Basics
Coffee in Spain
By m.p. - Aug 27, 2007 - 9:56 AM
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The first Spaniard to ever drink a cup of coffee, was according to the Spanish Coffee Federation, the FEC, Pedro Paez, a Jesuit missionary who was enslaved and held captive in what is now Ethiopia at the beginning of the 17th century. He later became the first European to visit the source of the Blue Nile, with the tale of his life later recounted in a book published in 2001 by the renowned journalist and novelist, Javier Reverte, entitled ‘God, the devil and adventure.’
Paez wrote a lengthy account of Ethiopia, published in 1620 and later reissued in a new edition in 1945, both in Portuguese: ‘História da Etiópia,’ He speaks in the text of a dark-coloured, bitter-infusion which he tasted during his time in Africa.
It was not until around the mid-18th century, however, that coffee was introduced to Spain, brought here under the Borbon dynasty. The first ever café in Spain – or coffee shop - was opened in Madrid by Italian businessmen, the Hermanos Gippini, in 1764: la Fonda de San Sebastián on Calle Atocha.
Others soon followed, with this new beverage then becoming popular in other major cities in Spain. Cafés sprung up in Barcelona, Valencia, Bilbao, La Coruña and Cartagena in the southeast, and were relatively widespread by the end of the century.
There are two main methods of toasting the coffee beans: ‘tostado natural,’ whose name speaks for itself, and, the variety which is reportedly sold almost exclusively to Spain and Portugal, ‘torrefacto,’ where sugar is added during the toasting process to produce a darker-coloured, stronger-tasting coffee bean.
The intricacies of ordering a coffee in a bar or restaurant in Spain could be seen as a little daunting to the uninitiated.
It may arrive in a cup or a glass.
Then, one has to decide on which type: simply choosing between black and white is not an option.
Starting from the weakest version, there is what is known as either a ‘café manchado,’ or, in some areas just to add a little more confusion, as a ‘nube,’ or a cloud. It’s basically a cup of hot milk with a dash of coffee.
Slightly higher up the scale is a ‘café sombra,’ – a shadowed coffee, and still mainly milk – followed by a café con leche, which is usually half coffee and half milk. The ratio can often depend however on each particular bar, where a café sombra can often be another man’s café con leche, and vice versa.
A café cortado is an espresso coffee ‘cut’ with just a little milk. Then comes the ‘café solo,’ a black coffee – literally, a coffee on its own.
Other variations include a ‘café con hielo,’ when, in the heat of the summer, the customer orders coffee which must then be poured onto a separate glass of ice cubes. Never an easy feat, it works best when performed rather like the tablecloth trick: with speed ‘y sin miedo!’
Then there’s a carajillo, a beverage which mixes coffee with a dash of spirits, usually either brandy or anis.
The FEC estimates that more than 24 million cups of coffee are drunk in Spain every year: the equivalent of 599 cups for every person.
Infusions are also popular in Spain, from manzanilla (chamomile tea) - not to be confused with the type of sherry of the same name - to menta poleo, the variety of mint which is known in English as Pennyroyal.
Take care when ordering what you think may be a run-of-the-mill cup of tea (un té) in Spain, and make sure you specify exactly what you want.
Usually served black, if you ask for a tea with milk in a non-tourist area, it may come accompanied with a jug of hot milk, or on the odd occasion, as a floating teabag desperately trying to infuse some of its flavour into a cup of stone-cold milk.
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