What Are the Characteristics of Neapolitan Coffee? How to Make Coffee Cream? Is Italy the Birthplace of Espresso Machines?

Espresso is a highly concentrated coffee extracted using high pressure in a short time by an espresso machine. It is not only the base for making various specialty coffees but also a standalone coffee product. FrontStreet Coffee often says that because of its high concentration, first-time tasters of espresso might find their expressions overwhelmed by its intensely concentrated flavor.

Even in Italy, the homeland of espresso, not everyone can immediately accept such intense flavors. As a result, people dilute the bitterness of coffee by adding various ingredients, such as con panna with cream, caffè romano with lemon, or macchiato with a small amount of milk... Speaking of which, we must mention Naples, Italy's city of coffee, where people add a specially prepared coffee cream to reduce the impact of espresso's intensity. This unique espresso, originating from Naples, became known as: Neapolitan Coffee "Coffee napoletano".

Introduction to Naples

Before sharing its recipe, FrontStreet Coffee would like to briefly introduce Naples. The relationship between this city and coffee runs deeper than one might imagine.

Naples, also called Napoli, are respectively direct translations from English "Naples" and Italian "Napoli." This city, located in southern Italy, is the largest city in the southern region. When mentioning Naples, people might first think of pizza, as it's the birthplace of pizza. But as FrontStreet Coffee mentioned earlier, Naples has the honorary title of "City of Coffee." Naples earned this title partly because it's the birthplace of the espresso machine, and also because the city has a profound coffee culture that has influenced surrounding cities to varying degrees.

Coffee Culture in Naples

After World War II, due to restrictions on coffee imports, many places in Italy were forced to use inferior Robusta beans for coffee production. Robusta beans, when dark roasted, have an extremely intense burnt bitter taste that is difficult to swallow. Out of necessity, businesses in various cities could only add various ingredients to dilute the bitterness, including those in Naples. As FrontStreet Coffee mentioned at the beginning, the specially prepared coffee cream was another material used in Naples besides lemon to dilute bitterness. Additionally, businesses would blend in a small amount of Arabica to balance the Robusta flavor, even though Arabica was very expensive at the time.

Today in the 21st century, although coffee bean imports are no longer restricted, many places in Naples still maintain this practice! Using a blend of Robusta and Arabica beans, and applying coffee cream that dilutes bitterness. Now, let's get to know just how special this specially prepared coffee cream really is~

The Special "Cream"

Special "cream"? What makes this cream special? The special thing is that it contains no dairy products whatsoever! It's only called "cream" because its whipped texture resembles the thick consistency of cream. Its ingredients are simply espresso and sugar, hence: coffee cream. Reading this, does it remind you of a similar coffee dessert with the same recipe and preparation method?

That's right! It's the "400 Times Coffee" that FrontStreet Coffee shared a couple of months ago. However, 400 Times Coffee uses instant coffee powder, water, and granulated sugar, while this coffee cream mainly uses espresso and white sugar, with a greater amount of sugar added. It's said that in Naples, different shops use different recipes to make their "cream" to distinguish themselves from others. Next, FrontStreet Coffee will share how to make authentic Neapolitan Coffee!

How to Make Neapolitan Coffee

First, we need to whip the coffee cream. The required materials are: espresso (strong coffee made with a moka pot is also fine~) and white sugar. The equipment needed is a container and an electric frother, though manual whipping is also possible if your hand can endure it~ Whether using espresso or moka pot coffee, we can extract using normal methods because the coffee cream requires a large amount of sugar, so we don't need to intentionally increase the coffee concentration like with 400 Times Coffee to make the foam more stable. Therefore, FrontStreet Coffee will use today's morning extraction parameters: 20.1g of coffee grounds to extract 38ml of liquid in 29 seconds.

Then, we add twice the weight of the coffee liquid in sugar for whipping! (After testing, this is already very sweet)

Just like steaming milk foam, initially, we don't submerge the entire frother in the coffee liquid, but keep half of the head outside while the other half is submerged in the coffee liquid. Then start to inject air.

When you feel it's about right, submerge the entire whisk into the liquid to make it smooth and creamy!

Whip until it reaches a moldable consistency~ Then, we extract another shot of espresso using the same parameters and pour it into an espresso cup.

Gently spread the whipped coffee cream on top of the espresso, and a Neapolitan Coffee is complete!

Before drinking, we gently stir to mix the coffee liquid, crema, and coffee cream evenly (you can also use a spoon to spread some coffee cream on the cup). After stirring, you can begin to enjoy!

When we bring this espresso to our lips, the sweet aroma emitted by the espresso combined with coffee cream has already been captured by our sense of smell, because after stirring, the aroma is very prominent. Then we take a small sip, first experiencing the silky texture brought by the coffee cream. Because we're using the Warm Sun Blend, in terms of flavor, the rich whiskey aroma combined with the sweetness of sugar creates a sweet wine taste, followed by berries and butter cookies! At the same time, the added sugar balances the original high concentration "bitterness" of the espresso, which is very pleasant! Finally, we take a small sip of ice water to rinse our mouths, then drink it all in one go, experiencing the wonderful performance of this Neapolitan Coffee in our mouths - it's truly excellent!

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