Greetings:
Can you please tell me the Italian word for "decaf" as in coffee? My friends do not drink regular espresso and want to know how to ask for "decaf espresso". Would you be able to phonically write the word so there will be no trouble in our pronunciation? Thank you.

You can ask for "caffe decaffeinato" but I don't know how widely available it is. You might be offered "caffe Hag" which is a brand name decaf coffee, like Sanka. (Be warned, it's not very good).

Most people in Italy do not ask for "espresso" because "caffe" is understood to be what we call espresso. If you want traditional American-style coffee, I believe that you ask for "caffe Americano."

For a free translation of the above, you might like to try this.

I know this is totally irrelevant, but can somebody explain what the point of decaffinated coffee is. - Not that I am a caffiene addict or anything :-).

I love that first coffee when I land in Italy, A couple of mililitres of scalding black goo, and suddenly the brain goes BING !

Tim

quote:

Not that I am a caffiene addict or anything :-).

Oh neither am I - *chortle*, OK, well so I am. My name is Leslie and I (don't) have a problem.

It's the caffeine Tim. Some people are affected by it, or dislike the affects. I had to dictionary.com the spelling as it's early in the morning here and I just sat down with my first, aromatic, delicious, steaming, (that will do Leslie) cappuccino... and even the dictionary talks about the use of in in medicine. Look here.

But that's all just talk of course. Coffee doesn't affect me... look...

One of the most painful weeks of my life (well, that was up until I had shingles!) was the week after the doc said I had to give up caffeine.

Nobody told me that I would have withdrawal symptoms. Headache. Sweats (and not the clothing variety). Nervousness. Stomach ache.

Does this sound like drug withdrawal?

It is.

So that's why people like it.

Earline

Earline, can you still drink decaf?

I asked in English for Decaf when I was in Florence, and the woman handed me a "caffe senza caffeina" The point of decaf is some people react badly to caffeine, but enjoy the flavor of coffee.