Frequently Asked Questions about Espresso

What does Caffe’ Moak mean?

Caffe’ means ‘coffee’ in Italian. Moak is from an old name for the Sicilian city of Modica, derived from the names Motyka (from the Greeks), Motuca (from the Romans) and Mohac (from the Arabs) who have all influenced the history of Sicily over the past 1000 years. Who knows, maybe they were all there for the coffee...?

What does Nero Italia mean?

Simple. Nero is the word for ‘black’ and Italia is ‘Italy’.

How do the Italians drink coffee?

In Italy, people will drink a cappuccino (or other coffee with milk) only in the morning - say, before 10am. After that they will drink only espresso (short black) for the rest of the day.

Italians usually only drink espresso because they are looking for a shot of energy and good flavour at the same time. It's perfect for after lunch, when you need a pick-me-up to get back to work!

What’s so great about Italian espresso?

Firstly, espresso should taste great! There should be no extreme bitterness or burnt taste, or anything unpleasant. When the finest beans are used and they are roasted and stored properly, you should get a total balance of aroma, flavour and texture.

What are Espresso Pods?

Espresso pods, or, E.S.E. espresso pods, are paper pouches filled with espresso roast coffee and made to the Easy Serving Espresso consortium standard. The single-serving espresso pod is 45mm in diameter and contains 6.95 to 7 gm of ground, roasted coffee. Espresso pods are produced by all the large roasters in Italy and even many of the smaller boutique roasters offer their product in pod form. In Italy, the pod is known as a cialde. (Sourced from Coffee Merchant website)