Travelers getting used to new cultures and cuisines may think the easiest way to start the day is to order a coffee. Alas, with the many ways coffee is served around the world, the simple coffee order can prove a confusing challenge.
For example, travelers from Australia and New Zealand often garner strange looks when they order a ‘long-black’ or a ‘flat white’.
Flight search and comparison website, www.cheapflights.com.au, has investigated 31 ways to order coffee around the globe. Here are some caffeine-fuelled facts, with more in the infographic below.
USA
On average American coffee drinkers (and there are 107 million of them) consume 3.5 cups a day. Seattle has 10 times more coffee shops per person than the rest of America. While espresso coffee is the norm in many other countries, filtered or drip coffee is still the favourite in the USA.
Italy
Don’t order a latte in Italy. You’ll get a cup of steamed milk. And don’t order a cappuccino after 11am, it’s just not the done thing. Coffee is a way of life in Italy with around 100,000 coffee bars serving a population of 60 million people. These are big numbers in comparison to the 20,000 Starbucks stores worldwide – but you won’t find one in Italy.
Vietnam
Coffee is big business in Vietnam. After Brazil, Vietnam is the world’s second largest coffee exporter and the industry employs around 2.6 million people. While most Vietnamese people traditionally drink tea, their coffee offering is a Ca Phe Da – ground coffee with condensed milk, boiling water and ice cubes.
India
In India, coffee is a spiritual affair which goes back the 16th century when Sufi Baba Budan smuggled seven coffee beans back from the Yemen port of Mocha. The Indians serve filtered coffee, served sweet and milky, from a combination of roasted coffee beans and chicory.
Ireland
Some call it a coffee. Others call it a cocktail. Whatever way you look at it, an Irish Coffee will warm you up on a cold day. The concoction of hot coffee combined with Irish whiskey, brown sugar and whipped cream was invented in the early 1940’s to cheer up American passengers after their Pan Am flying boat was forced back to Ireland after bad weather.
