Caffè Al Bicerin

When someone told me that the Drink of Torino wasn't coffee (and I don't mean a starbucks coffee but just a cafè, I have to say I was a little surprised. Italy is a country known for coffee, being coffee drinkers and essentially loving everything coffee so to hear that the drink of the former capital wasn't coffee, I think i was justifiably taken aback.

As I think I have noted before, Torino has a ton of old buildings. One of the old Roman gates is still standing (though I have yet to get a good picture of it- the weather hasn't been all that great this week) and part of the town is still on the same grid system set up by the Romans eons ago. That is where my latest journey took me (though it took a bit longer to get it on here than I would have liked, the inclement weather has made getting on the Internet far more of a challenge than I would have hoped for) for the Drink of Torino.

 Caffè Al Bicerin is one of the oldest Caffè in Torino. It opened its doors in 1763, 7 years after the United States became a country, and has been serving their signature drink ever since. The Caffe's popularity skyrocketed during the 1800s when the Cavour family made this their daily coffee shop to get Al Bicerin, which has now become the Drink of Torino.

Our Trip to Caffè Al Bicerin started by meeting in Piazza Castello.

Palazzo Madama

The old Savoy Residence

Looking down Via Roma

 As you can tell, this is a pretty nice area when the sun starts to set and all the lights come on. From here, we walked toward the old Roman Quarter where Caffè Al Bicerin is located. We made it down a few small walkways and allys and finally came into a small Piazza where Caffè Al Bicerin is located. There is also an old church and a bell tower just across the Piazza.

      
 There were about 45 students and a handful of USAC people who were here for the special drink but, the Caffè Al Bicerin only seats about 50 people at the most and they are almost always busy so we had to wait for people to clear out before we headed in.
 
 Once we made it in, as fast as they could make our drinks, we got them

The Famous Al Bicerin

 One of the USAC people said this was a drink that even non-coffee lovers (like myself) enjoyed because it was about 9 parts chocolate to one part coffee and one part whole milk so it was mostly hot chocolate with a hint of coffee.

That gentleman who told me that was very mistaken. The true recipe is one part Caffè Al Bicerin drinking Chocolate (they make their own chocolate- its pretty freakin awesome), one part whole milk and one part espresso. That, my friends, makes for a very strong coffee drink. I was surprised from the moment I took a drink. Though there is sugar on the table and a spoon on your plate, it is actually considered rude to mix the drink anymore than it already is or to add sugar to the drink.

We spelled USAC with chocolate powder on the foam but I also felt the need to get a picture without the "c"

 The inside of Caffè Al Bicerin was very cool. It reminded me a lot of the Coffee shops and stores on Main Street in Disneyland. I tried to get some pictures to make that point but it was such a small place, I'm not sure how well that will really come across inside of these pictures.

The guy in the background is one of the Cavour family members

 Once we finished our coffee, with the chocolate powder and 10 students spelled USAC ITALY! on our foreheads but I don't have any of those pictures (yet, I'm working on it). as an incentive to partake in the chocolate USAC ITALY! We were offered free gelato so we headed from Caffè Al Bicerin to a local Gelateria.

 Though the drink may not have catapulted itself into my heart (or even helped me love/like coffee as some had hoped), it still ended up being a fun night. It was very cool to be in a Caffè that has been around for over 200 years and has served Italian royalty. It was a very cool place to go (though next time, I'll just get hot chocolate). It was a new experience that honestly would be difficult to replicate in a coffee place in the States.