A traditional drink of Turin consisting of espresso coffee, chocolate and milk served in layers in a small rounded glass. It takes its name from the Piedmontese for thesmall glass. The beverage has been known since the eighteenth-century and was famously praised by Alexandre Dumas in 1852. It is believed to be based on the seventeenth-century drink "Bavareisa": the key distinction being that in a bicerin the three components are carefully layered in the glass rather than being mixed together. The Caffè Al Bicerin has been serving the drink in Torino's Piazza della Consolata since the eighteenth century, and some authorities believe that the drink was invented there. Others believe that it originated around 1704 in the Caffè Fiorio which still stands on what is now Via Po.
