Types of Coffee Drinks

The Many and Varied Types of Speciality Coffee Drinks

In the 1930s, physicists began discovering a whole zoo full of exotic atomic particles. There were muons and kaons and who-knows-what-ons. When told of these, the famous physicist Enrico Fermi said: 'If I wanted to remember all that I would have become a botanist.' Ironically, later he invented the process used in atomic bombs.

You may feel the same way about the types of coffee drinks currently available. Particularly the Speciality coffee drinks. They may be fascinating and delicious and even romantic, but sheesh - all those names.

There's the elegant and simple Frappe, but with a silent 'e'. Widely consumed in Europe and Latin America, it's a cold espresso made with two teaspoons of sugar and milk with crushed ice cubes.

For a nice variation, add a quarter cup each of brandy and crème-de-cacao. Serve with a straw, and enjoy in blissful silence.

The counterpart to the innocent Frappe is the wicked Cappuccino Borgia, named for the famed poisoner.

You'll just die for one of these coffee drinks with a quarter-cup of peeled orange, one and a half cups of chocolate ice cream dreams. Plus add six tablespoons of orange juice and a quarter-cup of milk to an espresso, blend together and start speaking 15th century Italian.

Speciality types of coffee drinks don't come any more special than the 21st century Calypso Cooler.

Jet of to the Caribean with one cup of chilled, extra strength coffee, a couple of ripe bananas and two cups of coffee ice cream. Add four tablespoons of rum and sit silently as you lose your luggage.

While we're adding alcohol to various types of coffee drinks, let's not forget the mysterious Latin Caffee Zabaglone.

A quarter cup of dry Marsala with a quarter cup of sugar starts the feast. Add a pinch of salt and four egg yolks, then whisk and cook until thick. Add a cup of Italian roast at room temperature and you've got a wonderful coffee drink, a full breakfast and a hangover cure all in one.

But the ancestors of Rome have nothing on those of France in modern New Orleans for speciality types of coffee drinks..

Add a double strength American roast to a half-cup each of heavy cream, eggnog and bourbon and you have the coffee Mardi Gras.

Ordinary Turkish coffee is famous for its dark, strong flavor cut with cardamom. But they're not the only ones to have discovered a good use for this ancient spice.

The Scandinavians make a Cardamom Kaffee ... Start with an eighth-cup of cognac and add two teaspoons of curacao, a teaspoon of sugar and a cardamom pod (cracked and seeded). Heat the mixture in a microwave for about ten seconds then light with a match.

Pour on a half-cup of extra strength coffee and be prepared to douse your own personal four-alarm fire.

All these speciality types of coffee drinks and their strange names, but you have to give credit to the excellent and creative inventors of all those different mixtures. They may not have invented huge bombs, but their products sure do give you a jolt.