Sugar Cream and Caffe Brasiliano

The Espresso Break:  In many cafe-bars throughout Naples, baristas ask if you'd like to have a spot of zucchero-crema (sugar-cream) in your cup.  If you say yes, they daub a teaspoon of the fluffy concoction in a demitasse (tazzino), then put the cup under the espresso maker.

At the famous Moccia Caffe they gave me the recipe:

1 1/2 kilograms of granulated sugar
20 shots of espresso
Blend together in a mixer until you have a frothy tan cream.

Sugar-cream adds a sweet-syrupy taste to the espresso.  It also means that you have to stir a long time before taking that ever-satisfying coffee gulp.

Moccia is located along a narrow street several blocks from the Bay of Naples and one block away from the modern art museum, PAN.  The name of the cafe itself hearkens back to coffee's international history.  Coffee was first used for its medicinal value in Ethiopia and soon spread to Yemen where Sufi mystics used the brew.  For many centuries the port of Mocha in Yemen exported coffee throughout the Middle East until merchants brought it to Venice in the early 1600's.

Today, coffee beans are cultivated worldwide, including Southeast Asia, Hawaii, Africa, and South America -- most notably Brazil.

In Naples, a reigning favorite coffee beverage is the Caffe Brasiliano.  A small glass cup is filled first with an espresso shot.  A half a teaspoon of cacao is sprinkled on the shot as well as zucchero-crema.  Next milk foam, made with whole milk and foamed only until silky, is poured to the rim of the cup.  At last, some cacao is sprinkled on the foam.

Moccia
Filli Romano
dal 1920
Via San Pasquale a Chiaia, 21/22
80121 Napoli