An Under-Rated Coffee Beverage

The Cafe Americano, from Starbucks or anywhere else, is now my selection more often than not in the local shops. It's very simple. Just espresso with hot water, it features a rich, mellower than dark-roast flavor with a sort of thin foam on the top.

I've read that the name "Americano" may have been attached condescendingly by European barristas because we tourists couldn't take our coffee quite so strong, so they invented a watered down version just for us. Sounds plausible. But then we're used to the routine. In the peaceful periods between the great, tumultous conflagrations where Americans expend untold treasure and human life to save Europeans from their folly and are welcomed with flowers in the streets, we have come to expect to be despised. And so I lift my Americano to my lips with quiet resignation and a little pride.

Jeepers, you can turn anything into biting political commentary if you work at it.