Coffee culture in Florence

Italian coffee culture has been one of the greatest influences in the world and it’s been known to be the symbol of classic lifestyle, almost as an influencer itself. A coffee a day in the morning, and a piece of croissant or bigne is the most italian way to start your morning.

We all know that Starbucks has taken the title of greatest coffee chain cafè in the world, but here’s a special thing you will find in Florence is that there isn’t a Starbucks in town. Which has shocked me, as it was the first place when I got here. But after few months I realized how good it feels to have a “cafè espresso” in the morning instead of an Americano.

Back in my country and most of the countries in the world, people like to drink iced coffee and iced latte. Especially when the weather is hot, but in Italy, those things shouldn’t even exist. If you go to a cafè and ask for an iced coffee you might get a cup of coffee with few ice cubes floating on it.

Here’s also some important hidden cafe rules you will need to know :

1.  Latte means milk : In Italy you don’t call a latte as a latte, you need to ask for a “cafè latte”. Latte means milk in Italian, If you go ask for a latte I am pretty sure the waiter or waitress will either ask you again to confirm or just give you a cup of milk.
2. Standing culture : People have coffee in the morning before going to work or during the break time, so it became a standing culture, in some places if you sit down for your drinks you might get charged extra.
3. No cappuccino after lunch : It is a really important rule for italian, only drink cappuccino and cafè latte in the morning, never do it after lunch time! Italians find it really weird,I used to ask for cafè latte in the afternoon and get a shocked face from the waiter. But as a hidden rule you can still break it when you really want to have some coffee go with milk in the afternoon.
4. Drink water before cafè :  In some places when you order a cafè they will give you a small cup of water go with cafè, you might want to drink the water after the cafè but trust me, do not do that! The reason they give you water is to clean your taste before having cafè, if you drink the water after the cafè it means you don’t like their cafè.

Now after reading this you might really want a coffee, it is a romantic thing to stand in front of the bar and have a cup of cafè in Florence, now you have a basic idea of the rules, just go for it!