know it today was possible. Simply put, a Cappuccino is an espresso with an equal amount of hot milk and foam, which is made with a hot wand that can heat and froth milk. 

Thanks to its thick foam topping, latte art^[3] works wonderfully over a Cappuccino. Today no cafe worth its name exists without a properly made Cappuccino.

 Café Au Lait

Very popular in France, café au lait is simply a brewed coffee, not an espresso, mixed with roughly the same quantity of hot milk. The recipe isn’t much different from many other variations of it^[4]. For instance, Italians typically mix espresso and milk. However, in Germany (Milchkaffee), Netherlands (koffie verkeerd) or Latin America (café con leche) it may be made with brewed coffee or espresso.

 

The very popular Latte version of it is alternatively considered the same as a coffee with milk, an espresso with milk added to it, or a large mug of hot milk with variable amounts of coffee in it^[5], depending on the country you’re in. 

Technically “a Latte” should contain more milk than coffee though, while a Café Au Lait is more like half-and-half.

In New Orleans, café au lait is typically served with beignets, which can be eaten anytime of day — breakfast, mid-afternoon snack, or late-night cap to a perfect, New Orleans evening. 

 Cortado

A Spanish recipe, it is in many ways not different from a coffee with a bit of milk. Yet its peculiarity lies in that it is another espresso-based drink and the added milk is steamed but not frothy^[6] as in a Cappuccino. That gives the final drink a different texture.

 

Throughout Latin America variations of a Cortado are present. Especially noteworthy is the Cuban Cortadito thanks to its presence in the USA’s Cuban communities that spread it over large parts of the country.

Café Cubano

Speaking of Cuban communities, the proper coffee as drank in Cuba is the Café Cubano. Originally made with a moka pot^[7], it can be based on an espresso too. Either way, it consists of a small amount of sugar cane that is mixed with the very first drops of coffee pouring from the pot or espresso machine, which is then added to the rest of the brewed coffee.

 

The result is a sweet, short, coffee that offers a nice contrast with the intensity of the coffee beans that are generally used to brew this type of coffee.

 

Turkish Coffee

The oldest known type of coffee around the world still brewed today is the Turkish Coffee. Before any coffee machine was invented, coffee used to be ground and directly put into the mug, along with hot water. It was drank straight, without any filtering or addition.

 

Nowadays the Turkish Coffee recipe calls for a specific pot, called cezve^[8], where sugar, ground coffee and water are brought to the boil, together. Then the result is served and drank unfiltered.

 

It is a strong, sweet and very aromatic way of drinking coffee. It is directly reminiscent of the ancient coffee houses in the Ottoman Empire, with all the ritualistic gestures that brewing coffee once called for.

Vietnamese Coffee

Vietnamese coffee offers a perfect mix of intensely strong and sweet coffee that will definitely clear your morning (or afternoon) haze. Traditionally, hot coffee (cà phê sữa nóng) is consumed in the morning, and iced coffee (cà phê sữa đá) is preferred in the afternoon or summer months. 

Vietnamese Coffee is another coffee type that requires a specific pot to brew, called a phin. It consists of a metal filter, where ground coffee is put, that is set over your cup, with hot water over it all. The water slowly dribbles down through the ground coffee in the cup, which has a small amount of condensed milk.

 

The whole process takes approximately 4 minutes^[9] and the result is a moderately strong coffee with a dense milk on the bottom.

Café de Olla

A traditional coffee type from Mexico, Café de Olla^[10] is brewed in an earthen clay pot, with a traditional shape. In the pot are put some spices, cinnamon and piloncillo^[11], but orange peels, anise and cloves can be added too. The brewing happens after the spices have been put into hot water first; this type of coffee is filtered^[12] so no solid parts end up in the final cup to drink.

 

Café de Olla is kind of mulled wine if it were made with coffee instead. Full of flavors and juicy.

Korean Coffee

Korean coffee, Dalgona coffee, whipped coffee, TikTok coffee — it all means the same thing. This coffee started as a TikTok trend, and now it has exploded all over social media and the internet as the “it-drink” of the moment^[13]. Koreans dubbed this whipped coffee "Dalgona" after a popular Korean candy. Most recipes only call for four ingredients — sugar, milk, water, and instant coffee. Here's my recipe for Dalgona coffee (ahem, shameless plug). Overall, this popular coffee drink can be made my simply whipping the instant coffee, hot water, and sugar until frothy. Once the coffee mixture is sufficiently whipped, add to a glass of hot or iced milk and stir before drinking. 

I hope you enjoyed reading about the different types of coffee from around the world. Let me know in the comments which types you have tried and which types of coffee you want to try next! Until next time!

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^[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angelo_Moriondo#First_Espresso_machine

^[2] https://www.thespruceeats.com/history-of-the-cappuccino-765833

^[3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Latte_art

^[4] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caf%C3%A9_au_lait

^[5] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Latte#Caff%C3%A8_latte_vs._latte_macchiato

^[6] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cortado

^[7] https://ineedcoffee.com/cafe-cubano-cuban-coffee/

^[8] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cezve

^[9] https://thewoksoflife.com/how-to-make-vietnamese-coffee/

^[10] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caf%C3%A9_de_olla

^[11] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panela

^[12] https://stories.starbucks.com/stories/2019/cafe-de-olla-traditional-mexican-coffee-recipe/

^[13] https://www.bbc.co.uk/food/articles/dalgona_coffee