Espresso, cappuccino, macchiato, latte, mocha… you’ll be spoiled or confused with the varieties of coffee to choose from when you step into an Italian café, differentiated by the percentage of the coffee and milk or in some cases with chocolate powder. It’s a totally different experience having a cuppa in Italy. While we are used to enjoying our coffee sitting down in a café, slowly sipping the coffee while chatting with friends, reading magazines or just taking a break, be ready to fork out a lot more money to enjoy the privilege of having your coffee while seated here in Italy. If you look at the coffee menu, there'll be 2 price lists for the same coffee; the first would be the price for having the coffee standing at the bar, and the other is the price for having it sitting down at a table, normally it’ll be double the price at the bar. 
When you walk into a café, the first thing to do is to decide what you want to have, walk over to the cashier and pay for your coffee, get a receipt from the cashier and proceed to the bar counter, get a spot at the counter and hand over your receipt to the barista, and wait to be served. You might need to squeeze or wait to get a spot at the counter should you arrive at the peak period (breakfast and lunch break). It’s amazing to see how quick the barista work behind the counter, serving the plates, putting in the coffee bags into the machine, changing the used coffee bags, heating up the milk etc. This is definitely not an easy job as you have to be on your foot the whole day, twisting and twirling your upper body while preparing and serving the coffee. One of the barista is even wearing a back/waist support. The coffee price here is relatively cheap; an espresso costs just €0.70, while cappuccino is €1.10 at most cafés; and there are really good. The Italians have cappuccino in the morning to kick start the day, espresso as a booster to keep them going after lunch, and latte at night to wind down. You rarely see them have cappuccino in the afternoon or at night. It’s easy to identify the locals and the tourist in a café as the locals normally would be out of the café within a minute. After their coffee is served, they will add sugar or milk as per liking, pick up their cup, sip…sip, put it down, say ‘gracias’ (thank you) and walk out of the café.
On one of out coffee break one afternoon, I went in to order the coffee while Bel went to grab us a seat, thinking that we still pay for the ‘standing price’ since we are ‘self-servicing’. This café is famous for their special cappuccino (forgot the name) so it costs €2.20. I paid for the coffee and proceed to the counter. There is quite a queue in front. There were 2 barista working at the counter, one in charge of espresso while the other in charge of the cappuccino. As most people ordered cappuccino, the espresso guy is rather free. He placed 2 plates in front of me and I waited patiently. After a while, I thought I was being smart and placed 2 spoons on the plate first so I can take them out as soon as my cappuccinos are served. How wrong was I! Then came my cappuccinos, the barista brought 2 cups over, stopped, look at my plates with the 2 added spoons and walk away grumbling angrily. I was confused but I did see there were already 2 spoons inside the cappuccino cups. This means the 2 cappuccinos are definitely for me but why did he walk away angry? Just because I’ve added 2 spoons there? The espresso guy was pacifying the cappuccino guy asking him to calm down. I don’t understand a word as they are speaking in Italian. After a while, the espresso guy walked towards me with 2 new cappuccinos minus the spoons, I looked at him with a very confused look. In a hushed tone, he asked:
Espresso guy: Do you want to ask your friend to come in and have your coffee here (at the counter)? Because the price is different to have it outside (seated) and it would be very expansive.
Me: Even if I take the coffee out myself?
Espresso guy: yes.
Me: Erm… OK. Can I leave my coffee here while I go and get my friend?
Espresso guy: OK, sure.
So I went to get Bel and had our coffee inside, standing by the counter. What an embarrassing moment I thought, although I still felt kind of innocent. The cappuccino guy could have just told me and not walked away grumbling angrily. Well, then again, maybe by adding the 2 spoons, I have shown disrespect towards his professionalism? I am confused, still. So lesson learn, do not mess with Italian barista but do enjoy their great coffee.
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