How To Order Coffee in Portugal
May 15 '01
The Bottom Line A guide to coffee ordering in Portugal and Portuguese restaurants here in the States.
I was just reminiscing about one of my many trips to Portugal and thought of a conversation I had on the plane once. An American tourist, armed with a Portuguese/English dictionary and phrase book, was asking me about the pronunciation of certain things as sometimes it's hard to get the idea just from reading. And then he asked me a question..."How would I order coffee?". I thought that was kind of odd but then he went on to explain that someone had told him that if he ordered a café (coffee) in Portugal, what he would end up with would be an espresso. He wanted to know what to say to end up with a "normal" cup of coffee.
It was something I'd never really thought about, having grown up in a Portuguese family, visiting Portugal often, and frequenting Portuguese restaurants in the United States. It never occurred to me that someone at one of these places would even want anything other than an espresso. Anyway, I told him that he'd have no luck finding a brewed cup of the coffee he wanted but that if he was willing to settle for instant coffee it wouldn't be a problem. To get what he wanted, he should ask for a NesCafe, which is a particular brand of instant coffee but is generally used to refer to all instant coffees of this type in Portugal. The other option would be to ask for a Café Americano (American coffee) and that would surely give his server the right idea.
What follows is a description of the coffees you'll encounter in Portuguese cafes and restaurants.
Café As mentioned above, what you get when you order this is an espresso. Though a lot of people think of Italians when espresso is mentioned, it's just as popular in Portugal...and there is some very good espresso to be had there. Very strong and flavorful, comes in a little demitasse cup. You will find no little lemon peel on the saucer as you do here in certain places in the States. It's acceptable to add sugar though it's not unheard of for people to debate whether or not sugar ruins the coffee. I like my espresso accompanied by a shot of Macieira (a pretty harsh Portuguese brandy) or a shot of a good aged Aguardente (another Portuguese brandy...made from grapes... that is very smooth when aged but packs QUITE the punch). To get an aged one, ask for Aguardente Velha.
Oh, in some places, people refer to it as a Bica...but Café is understood everywhere.
Carioca For those of you that don't want something quite as strong as a regular espresso, you may order a carioca. It's still an espresso and still served in the same little cup. But an espresso is a result of the first time water is run thru ground coffee and out of the espresso machine into your cup. The process of making a carioca is the same except that you use the ground coffee that's already been used to make an espresso. So the water that's going to make your cup of coffee is running through the ground coffee a second time resulting in it being a little weaker.
There are some places where a carioca is a half and half mix of café and hot water and this would be served in a larger cup. If that's the case, it might be a suitable replacement for your "normal" cup of coffee.
I have yet to see decaffeinated espresso coffee in the cafes and restaurants in Portugal.
Galao I suggested to my fellow traveler on the plane that in absence of the brewed coffee he's used to, rather than go with the instant coffee, he might enjoy this instead if he normally drank his coffee with milk. A Galao is made with espresso coffee. A little bit of it is put in tall glass mug or tall glass and then hot milk is added. Perfect if you're looking for something to drink with your breakfast. If you'd like it heavier on the coffee, specify Galao Escuro. If you'd like it heavier on the milk, specify Galao Claro.
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