In my wandering around the web learning about coffee cups, I’ve come across espresso coffee cups. Silly me; I thought that when most people drank espresso, they did it out of coffee cups or regular cups or something. I had no idea there were designated espresso coffee cups but, apparently, there are. This led me to search deeper to see exactly what espresso coffee cups are.

Apparently espresso is supposed to be drunk from little 4 oz espresso coffee cups, although I did see some that were up to 5.5oz. My step-daughter informs me that real espresso is strong enough that you wouldn’t want to drink a coffee cup full of the stuff. The only espresso I’ve ever experienced was some stuff I got out of a vending machine at a place I used to work. Obviously this wasn’t real espresso. Luckily, the same step-daughter has a little tiny espresso maker thing, so I’m going to get to experience real espresso later tonight.

Anyway, back on the subject of espresso coffee cups. As opposed to coffee cups, which tend to reflect where you’ve been, espresso coffee cups are intended more to show your style as a person. They generally come in sets which really underscores that they’re meant primarily for entertaining in social environments. As I said before, they’re smaller, holding between 4 oz and 5.5 oz of liquid while a regular coffee cup holds between 6 oz and 8 oz. This is because the amount of espresso that fills an espresso cup contains about as much caffeine as a strong cup of coffee. They also generally come with little saucers that match the cups.

When buying espresso coffee cups, people are usually very picky. These cups are seen as a luxury, so they’re not going to get just anything. It’s going to have to match their kitchen, and their sense of style. Therefore, if you’re going to make a gift out of espresso coffee cups, you’ll have to be very careful and pick something that matches some of their other dishes. If you don’t know, it would probably be safer to ask than to guess since you’ll probably guess wrong. Nowadays, though, a good set of espresso coffee cups is nearly mandatory for any kind of social occasion at home among a small group of people.

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