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Caffélatte , or caffé e latte , coffee with milk , is said to have been invented by Americans of Italian descent as they added steamed milk to their espresso coffee to ward off the bitter taste of the product they were serving customers , a lesser bean for a lesser connoisseur . At some point this morphed into other variations , cappuccino in Europe and a flat white in my homeland and neighbouring New Zealand , all which include milk in varying amounts and techniques . Ironically , in the USA the Americano has become the favoured form , it ’ s nothing more than a watered-down espresso .
Looking around , I questioned whether I was right to be drinking a café con leche that I tried to convince myself was a café latte . No , I wasn ’ t right . The local bean is Arabica and needs no form of altering to its flavours , simply served negro , black , so that the sweet , complex flavours can be enjoyed . It ’ s what the locals do , and it is what I needed to do . I ordered another , el solo café negro . The experience much more pleasant the second time around as I was served with a smile and a knowing look .
Moving across the town ’ s square I wondered what the people of Salento did , surely all 10,000 inhabitants couldn ’ t be geared for tourism , although the many jeep taxis lining up suggested otherwise .
The gradual incline of Calle Real presented a myriad of colour which eventually culminated at the two hundred and fifty steps that lead to the Alto de la Cruz and with it the fourteen stations of the cross , not unusual in this part of the world where Catholicism plays a heavy part in daily life , but who needs organised religion when you have something as tangible as coffee .
The caffeine was now kicking in and a short dirt track ride later we found ourselves at an oasis of coffee production deep within the Andean
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