COFFEE COFFEE COFFEE

Whoa…. Spaniards LOVE their coffee!

Coffee when you wake up, two coffees more before breakfast, coffee with breakfast, coffee every thirty minutes, coffee with lunch, did I mention coffee?, coffee after dinner, coffee for dessert, and it goes on and on and on.

This may be a little exaggeration but I am not exaggerating how much Spaniards love their coffee.

But their coffee here is nothing compared to the US. Back home, I would consider myself to be a coffee drinker – black coffees, expressos, lattes, cappuccinos, etc.. I like coffee and I drink it often. And most of the time I drink it straight / black with no added creams or sugars.

Here in Spain, the coffee is SO strong. Imagine fermenting coffee grounds for a week in water, and then drinking that with the grounds still in it! That’s how I can best describe how strong the coffee is here…. Take American coffee and times the strength and bitterness by 100 and MAYBE you’ll have as much umph as the coffee here in Spain.

Not only is coffee here so intense, but every coffee is served in a tiny espresso sized cup because they know the coffee is so pungent you won’t need more than that.

There are 3 main types of coffee here. Solo, cortado, and café con leche.

Café solo is only coffee. The strongest ( obviously ) and very very bitter.

Café cortado is mainly coffee with a little bit of milk. Also, very very bitter.

Café con leche is mainly milk with a little bit of coffee. And again, also very very bitter.

No matter which one of the three you order, you are going to need to add a whole bag of sugar to make it enjoyable.

There also seems to be a running joke here in Spain that if you think the coffee is too strong and you need a lot of cream and sugar – that is called an “Americano”. Because our coffee in America is “watered down”, “tasteless” and “full of sugars”.

Also here in Spain, if you want a bigger coffee than these little espresso sized cups then you can order an “Americano” because everything in America is bigger. *Picture an older Spanish man referring to Americans always walking around with a giant Starbucks in their hands*.

So here in Spain, toughen up and drink the coffee ( *cough cough hint hint: use the sugar!!*).

If you can’t drink this strong bitter coffee you can order the Americano ( sweeter and less intense ). However, if you order this just know that you will most likely be judged for your inability to drink coffee like the Spaniards. Or if you want more coffee at once you can also order an Americano and get a big serving size – but beware.

But moral of this story is Spaniards love their coffee so if you’re ever in Spain you better get used to drinking this intense form of coffee at all hours of the day.

Café ( solo, cortado, café con leche ) :