Cappuccino

On our trip up into the Dandenongs with our English visitors we finally found a café that we could get into - and even more importantly with somewhere to park - where we had coffee and cake, and quiche for some. I had a cappuccino - which I generally have when I have a coffee out somewhere. We can make very good black coffee at home, but the cappuccino with its frothy top is pretty impossible. I really think that this is one drink that you need a professional to do for you. And that's even without the artistic decoration that you mostly get nowadays.

So what can I tell you about cappuccino? Well if you really want to know everything there is to know go to Wikipedia. The short story is that it is named after the Capuchin monks and the colour of their habits. A creamy, browny colour apparently. However, it is thought that it originated in Vienna rather than Italy and maybe came to Italy via Trieste which was part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Originally it was made with cream but now, although opinion seems to differ, the makeup of cappuccino is 1/3 espresso coffee (a double espresso), 1/3 hot milk and 1/3 frothy milk or cream. Then of course, nowadays they sprinkle cocoa, or chocolate on top, maybe a bit of cinnamon?, and make pretty decorations in the froth. Below we have the two extremes - very elaborate art (you would think the coffee would be cold by the time it was finished - though I guess maybe it is done with some kind of stencil), and the basic - just a sprinkling of cocoa.

cappuccino-2

cappuccino-1

Originally of course you just got the froth:

In Italy you should only have cappuccino for breakfast, and they don't seem to go to the extremes of decoration that they do here in Melbourne - which I am beginning to think might well be the coffee capital of the world. I remember reading a Robert Dessaix book in which he was in Italy and missing the coffee of Lygon Street.

I'm looking forward to having one this afternoon perhaps. We may visit Doncaster and have a coffee at Laurent Patissier - just to show off how sophisticated Melbourne coffee society is.