by Sarah Espigares

Created on: September 02, 2009   Last Updated: September 05, 2009

When we returned from our honeymoon in Spain in 2004 the one thing that I missed most was the coffee. When we moved to Spain permanently in 2005 it became clear to me that coffee is an integral part of Spanish life.

If you go to any cafe in Spain you will see coffee is the main ingredient for any morning meal. I find that the best coffee is always served in small, family owned, corner cafe's that are full of old retired men who make their morning coffee a social event. Walk down the street in the late afternoon and you will hear women asking their friends if they would like "tomar un cafelito". This is an invitation over for typical afternoon coffee which is usually served with goodies like mantecados (lard cookies) or magdelenas (light muffins). Afternoon coffee is a daily bridge between lunch at 2:00 pm and dinner at 9:00pm.

There are several ways to have your coffee. The most common is the cafe con leche or coffee with milk. This is a strong espresso type coffee served with frothed milk like the kind of milk you would get in a cafe latte at Starbucks. Every well equipped cafe' has an espresso machine that makes the strong base coffee with a milk frother to complete you cafe con leche.

If you find a cafe' con leche too weak you can order a cortado which is translated shortened and has less milk in it. If you want a completely black coffee you will need to ask for an Americano. I think that one is quite explanatory. You have to keep in mind though that a black coffee in Spain is made the same as an espresso so they will add hot water to your Americano to weaken it. If you just want a shot of espresso then you ask for a cafe solo or "coffee only".

If a cafe' con leche is too strong than you can go the other way and order a sombra which is a "shaded" coffee. This type of coffee has more milk and less coffee. If that is still too strong then order a nube. Nubes are jokingly known as colored milk and are very weak. They look like weak chocolate milk and I always think of them as something you might drink at night if you can't sleep.

If you are looking to buy coffee for home in the local super market you will notice right away that there are several choices however it is not like North America. You won't find a lot of different brands or specialty coffees in your regular supermarket. You have a choice of straight espresso beans which are used in the machines in cafe's to make your cafe con leche. There is also the choice of Mezcla or Natural beans to use in your own personal coffee machine, coffee press or percolator. Mezcla which simply means mixture is just that. It is a mixture of natural coffee beans and semi-processed. Natural is natural coffee beans that have not been processed.

My coffee is never as good as in cafe's though so my suggestion is to amble down to your corner cafe' and tomar un cafelito and watch the world go by.

Disfruta!

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