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 under high pressure in a short time by an espresso machine. It's not only the base for countless specialty drinks but a standalone product in its own right. FrontStreet Coffee often says that because of its intensity, first-timers can look visibly overwhelmed by that wall of concentrated flavor.

Even in Italy, the homeland of espresso, not everyone takes to such intense flavors right away. So people temper the bitterness with all sorts of additions — con panna with cream, caffè romano with lemon, macchiato with a touch of milk... And that brings us to Naples, Italy's city of coffee, where locals smooth out espresso's intensity with a specially prepared coffee cream. This distinctive espresso from Naples became known as Neapolitan Coffee, or "Caffè napoletano."

Introduction to Naples

Before sharing the recipe, FrontStreet Coffee would like to introduce Naples briefly — this city's bond with coffee runs deeper than you might imagine.

Naples, also called Napoli — the English and Italian renderings of the same name — is the largest city in southern Italy. Mention Naples and most people think first of pizza, its birthplace. But as noted above, Naples also holds the honorary title of "City of Coffee," earned partly as the birthplace of the espresso machine, and partly for a coffee culture so profound it has influenced surrounding cities to varying degrees.

Coffee Culture in Naples

After World War II, restrictions on coffee imports forced much of Italy to brew with inferior Robusta beans. Dark-roasted Robusta is brutally, almost undrinkably bitter, so cafés across the country had no choice but to dilute it with whatever additions they could — Naples included. As mentioned earlier, the specially prepared coffee cream was the city's answer alongside lemon. Cafés would also blend in a small amount of Arabica to balance the Robusta, even though Arabica was very expensive at the time.

Today, in the 21st century, coffee imports are no longer restricted — yet many places in Naples still keep the tradition! A Robusta-Arabica blend, and that bitterness-softening coffee cream. Now let's find out just how special this "cream" really is.

The Special "Cream"

Special "cream"? What makes it special is that it contains no dairy whatsoever! It's called "cream" only because its whipped texture resembles thick, billowy cream. Its ingredients are simply espresso and sugar — hence: coffee cream. Reading this, does it remind you of a certain coffee dessert with an identical recipe and method?

Exactly — the "400 Times Coffee" FrontStreet Coffee covered a couple of months ago. The difference is that 400 Times Coffee uses instant coffee powder, water, and granulated sugar, while this coffee cream uses espresso and white sugar, with a larger amount of sugar. Word has it that in Naples, every shop guards its own "cream" recipe to set itself apart. With that, here's how to make authentic Neapolitan Coffee!

How to Make Neapolitan Coffee

First, whip the coffee cream. You'll need espresso (strong moka pot coffee works too) and white sugar, plus a container and an electric frother — though hand-whipping is possible if your arm can take it. Whether using espresso or moka pot coffee, extract normally: unlike 400 Times Coffee, there's no need to concentrate the brew, since the large amount of sugar will stabilize the foam on its own. FrontStreet Coffee used today's morning extraction parameters: 20.1g of grounds yielding 38ml of liquid in 29 seconds.

Next, add sugar equal to twice the weight of the coffee liquid and whip! (After testing, this is already very sweet.)

Just like steaming milk foam, start with the frother head only half submerged — half in the liquid, half in the air — and begin injecting air.

When it feels about right, submerge the whole whisk to smooth the mixture into a creamy consistency!

Whip until it holds its shape. Then pull a second shot with the same parameters and pour it into an espresso cup.

Gently spread the whipped coffee cream over the espresso, and your Neapolitan Coffee is complete!

Before drinking, give it a gentle stir to combine the coffee, crema, and coffee cream (you can also use a spoon to smear some cream along the cup's rim). Then enjoy!

As the cup reaches your lips, the combined aroma of espresso and coffee cream has already reached your nose — after stirring, it's wonderfully prominent. Take a small sip and you first feel the silky texture of the cream. Since we used the Warm Sun Blend, the rich whiskey aroma melds with the sugar's sweetness into a sweet-wine note, followed by berries and butter cookies! Meanwhile the sugar rounds off espresso's natural high-concentration bitterness — thoroughly pleasant. Finally, sip some ice water to cleanse the palate, then finish the cup in one go and let the Neapolitan Coffee show everything it can do. Truly excellent!

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FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

A recipe built on espresso calls for beans up to the task, and FrontStreet Coffee has you covered. For the classic Neapolitan spirit — Robusta-boosted crema and old-school Italian intensity — the FrontStreet Classic Blend and FrontStreet Commercial Blend add a touch of Robusta to traditional Italian formulas, yielding butter, nut, spice, dark chocolate, and toast aromas with a wild, thick body and a flood of golden crema that makes latte art effortless.

If you prefer 100% Arabica, the FrontStreet Premium Blend (Brazil Cerrado and Colombia Huila, our house espresso for nearly a decade) and the FrontStreet Black Cocoa Blend (with Yunnan Arabica's soft plum acidity and a cream-chocolate fragrance) deliver smooth, nutty, balanced espresso for home or café. And for a single-origin twist, the FrontStreet Natural Huakui SOE — grown at 2,300 meters in Guji Hambela and naturally processed — brews into an espresso with cream, cocoa, berry, delicate florals, and black tea, proof of how expressive a straight shot can be.