uma bica, por favor!
Coffee, coffee shops and pavement cafés are all the rage in Portugal. Here we give you a detailed interpretation of all the types of coffee one can order.
1 May 2016
The perfect pre-praia stop-off should be at a pastelaria or pavement or railway station café to sample the dazzling array of coffees and pastries.
Coffee is a serious business in Portugal. It can make or break deals.
From my experiences, coffee, especially in the early morning, underpins modern Portuguese life. The Portuguese are as mad about coffee as the Italians are. Portuguese-served coffee has the ability to pacify.
When it seems like the whole population of Lisbon or Porto is heading for the beach on a Friday, the only antidote to is to sit down and have a bica. It will transform a day of torturous traffic to the beach into something else.
Somehow – and I think this is a Southern European thing – the caffeine-enhanced after-effect will mean you arrive at the beach in a better frame of mind. I’ve tried and tested it, that’s for sure. Portuguese coffee has an untold potency.
It is said that without the dark and robust beverage that is a bica, the country would most certainly come to a complete halt. I wholeheartedly agree.
Allegedly, Portugal sourced virtually all of its coffee from its colonies in the Salazar years. Locals tell me that bica, comes from this: B (Beba/[in English, Drink]) I (isto/[in English, this]) C (com[in English, with]) A (açucar[in English, sugar]), or “Drink this with sugar”.
The term bica, meaning a regular and short espresso, is dark and intense. If you want a longer drink, ask for a bica cheia [a somewhat weaker black coffee]. The ultimate hangover cure. The cost in Lisboa is a mere 75 cents.
Um galão, served in a tall glass, is a very milky coffee, refreshing in the heat of summer. Or uma meia de leite is served in a white cup – it can be drunk black, of course.
Of course, it would be a gross injustice to discuss coffee without also introducing the perfect accompaniment: a pastel da nata.
These soft egg-custard pastries taste heavenly.
It is reputed that the original recipe for pasteis da nata came from the Jeronimos Monastery, in Belém. Their creamy filling and soft pastry puff are a delightful accompaniment to a bica.
Businessmen stop to enjoy a bica and its perfect accompaniment, a pasta da nata, as they ascend from the metro, already weary from the 7am commute.
In pastelerias up and down the country, the Portuguese love their coffee and every hour pour a generous sachet of sugar into their coffee. The small sugar packet which arrives with each order is normal; you don’t have to ask.
In Lisboa, you can drink a small black coffee in a cold cup -this is a chávena fria. A small black coffee in a hot cup is a chávena quente.
A small black coffee from a Cimbalin coffee machine is a Cimbalino.
A small weaker coffee is a carioca or a bica fraca.
A double black coffee in a cup is a bica dupla.
A large weaker coffee is an abadanado.
A small black coffee with alcohol, it’s a café com cheirinho.
But cold coffee in a bigger glass full of ice and a slice of lemon with sugar is a mazagram.
A small black decaffeinated coffee, served with a small cup, hot water, sugar, and a decaffeinated coffee in a packet is a café descafeinado or descafeinado solúvel.
A small black coffee with a shot of brandy is a bica com Cheirinho.
A coffee with hot milk in a small-sized cup is a café com leite apart.
A coffee with hot and frothy milk in a teacup is an abatanado.
Using chocolate, extact of banana and coffee and cold milk, this is called a batido de café.
A meida de leite is half coffee and half hot milk in a teacup.
A cup of milk and a small coffee, that is a garoto.
A cappuccino – a small black coffee served in a tea-cup served with whipped cream or with machine frothed milk. More hot milk in a large glass, that’s a galão.
A small black coffee with a drop of hot milk that’s a bica pingada, or a pingo.
And finally, a small black coffee with cream and a measure of whisky or brandy or both (I think you already know this!) is called an Irish Coffee.