Coffee in Naples has always been considered a symbol of break: from work, from the daily frenzy, from worries. According to the writer Luciano De Crescenzo, coffee «is able to get close to the brain and tickle it a little».
Yet today, even in Naples, coffee has taken on a different connotation: it has lost its ancient social dimension, the one that makes us sit around a table and have a conversation. Even the way of making coffee has changed, as have the coffee makers.
In ancient times the so-called “cuccuma” or Neapolitan coffee maker was used. Only later came the most famous Moka Bialetti. The technical functioning of the cuccuma also expresses the ancient Neapolitan way in coffee philosophy: slowness.
Ph. Carolina Fragapane
In the moka, the coffee goes upwards when the water boils. In the cuccuma, on the other hand, it is the exact opposite: when the water boils, you have to turn the coffee maker upside down so the water goes down - due to the force of gravity - and passes through the tank where the coffee is. With the moka you can prepare a coffee in a few minutes, with the cuccuma it takes more time.
An eternity for those who want to quickly drink a coffee. But coffee in Naples is synonymous with sociability, it has nothing fast. It is a moment of meditation and meeting.
On the spout you put a sheet of paper (called ‘o cuppetiello) which is useful to prevent the coffee aroma from being dispersed when we turn the cuccuma upside down | Ph. Carolina Fragapane
The famous playwright Edoardo De Filippo, in the comedy “Questi fantasmi!” (“Oh, These Ghosts!”), even spoke of “framing the sacred moment of coffee”. The scene was this: sitting on a chair on his balcony, in the open air, Edoardo spoke to an imaginary interlocutor, the so-called “professor”, to whom he told that Neapolitans cannot do without coffee, because it is a ritual daily.
“Io, per esempio, professò, a tutto rinuncerei tranne che a questa tazzina di caffè, presa tranquillamente fuori al balcone, dopo quella mezzoretta di sonno che uno si è fatto dopo pranzo”
“For example, professor, I would give up everything except this cup of coffee, enjoyed quietly right here, outside the balcony, after that hour of sleep you had after lunch”From “Oh, These Ghosts!” by Eduardo De Filippo
Ph. Carolina Fragapane
In the city, someone decided to restore the old tradition of coffee prepared with the cuccuma. Achille is a young man from Umbria running a bar in the historic center, between the lower Decumano and Spaccanapoli: the Cuccuma coffee. At Achille’s coffee is prepared slowly and sipped just as slowly, just as if it were a sacred rite. But how is the coffee with the cuccuma? Less dense and concentrated than an espresso, it is good to combine with a babà, a pastiera or a sfogliatella.