Macchiato

Just when I thought I had found my favorite coffee shop along comes Macchiato. This little gem opened a few months ago and my husband and I decided to stop by one Saturday morning. I immediately liked the place.

It has a modern, sit-and-relax-here-for-hours kind of atmosphere with both tables and booths. There was even a little reading section with magazines to borrow during your visit.

I love this because I feel like a complete weirdo when I take my books or magazines to the coffee shop to read. This is one trend that has definitely not hit Maringá. In the US people spend hours at their tables immersed in a good novel. I rarely witness this here.

A friend who is most recently from Curitiba did tell me that coffee shop reading occurs there and that she also noticed the lack of this relaxing pastime upon moving to Maringá. You can also forget about laptops. I’ve seen a total of one person in a coffee shop (the one in the mall) working on a computer.

Sometimes I catch myself and think well maybe it is because people can’t afford them here. Then I think about the imported Audis and Range Rovers, Nike Shox and designer jeans I see on a daily basis and I think, no, that’s not the reason.

So anyway, I’m hoping since Macchiato offers reading materials, maybe they hope you will read during your visit. It is worth a try.

Moving on to their menu. We just stopped for coffee and the selection was great. This is the first place I have been to that actually distinguishes between the different kind of cappuccinos. I think I’ve mentioned before that a Brazilian cappuccino is more like a mocha. It has chocolate powder in it and whipped cream on top. Well Macchiato offers the Brazilian cappuccino and the Italian cappuccino, which is more the traditional frothed milk and espresso.

I decided to try the coffee with avelã, hazelnut. Much to my surprise, it was basically a latte with a scoop of Nutella spread in it. More like a dessert, but pretty darn good.

The shop is relatively close to our apartment so I have easy access. It is in a different direction too, which is a plus because I can get a change of atmosphere. In addition to coffee, the rest of their menu looks great. They also had a dessert case which, by appearance, topped even Marcos.

I’ll be headed back soon with my reading material in hand. Who knows, maybe I’ll do something really crazy and actually write there on my laptop. Somebody’s got to set the trend. Maybe this gringa can get it going.