How to order a coffee in Rome
Italians are famed for making the best coffee in the world. Their coffee culture is extremely sophisticated and goes back a long way. They invented espresso after all. But the world of the Italian coffe can be confusing to the uninitiated.
There are many types of coffee and countless different ways to drink it. Italians are famous not only for preferring the Express, but also for the way you order it! They order their coffee in completely different ways linked to their personal taste: in mug or cup with hot or cold milk, doubled or restricted.
This guide and glossary will help you order a coffee in Italy, and don’t miss the warnings at the end of the post.
Let's start!
Unless you’re already Italian or an espresso aficionado, you probably drink your coffee long, sipped and savored over several minutes sitting at a table, or from a cup as you walk down the street. And when we get into the world of frappuccino and all that other stuff, your coffee might come in a 20-oz cup and be full of creams, ice creams, syrups and sugars and can be enjoyed over the course of an hour or two.
But in Italy a coffee is usually taken like a shot – an amazingly short espresso, incredibly strong, and it does not require a lot of time to be drunk even if For Italians the coffee break is a kind of ritual where conviviality is the main element. Around a good coffee you can chat, take some time for yourself and relax. It is not just swallowing liquid, take the coffee is primarily a pleasure: it's a drink that is sipped and not gobbled and should be savored fully enjoying it.
If you go into a ‘bar’ (‘bar’ in Italy usually means café – they do serve alcohol but that’s not their primary purpose and many bars don’t stay open late), on any given morning you’ll see crowds of people standing at the bar. They wolf down a sweet croissant, knock back a coffee, and go on their way, immediately to be replaced by someone else. At the bar in the bar there are unwritten rules galore, and the entire experience can be offputting and leave you wishing for a Starbucks. But don’t miss out – it’s good fun and people will make allowances for you being a foreigner.
Here’s how to do it.
In most busy places, you pay first (though in less busy places the system will be more laid back and you will often not need to pay until you’ve finished consuming everything). Go to the cash register, say what you want, hand over the tiny amount of money required, coffee prices are regulated by the city and remain low provided you drink it standing up. A standard coffee is only €1 these days, and a cappuccino is only €1.20. You’ll be given a receipt – hold on to this.
Go to the bar. If you’re there when it’s crowded you’ll need to be patient. Wait for a gap to open up at the front, but don’t push in front of people who’ve been there longer than you, especially if they’re clutching their receipt too. Just take your time and you’ll eventually filter to the front.
When you get there, put your receipt on the bar in front of you. When you’re acknowledged with a nod of the head, smile at the barista and say hello! “Buongiorno” or if it’s after lunch, “buona sera”. Repeat what you want to the barista (see “what to order” below).
Your place will be assured when the saucer and a spoon is placed in front of you. Now you can relax and watch the incredible skill of the barista at work. When it’s busy they look like octopuses, tapping, winding, pouring, scooping several orders all at the same time.
Finally your coffee arrives and is placed on the saucer. Normally on the bar there is sugar and milk.
Drink your drink quickly, absorb the atmosphere, chat if you can, then politely leave to let someone else take your place at the bar.
What to order:
“Un caffè” is the default setting. This will get you the strongest espresso you’ve ever tasted, and if it’s well made it will have “crema” on it , not cream, but foam made by the oils in the coffee beans which are a guarantee of strength and quality.
"Un caffè ristretto" is an espresso but shorter, yes you red well, shorter than a normal espresso, basically some drops of coffe :).
"Un caffè al vetro" is just a normal espresso served in a little glass.
“Un caffè lungo” is not a “long coffee” as the rest of the world would understand it. It’s a single espresso, but made with about double the water of a regular one. It’s still a very short drink.
“Un caffè doppio”. Double espresso, still very short, and eye-wateringly intense. If you want to be bouncing around in the Fori Romani, this is the drink to ask for.
“Un caffè Americano” gives you a single espresso in a bigger cup with hot water – more familiar to the non-Italian, but still quite a bit shorter and stronger than American filter coffee. Sometimes you get given an espresso in a larger cup, and the hot water comes in a jug for you to administer it yourself.
“Un caffè macchiato” is an espresso which is just “macchiato” (stained) with milk, often a flick of cappuccino froth and it can be "macchiato caldo" if you want hot milk and "macchiato freddo" if you want cold milk in it.
“Un caffè con panna” is coffee with cream but again beware – this is often sweetended whipped cream from a spray can.
"Un caffè freddo" you will end ordering a cold caffè lungo
"Un caffè shakerato" The closest thing to a Starbucks frappuccino you’ll find—and a favorite in the hot summer months—this is coffee “shaken up” with ice and sugar.
Want a decaf?It’s almost the same word "decaffeinato".
"Un caffè corretto"This is a fun one! It’s a “corrected” coffee, meaning corrected… with alcohol.
“Un cappuccino”. Asking for the familiar frothy cup gets you what you expect, but note: in the birthplace of the cappuccino it’s seen strictly a breakfast drink, and it’s alien to order after eating meals: Italians regard the foam in cappuccino as ‘heavy’, something that should not be consumed before you eat because it will spoil your appetite, and definitely not something to be dumped on top of lunch. Of course nobody’s actually going to refuse you a cappuccino whenever you want it, but when in Rome…
"Un cappuccino con poca schiuma" it will have less foam.
"Un cappuccino scuro" the barista will put a little bit more coffe than in a normal cappuccino.
"Un cappuccino chiaro" the barista will put a little bit less coffe than in a normal cappuccino.
"Un marocchino"."A Moroccan" is made with a base of espresso, dark chocolate powder and milk mounted cream. Of course there are many variations to the original recipe, but the real Moroccan is just that.
“Un Latte”. If you ask for one of these, you’re literally just asking for milk. Instead you must ask for “un caffè con latte”,a coffee with milk.
"Un latte macchiato" “Spotted” milk, in this case, milk “spotted” with coffee.
Note that cream in coffee or artificial creamers are not common in Italy. Generally if there’s a creamer, they use milk or in some places a brown sweetened foam made with no dairy: just the coffee crema from running the machines in the morning, mixed with sugar.
Etiquette: if you don’t want to look like a fool foreigner never order a cappuccino in a restaurant before, during or after a meal.
Very important: prices for coffee are regulated by the local government and kept low for the working people of Rome, but only provided you order and drink your coffee standing up at the bar. If there’s table service, or if you take your drink from the bar to a table, you’ll often be charged extra. This extra charge is to pay the salary of the waiter/waitress as tipping is not normal here. In really touristy areas such as Piazza Navona this can be very problematic, and sting you to absurd levels (you can pay up to€5 for a €1.20 cappuccino if you sit at the table), so always check beforehand how much they charge if you want to take your coffee to a table.
Recap: there are many ways to order a coffee or a cappuccino in Rome, be adventurous and experiment some of those from the list!