Paolo & Maria Elena's Italian Adventures: That Miracle of Elixirs

That Miracle of Elixirs

I don’t expect many to remember this, but “I Remember Mama”. I certainly do. Yes, I’m old enough to remember “Mama”, between episodes of “Tom Corbett, Space Cadet” while munching Kellogg Corn Flakes on my tricycle. Back then, entertainment seemed as wholesome as corn flakes. I grew up on this program like kids would later tune into “The Waltons” and “Little House on the Prairie”. The Friday night “Mama” TV series grew to become a classic that ran from 1949 until 1957 on CBS TV becoming the trailblazer of all future domestic comedies that followed. like “Father Knows Best”. Marta Hansen (actress Irene Dunne), her husband Lars, and their three children, Katrin, Nels, and Dagmar were a Norwegian immigrant family in turn of the century San Francisco. In addition to all the problems they navigated weekly, the issues faced and surmounted, and yes, even a touch of chicanery now and then, it was always Mama who charted the course. While I can’t recall the content of a single episode today, I do know that they helped instill in me the character and moral code that my parents did their utmost to encourage. I do, however, retain two memories from the show. It always began with Katrin opening and flipping through pages of the family photo album only to close it with the words, ''… but most of all, I remember Mama.”

One other embedded memory were the words heard often

throughout an episode, still in fashion today, “Good to the last drop”. Thought to have originated with President Theodore Roosevelt, this slogan described Maxwell House Coffee which sponsored “I Remember Mama”. Teddy Roosevelt would have to do until Madison Avenue moguls introduced Juan Valdez and put Colombian coffee on the map. I never liked coffee until I got to appreciate it on long missions. Then, like a good aviator, I drank coffee. I even had my own shtick about how I liked it. When a crewmember would ask over interphone how I’d like my coffee, I’d reply, “a sweet blond”. But back then, a kid on his trike, all I could manage was to wonder how my parents could possibly drink that bitter black stuff and whether someday, somehow, I’d like it down to the last drop too.

My introduction to coffee went along the lines of my introduction to wine. My dad urged me to try it by dipping my pinky into the mysterious dark potion. Its bitter and acrid flavor provoked the same reaction in me as when my mom would run me down to dose me with a spoonful of cod liver oil. My rejection and disgust were affirmed with a shout of “Yuck! How can you drink that?” That wasn’t saying much for the brew that originated in an Ethiopian rainforest centuries before and since gained worldwide acclaim. But what did I know, I was just a kid. Thankfully taste buds change with time and then there is the matter of an acquired taste for anything

"Sfogliatelle"

beyond my then limited repertoire of water and summertime Cool-Aid. Thank God for that! These days coffee brings me joy and pleasure with every cupful, especially when accompanied by a spongy rum-soaked baba, or better still, a clam-shaped sfogliatelle.

Maria Elena’s chief complaint with coffee, a common one, is that it makes it difficult for her to fall and stay asleep. Her complaints with me are far more numerous. And although she’d prefer a cup in the evening, our nights out never conclude with coffee. Research has shown that its beneficial effects far outweigh its shortcomings, however. While you can kill yourself with an intake of 80-100 cups of coffee, about six gallons, in a short period due to the level of caffeine, you can accomplish the same thing by drinking 6 gallons of water or Cool-Aid for that matter. The health bennies of this most widely consumed psychoactive substance are staggering, even if only half were to prove true.

Possibly news to marathon runners, spinners, and weekend warriors, studies have shown that by increasing the adrenaline level in our blood, coffee increases our physical performance by about 12% within an hour. And although I’ve not heard TV diet promoter, Maria Osmond, and her ilk mention it, coffee helps burn fat while its magnesium and potassium content helps the human body use insulin, which by regulating blood sugar levels, reduces our craving for sugary snacks. There’s more. By lowering insulin sensitivity and weakening glucose tolerance, coffee reduces the risk of Type II diabetes. I was already impressed to learn these benefits but there are even more advantages in 1-6 cups a day. Besides helping us remain alert and focused, its biggest wellness claims in my mind are that it lowers the risk of premature death by 25% versus those who do not drink coffee and reduces the risk of cancer. For men, the risk of prostate cancer was shown to decrease 20% while for women, endometrial cancer was lowered 25% when subjects drank four cups of coffee a day. I think that about now I should get up and brew another pot! It is also asserted that coffee reduces the risk of stroke. If that is not enough, studies have also shown that regular coffee intake may decrease the risk of Parkinson’s disease by 25 %. And it doesn’t stop there.

With a lot of antioxidants working to protect us against free radicals triggering havoc in our bodies, coffee armors us. It also protects the brain. In addition to lowering the risk of dementia, high caffeine levels in our blood may reduce the risk of Alzheimer’s disease. It also stimulates the central nervous system and boosts the production of neurotransmitters such as serotonin, dopamine, and noradrenaline, which help elevate mood.^[^1] So it seems that coffee does a lot more than just brighten our mood.

This would have just about concluded Dr. Paolo’s treatise on the benefits of coffee. Yet only days ago, an email appeared on my laptop that proclaimed another pro-bono coffee advantage. I

CBD Coffee Ad

should have anticipated its arrival, what with all the recent hype about cannabis. That’s right, cannabis coffee now claimed to be legal in all fifty states, just an inkling of how progressive we’ve managed to become in so short a time. It could be fake news but apparently, investors of the TV “Shark Tank” team gobbled up 30% of the business. The coffee contains CBD oil to help reduce agonizing pain, swelling, and inflammation to promote healing, all unfortunately without a high as some, I’m sure, would prefer. Claims place it on a pedestal higher than Oxycontin and Vicodin for relief of arthritis, swollen joints, and the pain of muscle injury. In any case, it deserves a proper name. Something along the lines of other titles for cups of coffee such as “Caffè Latte”. What we have at hand here is a true “Caffè Corretto”, otherwise thought of as the Italian way to jump-start the day with a dose of coffee and liquor all in one fix. But in this case, it’s not “corrected” with grappa, sambuca, or brandy. Christening it “Caffe Canabis” (Cannabis Coffee) is too obvious, too straightforward. Might “Caffe Nessun Dolore” (No Pain Coffee) or Caffe Sentirsi Bene (Feel-good Coffee) be better? Apparently, it is a magic elixir for sure and all without the need of a prescription. While I have a good idea of its advertised effects, I wonder what it tastes like? That, however, was not promoted.

Without the need of a passport, entering a Starbucks for me is as if I’d been transported to a foreign country, one not being Italia. What with all the combo choices to select from in what sounds like some intricate foreign code, you might agree with me that you have indeed somehow materialized abroad. One fatuous order you might catch being shouted across the counter or through a drive-up speaker might go like this:

“A trenta coffee, twelve pumps sugar free vanilla, twelve pumps sugar free hazelnut, twelve pumps sugar free caramel, five pumps skinny mocha, a splash of soy, coffee to the star on top of the siren’s head, ice, double blended.”

How is that for incoherent gibberish and for just a cup of ice coffee? Certainly, light years beyond my “sweet blond” coffee request while airborne. I’d much rather stick with Italy. Italy already boasts coffee in many forms: Caffè Latte, Cappuccino, Espresso, Caffè Mocha, an espresso with gelato called Affogato, Caffè Freddo, Caffè Lungo, Caffè Corretto, Caffè Americano, Caffè Macchiato, Caffè con Panna, Caffè Ristretto (espresso brewed with less water), Caffè Doppio, Caffè con Schiuma (espresso layered with coffee-flavored cream, called "schiuma”) are but a few. The addition of “Caffe Nessun Dolore” might not even be noticed. What’s one more? If this keeps up, there just may be another oil besides olive oil soon on the market in Italy, CBD olive oil. Why not?

Coffee has certainly come a long way since Kaldi, the 9th-century Ethiopian goatherder who supposedly discovered coffee when he noticed how excited his goats became after eating the beans from a coffee plant. ^[2]

Assured by the thriving trade between Venice and North Africa, Egypt, and the Middle East, coffee would spread to Italy. From Venice, it gradually spread across the rest of Europe. At first, the Christian world rejected coffee, preferring to view it as a pagan “Muslim drink”. Lucky for us, in the early 1600s, Pope Clement VIII changed popular thinking about coffee by craftily giving it tacit approval by proclaiming it a “delicious beverage”. In the United States, it took the Boston Tea Party for it to become a patriotic beverage. ^[3]

Nowadays, wherever you go, you will discover a coffee culture. Take nearby Naples for instance which has its own brand of coffee, Passalacqua. To me at least, it appears to translate as “Pass the Water” which might correctly describe the brewing process involved but is actually the fitting surname of its founder. It was originated in 1948 in ravaged post-war Italy by Samuele Passalacqua. In order to feed his small Neapolitan family, he bought an old coffee bean roaster with the limited ability to toast 5 kg of beans every twenty minutes.

Smirking Passalacqua Indian Boy

It was a meager beginning in comparison to today’s hourly production of 3,460 kg. Their symbol became a smirking Indian modeled after the expression of a young boy, far more pleased with a sample of their coffee than my reaction to my first sample of coffee. That smile extends across the world today. Their tradition of excellence continues to this day as they see themselves as interpreters of the best tradition of Neapolitan coffee. Since their humble beginning, the family has sought to preserve their roasting tradition. Passalacqua comes in a variety of blends but at its core remains the Jamaica Blue Mountain coffee bean used in the production of a variety of its products. A series of bar-style grinds for cafe use include Caffè Harem, a particularly sweet velvety aromatic blend for sipping; intense and velvety Caffè Moana; and full-bodied aromatic Caffè Grancaffè

distributed only in the region of Campania where we live. Other products include Caffè Mekico, a 100% Arabica full-bodied and creamy blend. Caffè Mekico Plus, for the most demanding customers who, in addition to wanting an aromatic and intense coffee, demand something more than is given by the rich and soft cream of Caffè Mekico alone. Finally, there is something appropriately named Caffè Vesuvius for the connoisseur seeking an intense, strong, and classy style of coffee. These are but a few among the unique Passalacqua coffee line, which like fine wine, seeks to accommodate demanding palates. All can be enjoyed at none other than Caffè Mekico, that’s right Café Mexico just like its coffee namesake. There are three of them in Naples (Piazza Dante, Piazza Garibaldi, or on Via Alessandro Scarlatti) so it should be easy to find one.

Today’s Starbucks, Dunkin Donuts, and the like owe their origin to the first European coffee house that opened in Venice in 1645. From this simple beginning, the affection for coffee has stimulated an entire support infrastructure. The first coffeehouse in England was in operation in Oxford by 1650 and within 25 years their number had swelled to more than 3,000. ^[4] Tea wouldn’t surpass coffee there until well into the 1800s. Coffee houses served up far more than simply coffee. They became gathering places for intellectuals, politicians, artists, and writers where piping hot conversation was also served-up, some so hot that their existence was occasionally banned.

One such literary coffeehouse in Naples was and remains the landmark, Gran Caffè Gambrinus. It lies steps away from the Galleria Umberto I, but more importantly, on the edge of the Piazza del Plebiscito where coffee drinkers on 5 May 1938 could have watched the swagger of Fascist troops parading before Hitler. Nothing so historical occurred when we sat there sipping our

Piazza del Plebiscito, Naples

steamy brews and people-watched just like in days past when it first opened and went the equivalent of “viral”. It is one of the most important landmarks in the entire city of Naples whose history began in 1860 when it opened to the nation-building Unification of Italy. Located directly on Piazza del Plebiscito across from the former Savoy Royal Palace, the Caffé soon earned the approval of the royal family. Following renovative work in 1890, the work of more than forty craftsmen and artists, the Caffé became a veritable art gallery in the noble heart of Naples. On 3 November 1890 in celebration of its rebirth, the café was christened 'Gran Caffè Gambrinus' in honor of the legendary king of Flanders and inventor of beer, the idea being the merger of the two most popular beverages of Europe - cold Nordic beer and hot dark coffee, a typical Neapolitan staple. It immediately became the center of the social, cultural and literary life of

Gran Caffè Gambrinus

Naples, home to kings, queens, politicians, journalists, writers, and artists of international repute. It was the place to meet, discuss and write verse, in keeping with the best tradition of a literary cafe. Some of its more celebrated patrons include the Irish writer Oscar Wilde, Ernest Hemingway, the French philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre who wrote thoughts about Naples at the tables of Gambrinus, along with many others. Gran Caffé Gambrinus prospered until 1938 when it was closed for being considered an anti-fascist establishment. Today, this historic literary cafe has recovered and reclaimed much of its former glory. Oh, almost forgot, when earlier I delineated the miraculous benefits of coffee, there was one I overlooked. Coffee also appears to make you Want to Sing (rt click to open) at least at Caffè Gambrinus!!

You’d think that with all this promotion I was in the coffee business. No, not a chance. I remain strictly on the consumption side. The closest I get to being in a coffee concession is each morning when the barista side of me shows up, and I make coffee for Maria Elena. She is easy about it too, nothing fancy or involving “tall ordered pumps” to her requests which after fifty years of mornings, remains simply a little half and half or when in Italy, panna which is thicker than whipping cream, less fatty and not sweet. We use it in our coffee although it’s normally used to make panna cotta dessert. Marie Elena’s regiment does demand that it be very hot though, so occasionally, I’ll heat the creamer separately in the States but habitually heat it all the time when home in Italy. Why beyond the change of pace Italy brings on, I’m not sure, but she does seem to lounge longer over her steamy cups when home in Calitri. When we’re there we are caught up in the culture, though lounging at a cafe table reading or writing a novel while sipping coffee is not part of it. Just too much activity in the bars with the few tables there might be, swathed not with books but with sport gazettes and newspapers. A modern-day Hemingway might find it difficult to whisper to the future with his words even at Gran Caffé Gambrinus these days, due to its touristy nature.

It’s also difficult to take our coffee American style, in large mugs. The demitasse is more the order of things Italian. Place your order, slap your money down on the counter, and following a few hisses of dissent from the coffee brewing machine for having to give up more of its nectar, snap the head back as if you were doing demitasse shots to take in that ounce or so of powerful black nectar. All the more reason I always thought it should be called “expresso”, not “espresso”. To this add something sweet and breakfast is finito. True, their morning ritual while stuffed with rules, is hurried. To be honest, la prima colazione, breakfast, is not considered a major meal at all. Instead, there are social aspects to this mainstay morning ritual … in belle figura make an appearance, be seen by friends and exchange pleasantries if not some witty jibe over last night’s game, proclaim “Ciao, Ciao”, sometimes more, and they’re off, an act with curtain times throughout the day.

Many of us in our morning hurry prefer to stop off at a drive-up window to purchase a cup each morning. To this day, I have not seen a drive-up coffee window in Italy. It’s just not a part of their psyche. Here in the States, we don’t think about all that’s behind that cup that extends back in time to Venice and beyond to some observant goatherder. Instead, we’re satisfied to simply accept it through our car windows. Our practice is private, theirs far more social. However we go about it, many of us have short-circuited the purity of a long-kept tradition, the simple act of making coffee and enjoying coffee each morning … measuring the grinds, the water, then pouring ourselves a cup of the finished product, and savoring its flood of aroma and soothing flavor ... an act once reserved for the wealthy now a common way of life. We’ve gone about it so many times we hardly take notice. That just might be the reason that when I’m in Calitri, in my morning kitchen, why coffee is so special, connecting then with now, and warrants added attention if only heated panna.

A Calitri friend of ours, Michele, who operates DiVino, a class-act restaurant in nearby Bisaccia and newly graduated from sommelier school, this week wrote, “La vita è troppo breve per bere vino cattivo” (Life is too short to drink bad wine). His maxim, I’ll posit, also applies to coffee, however you take it, right down to the last drop.

From that Rogue Tourist

Paolo

1. “13 Health Benefits of Coffee, Based on Science”, Healthline, https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/top-13-evidence-based-health-benefits-of-coffee#section14.