Guidebook Stand up for your coffee
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Live like a local

Stand up for your coffee

“Venetians have long known what standing-desk converts have only recently discovered,” notes Christine Sarkis at Conde Nast Traveller -- “sometimes, standing is better than sitting.” In Venice, she writes, “standing isn't just a way to blend in with locals, it's also a way to save some money. Coffee enjoyed sans chair tends to be significantly less expensive than the same cup enjoyed from a slightly lower elevation.” There’s something “very convivial about this custom,” observes Skye McAlpine in her book A Table in Venice. “With your morning coffee and pastry at the bar comes an exchange of niceties -- a catch up on the weather, the tides, the local gossip -- with the barista or with your neighbors, breakfasting alongside you and jostling for a spot to rest their china coffee cup.”

Cossimmo Bizzarri at Quartz explains the proceedure: “You order and wait about 30 seconds as the café worker efficiently runs through a rehearsed set of gestures: put cup under machine, start machine, place plate on bar, stop machine, serve coffee, attend to the next customer. You pour the espresso down your throat in one shot.”

Live like a local
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