Hello People,

I wonder if you would be kind enough to answer a small question for me. I have never had a cup of coffeee in my life, I don't like the taste. However I have often had to order for others, who don't speak the local language and I should perhaps be a bit more sure what I am ordering on their behalf.

An Expresso - that's clear!

Kaffee Creme - can you tell me what this is in German speaking and French speaking Switzerland - and Germany and France for that matter - I always presumed it was with cream but now find out in German speaking Switzerland it is a black coffee, just a bit bigger than an expresso.
I think it is also refered to as Schümli in CH?

Kaffee americano, is the larger coffee, made with more water but I don't
think I have ever heard this in CH.

What is a Schale? (Spelling?) - coffee with hot milk? If so what is a coffee with cold milk and what is a milchkaffee?

I know what a cappucino is!

Many thanks for your input!

Gruss
Hetfield

Americano is an espresso shot with added hot water (varying amounts). Cafe creme is a shot that's been pulled to a larger volume; not a good thing in most coffee geek's minds as the grounds will be overextracted killing the flavor. However cafe creme seems to be much more popular than Americano- maybe a name issue?

No idea what a schale is .

Americano is how in Ticino/Italy people call a "normal" international coffe which is longer than an espresso.
Shale in CH is a long coffee with hot milk, kind of a cappuccino but without foam.

If you would settle for Italian names, I think a Schale is a Machiatto Caldo. With cold milk, it would be a Machiatto Fredo,

Cafe machiatto is always with a small amount of milk, i,e, a few drops (macchie).

Latte machiatto is the same amount of coffee as a cafe machiatto, but with a lot of milk.

Tom

I have never heard of that - In Geneva when I wanted one of those I was told to ask for a Renverse, and always got one
- but I have asked elsewhere and got a blank stare

A Schale is just a caffe latte, or milchkaffee. Hot and milky, but neither as milky as a latte macchiatto nor as frothy as a cappucino.

How these terms relate to actual Italian coffee terms is anyone's guess, of course. I'm just using them the way they use them at Spettacolo.

a Schale is the same long shot but added a LOT of hot milk. Ykes.. says the coffe lover in me...

Round here, quite a lot less milk (but same amount of coffee) than in what is called a latte machiatto, which makes it quite a lot cheaper than a latte machiatto