An earlier post already started the discussion on the difference between Dutch and Italian coffee habits. These following two weeks I will go into this subject more extensively.
Although coffee is only cultivated in (sub)tropical countries around the equator, it has definitely found its way around the world and is now drunk everywhere. Notwithstanding we all have different habits towards it. Today the Dutch, next week the rest of the world.
In case you didn’t know a short explanation of the way coffee is made. The coffee berries grow on bushes. After the flower has flowered the berry starts to grow. After 20 weeks this fruit is ready to grow a bean which can be picked after antoher 8 weeks. The bean is still inside the fruit and therefore needs to be separated. When this is done, the beans will be roasted before it is sold to consumers. Since the growing and processing of coffee beans is a long and precious process, the end product is relatively expensive.
In Holland they don’t treat the black liquid with a lot of respect. It is drunk all day, on any occasion and in enormous amounts. Thereby we have a very wide definition of what we call coffee: it can be made in a professional espresso machine or in a more convenient filter coffee machine. But also we call Nescafe a coffee or the black liquid coming from world famous Senseo machine introduced by Philips almost ten years ago. As long as it is a warm, black liquid containing caffeine we call it coffee.
In offices many ideas sprout up around the coffee machines, young parents meet other parents in a hip coffee bar. Birthday parties start with coffee, burial rituals end with it. And after lunch or dinner we need a coffee to stay awake during the rest of the day.
Because we drink it all day in different forms, it has an important role in many occasions. Some have it for or with breakfast, others start or break their journey with a damping cup of coffee. And we drink varieties from espresso to a latte macchiato.
How a Dutch’ drinks his or her coffee varies from person to person. Some like it hot and strong. Others prefer to add loads of sugar and/or milk. And for this we have something which is typical Dutch: koffiemelk. Evaporated, homogenized and sterilized milk. This long lasting, fat milk contains less water than regular milk which avoids your coffee becoming to cold when added. The koffiemelk is horrible to many, but indispensable for others. And it can even be worse! People might even use milk powder to dilute their coffee. It’s like adding water to your beer to make it less bitter!
Are the Dutch unique in their coffee addiction? I will tell you next week.
