Tazetto brings a little cup of Italy into Oceanside

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Oceanside recently welcomed a new coffee house, Tazetto, into town.

Tazetto means “small cup” in Italian, and Vincent Arena, one of the founders of Tazetto, laughed when he said his father, Frank, was up late at night pouring over potential names for the coffee shop. The business serves coffee, tea, pastries, pizza, gelatos and more.

The café is accessible to all needs due to the openness of the location, which is within the Sands Shopping Center, and there is another establishment in Rockville Centre. Frank Arena has long been an espresso fan, Vincent said, noting that his father had a boat named “The Espresso,” on which he frequently served the drink to friends and family.

“My dad always said, ‘When you go to Italy, you drink espresso and there’s no comparison,” Vincent recalled.

After one particular trip to Italy, friends of the Arenas roasted coffee beans and gave a few of the bags to Frank to bring back to the U.S. The friends then became partners in the business, which imports pastries and pizza from Italy.

When customers walk into a café, the owners said they want it to feel like they are stepping into Italy itself. On the left is a green wall, which provides a guided tour of Italy to make patrons feel as if they were there. On the right is a colorful mural, which depicts a street in Italy and was created by a painter from Venice.

Some of the specialty drinks include Italian hot chocolate with a shot of espresso, where the espresso shot is chocolate; a Nutella latte, which is made with Nutella and a splash of milk and espresso; and an assortment of teas. The Venetian gold blend is a mix of beans from seven different origins, which contains beans from Ethiopia, Colombia and Brazil, all mashed together. The gelato is made fresh and is very creamy because it is constantly turning and not frozen.

The Arenas are environmentally friendly, so in their café,  so a lot of the silverware and lids are biodegradable.

Tazetto’s has provided musical entertainment in the past, and Vincent said he hoped to add more acts to the line-up and to expand to more stores in the future.