No, the Nordic way of light (or medium) roasted coffee prepared in a drip brewer is the only way.
If this breaks into Italy, I will make sure to stay away from it ;-).
That being said, I'm really enjoying weak watery coffee these days. Its sweeter, you taste the aroma more, and it's a nice slow high in the morning that teases you gently into a focused work mindset, instead of tense grinning-neurotic mess I used to be. Also, I can sleep better at night.
Nowadays most of our offices in Poland have espresso machines, so I can taste it here also.
What is funny is that when I was in our main office in US, they didn't have espresso machine, just some strange "coffee machine" that poured some coffee-like liquid.
I also don't get the big buckets of coffee premade and poured to the mugs in some traditional American diners.
In Poland the traditional way to prepare coffee is called "turkish style" (po turecku) - you put one or two spoons of ground coffee in glass or mug and pour hot water over it. I don't like that too much, but it tastes better than the US made version of coffee.
I've recently learnt that most Starbucks have filter coffee as an off-menu item. It's still Starbucks but it's so much better than their "Americano". Unfortunately many will refuse to make it for you (presumably because it's more effort).
It's not that espresso can't be good, but for most places this is the cheap, low effort, coffee-on-demand. And in most of southern Europe (Italy, France, Spain) the taste seems to be for burnt coffee that all tastes the same.
Also, it really annoys me that if you order two drinks (like a café con leche in Spain) they'll split a double shot into two cups with one getting clearly more coffee than the other. It's a 50% chance you're going to get the weak brown milk.
Disclaimer: I'm a Spaniard.
Most cafes in Spain serve a particularly noxious form of burnt coffee called "torrefacto" [0], which is made by mixing sugar with the beans while they are being excessively roasted. This introduces additional bitterness and ash to what would have already been overly roasted beans.
For a country where coffee is often consumed multiple times a day, and where there are cafes in every corner, Spain has disappointingly terrible coffee.
I'd rather have the brownish water they called coffee in the US office any day.
It made sense back in the day, in that postwar economy, as the sugar roasting process reduced its price and lengthened its shelf life. Mixing or even substituting in completely with chicory (depending on your wealth, or lack of it) was very common, and some old people still do it nowadays.
But still tastes burnt, so of course people do lots of sugar and milk on their coffee :p.
BTW, it's OK if any of you don't like coffee, or like it sugary, with milk, powdered, or in any coffee based drink that you like. I might be snobby with my coffee, but you can drink wathever do like. And in summer I always fancy a cold coffee with tigernut horchata (popular around Valencia, different from the Mexican one that's made with rice).
Sure, I agree. My disappointment with torrefacto is just a personal opinion.
For example, I think chicory is great, and so is barley (mugicha). I would very much rather drink those instead of torrefacto.
And it’s faster to order, too! At least at the Starbucks’ I’ve been to, the barista/cashier will usually turn around and pour it immediately. Other drinks (even iced/cold brew) go into the queue.
But the worst coffee, has to be the brown colored bland fluid called coffee in the US!
Similar with Sweden. Stockholm has many excellent coffee shops. Maybe you need to put more effort in.