Portuguese coffee experience

Recently back from a trip to Portugal and of course couldn’t help but go into a few of their coffee shops. Firstly they are known as ‘Pastelarias and as the name may suggest sell some wonderful cakes as well as the coffee.

As we travelled we did try a variety of their Portuguese brands such as Delta, Sical, Buondo, Nicola. One thing we noticed was that coffee is surprisingly cheap. An espresso wouldn’t usually cost you more than €1 and in most cases is closer to €0.50.

But do be aware when you order If you ask for a coffee (um café) an espresso is what you’d be served, although there are regional variations for different coffees too. If you were in Porto and wanted an espresso you’d order um cimbalino (named after the La Cimbali espresso machines), while in Lisbon you’d order um bica.

They also have a range of coffees with milk in too – such as um pingo (an espresso with a dash of milk) or uma meia de leite (around half coffee/half milk – the closest thing to a latte).

If you want a long black coffee then order “Um abatanado” which is somewhere between an espresso and an Americano, however, it isn’t always as big a coffee as a lot of people will like. Also to note, to some people an abatanado means an espresso in a larger cup and topped up with water, while to others, an abatanado means a coffee with two shots of espresso

These are examples of what you can order similar to what you can have in the UK but remember like the UK there are a wide range of variations of the espresso based drink.