From Maxwell house to Macchiato

Coffee

I was out strolling last week and at the end of my loop around town I headed up John Street up to the junction at the theatre Hall and continued up the Fort Road to enter the Gorey and District Town Park. I walked a loop of the park, and as the weather was disimproving, I headed into the coffee pod where I had a lovely cappuccino and scone served by the ever efficient friendly Paula.

While there I looked up at the list of coffees and complimented host Eoin Cullen on the great range he had available whereupon he told me about the American GIs who were stationed in Italy during the second World War. They were coffee addicts who just could not stomach the strong Italian Espressos and so they added more water and called them Americanos.The espresso was invented in Italy, around 100 years ago.

My favourite coffee drink, the cappuccino was named after the Capuchin friars because the colour of the coffee mix was the same colour as the Capuchin robe.

In America in the 1950 they found the cappuccino too strong and so they added more milk, and we had the latte invented

Next on Eoin’s list was the Mocha named after the extra chocolaty Mocha bean.

Finally on Eoin’s coffee list in the Town Park coffee pod I noted the Macchiato. I had never before encountered this species, so I had to ask my personal barista for the day, Eoin Cullen, about it. He told me very simply that it was just an espresso topped up with a little foamed or steamed milk.

I think I will have to vary my coffees from here on and experiment with a few more varieties.

At home I have our Nespresso coffee machine with a great range of coffee pods available to purchase online. Here again I tend to stick to the Columbia mild coffee pods and add the frothed milk from our own frother.

We have come a long way from the cup of Irel Coffee and the spoon of Nescafe or Maxwell instant coffees popped into a cup with added boiled water and milk to taste, sometimes heated in a saucepan on the range.

Can I have a Macchiato with oat milk or maybe a. skinny latte please. Cheers.

Thanks to Eoin Cullen for being such a knowledgeable and courteous host in the park coffee pod when I visited.

The rain had stopped when I re emerged into the park and I continued walking .I clocked up a respectable 9237 steps and really enjoyed the shepherds pie when I came home.