Why a small cup of coffee?

Appreciation Sutra

Why is the authentic Italian coffee so small?

As an Italian who has lived in Guangzhou for five years, Romeo is glad to be able to drink more satisfying espresso in Guangzhou. As a local Italian, the Touch bar in Pearl River New Town is also the foothold of the International Coffee Taste Academy. In addition to fully handmade drawbar coffee machines and excellent baristas, three sizes of coffee cups also show the pride here-whether it is a cappuccino cup or an espresso cup, the size here is smaller than the outside. Why is the cup of authentic espresso so small? Romeo, from Milan, the fashion capital, was dressed in a coffee suit and gently picked up a cup of espresso with two fingers, as if to tell me the answer in an elegant gesture.

Of course, beauty is not the most persuasive reason. "for a long time, the espresso cup didn't have an exact standard shape, until it took the Italian Coffee Institute two years to discover the shape of a standard espresso mug. It should be the bottom half of an egg cut in half. When coffee flows into the cup, this shape is most conducive to turning the oil produced when coffee is mixed with air along the round wall, producing the most wonderful aroma and taste. " Romeo drew a small picture of "grease comes back with a move", adding that the temperature is important, of course, because it doesn't taste good when it's cold, and it's just the size and thickness that will keep you at the best temperature during two mouthfuls.

Espresso means "fast" in Italian, and a standard cup of espresso extracts 25ml coffee from 7 grams of coffee powder in 25 seconds. In Italy, many people go to the coffee shop for a drink on their way to work in the morning, so a barista often has to make hundreds of cups of coffee in two or three hours. Drink faster, too. "Coffee ranks first among the most popular flavors in Italy, and the second is bread, so when you get the espresso, you will smell it deeply, take a sip, say hello to the people around you, and then drink it in one sip." While the 25ml espresso is only reliable in a standard small cup, you should understand why Italian cappuccino cups or latte cups are relatively small, because no Italian will spend a long time sighing a cup of coffee that no longer tastes good.

Health classics

Don't exceed 300mg caffeine every day.

Some people are still restrained in the face of coffee, no matter how much they enjoy it, and there is a reason for this. Bobo, a senior dietitian who has long been engaged in beverage culture promotion and publishing, believes that busy urban people should adhere to the principle of moderation when enjoying coffee.

A digestive study at Stanford University School of Medicine in the United States has set a safety label for caffeine intake: no more than 300mg a day. A cup of coffee (the porcelain cup size of the hotel coffeeshop) contains about 120mg caffeine, while a can of Coca-Cola contains about 55mg, and a cup of green tea contains about 15mg. Due to the irritation of caffeine, people with stomach problems or relatively fragile intestines and stomach should not drink more. People with hyperthyroidism or fast heartbeat drinking coffee will also cause discomfort such as rapid heartbeat and mental agitation, and pregnant women or mothers who are breastfeeding should also avoid caffeine. In addition, coffee beans are roasted, so drinking coffee is easy to catch fire, if they are hot and dry physique, easy to get angry, insomnia, dream friends should also be careful. People who know that they are not suitable for drinking coffee should try their best to avoid it, but if they are really uncomfortable, then of course they should choose a small cup and just taste it.

Business classics

The secret of CUP in the coffee shop chain

If you've read "Buy Big Coffee at Starbucks", you probably won't order 12oz tall cups when you walk into fast coffee chains like Starbucks, Pacific, and Costa. When each size class is only 3 yuan short, you will at least order 16oz grandcups-after all, not everyone can finish 20oz ventilator cups. As an "uneconomical" size that doesn't exist on the menu but can be ordered, 8oz's mug has gradually been forgotten by consumers and disappeared from Starbucks.

But in fact, the 8ozCup still has supporters. In the Pacific Cafe, which has just settled in Swire Pacific, the counter menu shows four cup types, including short (8oz), tall (12oz), grand (16oz) and alto (20oz). Raymond, a coffee shop manager from Hong Kong, said that from an economic point of view, ordering a large cup may be a win-win situation, but in fact, some guests, especially women, may not want to drink so much coffee, even if they order a large cup, they will only drink half of it, which shows that it is not a matter of money. "the Cup has always existed in Hong Kong, so we retained this tradition when we set up shop in the mainland." Raymond believes that if you buy directly from a medium cup, it can indeed cost a few yuan more, raising the threshold for minimum consumption, but for Pacific Coffee, which has been the most popular coffee shop in Hong Kong for 12 years in a row, it is more in line with the way of doing business.

In fact, some regular customers choose to drink small cups of coffee, not entirely in terms of consumption. Raymond reveals what many consumers in a coffee chain may not have noticed-in fact, the same type of coffee tastes different in different sizes of cups. "Coffee is different from Coke. Don't think that the four sizes are the same. The amount of coffee in the mug and the tall cup, the grandcup and the Alto cup will be different: the ratio of coffee to milk is higher than the tall cup, so it will show different amorous feelings. Regular customers will choose the cup that best suits them according to their consumption and taste of coffee. " In other words, if you want the coffee to be strong, you can choose the steak and grandcup, the tall cup and Alto cup are relatively light, and the coffee with high concentration is often the preferred taste of coffee lovers.

What if you want a large cup but are worried about the lack of coffee? Raymond has a trick-- a feature of Pacific Coffee. If you order a tall cup or larger, you can ask the clerk to add a "extrashort" size of coffee, and it's free. Considering that people who like espresso will be more core customers, this is also a business sweetener. (photos by Wu Wanhong / Szeto Jian, tofu, GettyImages / tr. by Phil Newell)