Cappuccino - History and Evolution of The Cappuccino

History and Evolution of The Cappuccino

The consumption of coffee in Europe was initially based on the traditional Ottoman preparation of the drink, by bringing to boil the mixture of coffee and water together, sometimes by adding sugar. The British seem to have started filtering and steeping coffee already in the 2nd part of the 17th century, and France and continental Europe followed suit. By the 19th century coffee was brewed in different devices designed for both home and public Cafés.

'Cappuccino' has its origin in the Viennese Kaffeehäuser in the 1700s: a coffee beverage named the 'Kapuziner' shows up on Coffee House menus all over the Austro-Hungarian Empire around this time, and is in 1805 described as 'coffee with cream and sugar' (it does not say how it is composed, but the name indicates the capuchin colour). 'Kapuziner' is mentioned again in writings in the 1850s, described as 'coffee with cream, spices and sugar'. Other coffees containing cream surfaces in Vienna, and outside Austria 'Viennese Coffee' or 'Café Viennois', -coffee with whipped cream-, becomes known. Predecessors of Irish Coffee, sweetened coffee with different alcohols, topped with whipped cream also spreads out from Vienna. 'Kapuziner' had its name from the colour of coffee with a few drops of cream, nicknamed so because the capuchin monks in Vienna wore vestments with this colour. Another popular coffee was Franziskaner, with more cream (or milk), referring to the somewhat 'lighter' brown colour of the robes of monks of the Franciscan order.

In Italy, 'cappuccino' has its first mention in Italy in the 1930s, and photographs show a 'viennese'; a coffee topped with whipped cream sprinkled with cinnamon or chocolate. Although coffee was brewed differently all over Europe after WW2, in Italy, espresso machines became widespread only during the 1950s, and 'cappuccino' was re-defined, now made from espresso and frothed milk (far from the quality of steamed milk today). As the espresso machines improved, so did the dosing of coffee and the heating of the milk. Outside Italy, 'cappuccino' spread, but was more often than not made from dark coffee with whipped cream, as is still the habit in large parts of Europe. The 'Kapuziner' remains unchanged on the Austrian coffee menu, even in Trieste which by 1920 belonged to Italy and in Budapest, Prague, Bratislava and other cities of the former Empire.

Espresso machines were introduced at the beginning of the 20th century when Luigi Bezzera of Milan filed the first patent in 1901., and although the first generations of machines certainly did not make espresso the way we define it today, coffee making in Cafés changed in the first decades of the 20th century. These first machines made it possible to serve coffee 'espresso' -specifically to each customer. The cups were still the same size, and the dose of beans were ground coarse as before. The too high temperature of the boilers scalded the coffee and several attempts at improving this came years after the 1st World War. By the end of the 2nd World War, the Italians launched the 'age of crèma' as the new coffee machines could create a higher pressure, leading to a finer grind and the now so classic 'crèma'. The first small cups appear in the 1950s, and the machines can by now also heat milk. The modern 'cappuccino' was born. In Vienna, the espresso bars were introduced in the 1950s, leading to both the 'kapuziner' and the 'cappuccino' being served as two different beverages alongside each other. In the United Kingdom, espresso coffee initially gained popularity in the form of the cappuccino, due to the British custom of drinking coffee with milk, the desire for a longer drink so the café may serve as a destination, and the exotic texture of the beverage.