How to Make a Proper Italian Coffee at Home

Italians are known for their relationship with coffee. I should know, I grew up in an Italian family. And this brewed beverage is the lifeblood that keeps our passionate people going.

Digital entrepreneur Chiara Ferragni has dropped a new limited-edition coffee collection with Nespresso that’s all about the Italian experience. In celebration of the launch, we chatted with Mitch Monaghan, Nespresso Coffee Ambassador, about Italian coffee.

What makes Italian coffee different?

While the answer many are likely to give is “Italian coffee is better”, the truth is a little more involved than that. Monaghan explained that “when we hear the words ‘Italian coffee,’ our minds go straight to intense short blacks”. But there’s more range than you might assume.

“…there is actually a huge variety of roasting styles found across Italy. In the South, you tend to find more strongly roasted and therefore intense espresso. Whereas in the North, the coffees tend to receive a medium-dark roast, to maintain more sweetness in the bean, leaving you with a more rounded, smooth espresso,” he said over email.

How to make a traditional brew

If you’re interested in bringing the Italian coffee experience to your home kitchen, there are a few different ways you can do that.

As Monaghan shared, “In cities like Milan and Rome, they tend to drink milky coffees in the morning, accompanied by a pastry or light breakfast, followed by espressos later in the day”.

Now that you know the style of coffee Italians like to drink, and when, you can look at producing it yourself at home. To do that, you need to make sure you have the right kind of equipment and ingredients (read: good quality).

“To recreate the Italian-style coffee experience at home, you’ll need a coffee machine with the ability to produce café-quality milk and exceptional coffee with a strong roast and high intensity that will allow you to create delicious cappuccinos or lattes in the morning and espressos in the afternoon.

“One of my favourite coffees to enjoy at the moment is the new and limited-edition Milano Intenso coffee. I love to have this coffee as a cappuccino in the morning to start my day, and then a short black in the afternoon when I’m wanting to feel a bit more Italian,” he said.

3 tips for nailing your at-home Italian coffee

In addition to the above, Monaghan shared that there are three things you need to create a perfect Italian-style coffee.

Below are quotes attributed to Monaghan.

The right machine: Nespresso’s Creatista Pro machine has a steam wand that delivers barista-style milk froth that’s perfect for creating Italian-style cappuccinos at home. Start by extracting your coffee capsule and watch how the coffee extracts with that thick café-quality crema. Then prepare your milk with the cappuccino setting on your machine. When the time comes to pour your milk into your cup, remember that patience is key as it’s what gives you a silky, blended, and delicious coffee. The perfectly balanced cappuccino is all about thirds. A third espresso, a third milk and your final third is just enough froth in the cup to create that classic cappuccino dome.

Coffee: You’re also going to need an exceptional quality coffee with a strong roast that’s high in intensity. My go-to coffee right now is our new and limited-edition Ispirazione Italiana Milano Intenso coffee blend. I think this is the perfect coffee for enjoying Italian-style coffee at home with its medium-dark roast, dark cocoa and roasted-cereal notes. When I taste this coffee, I instantly picture myself at a traditional Milano café.

The right accessories: Lastly, you can sip your coffee in style with our Italian-inspired limited-edition collection, which includes a range of stylish accessories that are designed to pay tribute to Milan’s history, architecture, and lifestyle. My favourite accessory from the new collection is our limited-edition golden travel mug, which is perfect for enjoying coffee on the go.

If you’re not much of a pod coffee fan, there are certainly other ways to produce an authentic Italian coffee at home. In fact, it would be remiss of me not to point out that the most traditional way of producing Italian coffee is probably by using a percolator (or a caffettiera) on the stovetop. But any form works, really. Just keep the main rules in mind – milky coffee in the morning; espresso from that point onwards, and always use a strong roast – and you should be good.

Salute!