Since it’s Monday morning, let’s talk coffee, shall we?

For those of you who are big coffee drinkers, the best advice I can give you for when you get to Brazil and walk into a corner padaria is… take what you can get. Depending on where you are, there are very limited choices in what you can order.  In some places, the coffee’s really strong and they serve sugar separately.  In others, the coffee’s super weak and filled with sugar… and a little of everything in between.  Each state and region has its different way of drinking coffee, so in respect for the region you’re in – if you’re not making coffee at home… just drink it!

That being said… if you have options, in general, you can get by with the following vocabulary:

cafézinho/expresso/café curto – This is usually a cup of coffee in an expresso cup.  It may or may not be an expresso.  If an expresso is what you really want, to be on the safe side, order a cafézinho expresso, or just um expresso.

média/café com leite – Different places will say different things.  In most places, a café com leite, will be a tea cup sized coffee with more milk than coffee.   It also may or may not come with sugar, so if you prefer it without, make sure to ask for um café com leite sem açúcar! In some places, you can just order a média, and they’ll bring you the same thing.

café duplo/pingado – This is like a big média! And the same rules apply.  Also, if you order a pingado and the person stares at you like you’re crazy, go for a café duplo, or vice versa 🙂

capuccino – In some places this is the same thing as a cappuccino you’d find in the US, but some coffee shops (in SP at least) will add chocolate to their capuccinos! (I highly recommend the one from Kopenhagen, mmm mmm yummy and worth the R$9!)

As for vocabulary, I think that’s it… Depending on where you go – if it’s a small restaurant, forget the options of descafeinado (decaf), leite desnatado (skim milk) or leite de soja (soy milk).  That’s just frescuragem.

If you’re going for coffee, don’t forget to order a pão de queijo to dip in your café com leite. And if you’re ordering coffee with dessert, order a pudim de leite with it! 🙂 Oh! And don’t be surprised if your coffee comes in a glass…

Happy cafézinho!