Oibò

Oibò, located in the corner of Piazza Peruzzi, is a cafe build with large cobblestone and has a medieval fort look. Nonstop cluttering of plates spoons cups and glasses, chattering of people, hissing of steam from coffee machine, introduces this place even from outside. People look inside the cafe and walk in due the liveliness. The strong aroma of coffee beverages attracts the sleep deprived. The barista’s scream of, “uno cappuccino, duo macchiato, uno espresso” can be constantly heard even from the pedestrian walk outside. He removes a strawberry croissant from the heated rack, serves it on a small square plate and puts it on the counter for it to be collected.

A large glass door welcomes the customers as they walk in deciding on what to order.  The barista has memorized the orders of the regular customers as he smiles at them and places their order without confirming. The most popular ordered beverages tent to be cappuccino, espresso, and macchiato with seldom orders of American coffee, usually from the older American tourist that show up in between their tour to Santa Croche Church. There are also a lot of student that visit the place for breakfast. Assuming they are study abroad students, they try to order in Italian and laugh as the barista corrects their mistakes and gets them what they want. A middle-aged man grabs attention as he walks in. He is white male with completely grey hair. His eyebrows are however black and shaped like devil’s horns. Resisting to laugh, the people giggle and continue with their routine.

It is interesting how Italian cafes have a variety of menus on them. From alcohol to freshly squeezed juices, varieties coffees and teas that are not commonly heard of, water, sodas, croissant filled with different fruit jams, sandwiches, pizzas, cakes, pastries, and many other things that can never be imagined to have in combination with each other.

Oibò’s bar is a section filling half of the wall straight in front, climbing all the way to the top. It is filled with alcohol bottles of different sizes, shape color and brands. Being a nonalcoholic, I wonder how many cocktails beverages could be made from the collection and how they would taste.

The smell of the caffeine spreads as the barista fills the espresso attachment with raw coffee and attaches it to the machine. It makes a hissing sound while he steams milks in another container on the left section of the same coffee machine. Still waiting for my order, I overhear the people around me. Unable to understand the language, I smile at them as they smile back at me.

A waitress cleans the tables as the customers leave and rearranges the antique looking candle stands that are displaced from its usual location. The dim lightings give the place a soothing ambience yet the sounds keep it lively enough to start the day with a kick of strong espresso shot.