Marc wrote:Truly good espresso don't need sugar, it's like killing the nice balance..

Truly authentic espresso, in the Italian style, is with two sugars. That is how espresso is meant to be consumed.

OK, I'm kidding, but it's just as valid a stance as the 'no sugar' folk.
A bit of sugar can help bring out flavours that would otherwise be masked in an espresso. It's a matter of preference, and neither way is more correct than the other, just more correct for the drinker of *that* espresso.

In Italy, there always are large containers of sugar on the bar, and if you order espresso after your dinner, they always include packets of sugar.

Can you make espresso with a super auto?

If I do use it, I use maybe half a demitasse spoon (or less).

Psyd wrote:Truly authentic espresso, in the Italian style, is with two sugars. That is how espresso is meant to be consumed.

OK, I'm kidding, but it's just as valid a stance as the 'no sugar' folk.

I agree, but around here the only acceptable answers are:

1) No.
2) I don't, but my [insert familial relation/guest here] does.
3) I do, but only six grains of sugar.

When I traveled in Italy (Rome, Venice, Siena and Florence) I do not recall seeing anyone anywhere - other than me - drinking their espresso straight with no sugar.

dialydose wrote:I agree, but around here the only acceptable answers are:

1) No.
2) I don't, but my [insert familial relation/guest here] does.
3) I do, but only six grains of sugar.

Well you are in a forum where people love coffee and love it for was it is. So you may found more people that don't put sugar in their drink.

That doesn't mean that one is more wrong than the other, do what your want and what you like, but everybody has their opinion, either it's sugar or not.

Phaelon56 wrote:When I traveled in Italy (Rome, Venice, Siena and Florence) I do not recall seeing anyone anywhere - other than me - drinking their espresso straight with no sugar.

I was born and raised in Italy. People who drink espresso without sugar are stared at, given how rare it is. Espresso is enjoyed with sugar, where we take an almost-religious stand is sugar in cappuccinos, with a roughly 50% 50% split between who uses sugar in milk-based drinks, and the people who think it's cloyingly sweet already.

The weird thing is that Italians (especially in Northern Italy, where I grew up in) usually don't have as much as a sweet tooth as Americans, but espresso somehow is meant to be sweetened. Since you grow up tasting sweetened espresso, the idea of tasting it un-sweetened is unappealing. Moreover, by the time we can start enjoying the finer points of espresso, our taste buds are imprinted with the taste of sugared espresso. Our taste preferences are shaped in our childhood, usually.

Americans tend to get into espresso later in life, and usually exposed thru higher-end channels. At least for this generation, I dread what a generation raised on Starbucks bitter coal brew will do to espresso.

(just like every generalization, the above is true only in very generic terms, and many exceptions can be proven... )

I find the milk in Europe to be sweeter than what I buy locally here in Florida. I don't know why that is and maybe its just my impression.

Marc wrote:That doesn't mean that one is more wrong than the other, do what your want and what you like, but everybody has their opinion, either it's sugar or not.

I think you essentially just restated my point. I generally take that stance on pretty much everything in life. My comments were directed to the people who, either directly or indirectly, say that putting sugar in coffee is wrong, bad, etc. There are several topics like this in the coffee world and it seems that dogma too often prevails. This is a hobby after all that is meant to be enjoyed; it is not accounting where there are hard and fast rules.