Coffee Please!

Everywhere you go in Andalucia you may need to learn a slightly different vocabulary in order to order your coffee just like you like it. As an example, here’s a guide to coffees in Málaga. Nube: Literally means “cloud”. This is just enough coffee to flavour your hot milk. Sombra: Literally “shade”. Slightly more coffee. Corto: Literally “short”. Less than half the glass is coffee. Mitad: Literally “half”. You guessed it. Largo: Literally “long”. More than half a glass of coffee. Manchao: Literally “stained”. Just a few drops of milk in your coffee. Solo: Literally “alone”… Yep. Now if you’re really picky, you can also ask for a “semi-corto”, which is in between a “corto” and a “mitad”. There’s also a semi-largo that takes you in between a “mitad” and a largo. Personally I prefer decaf, but I don’t want instant. Therefore I always ask for my coffee – a “nube” in this case – followed by “descafeinado de máquina” (por favour).
Blog published on 16 November 2009