Trieste in one day: nero, old taverns and fish market

In Trieste if you orderespresso, the waiter will look at you like a tourist. Coffee is called herenero, and that is the first lesson of the city that was an Austro-Hungarian port for half a century, and then remained Italian with a Slovenian neighborhood and Viennese manners in a cup. From Koper to the center is a little more than20 km, from Ljubljana approx100 kmby highway — close enough to have breakfast at home and lunch with sardines at the counter.

This is not a city to chase. Trieste is drunk slowly, in pieces of one coffee each, and is planned around three things: taverns, fish and walks by the sea. All three fit in one day if you know the order.

Why is coffee ordered in a secret language in Trieste?

Trieste is a cityilly-ja — the company was founded here in 1933 and still roasts beans in town — and drinks more coffee per capita than any other Italian city. That's why it has its own dictionary that doesn't work anywhere else.Nerois espresso.Capois a macchiato, and if you want it in a glass instead of a cup, that iscapo in b(in bicchiere).Gocciatois nero with a drop of milk.A blanketis decaffeinated. Order wrong and get wrong — nobody translates here.

Taverns are Austro-Hungarian heritage, rightsKaffeehaustradition with marble, mirrors and newspaper on a stick.Caffè San Marco(opened in 1914, in Via Cesare Battisti) still has the original interior and a bookstore at the bottom of the hall.Caffè Tommaseohas been operating since 1830 and is the oldest in the city.Caffè degli Specchiit looks directly onto Piazza Unità d'Italia — the largest square in Europe open to the sea. Sit inside, not on the terrace: the pub is an institution, not a photograph. If you're interested in what happens to the bean before it reaches the cup, it's worth reading howgrain processing changes acidity and profile, and for the technique at home we also haveespresso in 25 seconds without bitterness.