From Terceira in the Azores to exploring fun activities in the Algarve, Portuguese coffee was delicious and easy to find! It felt like every cafe, bar, restaurant, and little hut in a park had an espresso machine and coffee grinder, and knew how to use them well!
Portugal has its own coffee culture and a menu of coffee drinks that differ from the Italian and Italian-sounding drinks found in the U.S. and elsewhere.
This post will give you an intro to the Portuguese coffee scene aimed at helping new visitors learn how to order coffee in Portuguese.
Portuguese coffee style
Portuguese coffee uses a mix of arabica and robusta beans. Their drinks are based on espresso.
The coffee we drank tended to have a roasty nutty chocolatey flavor, low acidity, rich mouthfeel, and balanced bitterness. I loved espresso in Portugal on its own and in milky drinks.
Based on taste, the roast level seemed closer to medium rather than darker roasts found in this flavor profile. Espressos lacked that harsh charcoal bitterness I find in some coffees.
A few “third wave” coffee shops seemed to be popping up in cities, though they were rare.
Locals often pop into a bar or Portuguese coffee shop, order an espresso, drink it standing, chat for a few, and then carry on with their day. Coffee is routinely taken after meals as well.
Portuguese coffee drinks
Many cafes and pastry shops (pastelarias) won’t have an explicit coffee drink menu. Here’s a quick rundown of a few Portuguese coffee drinks that we enjoyed and you can order.
| Portuguese Name | Description | Similar Drink |
|---|---|---|
| Café | Single espresso | Single espresso |
| Café duplo | Double espresso | Double espresso |
| Descafeinado | Decaf espresso | Decaf espresso |
| Abatanado | Large coffee | Americano |
| Meia de leite | Espresso with steamed milk | Strong cappuccino w/ less foam |
| Café com leite | Coffee with milk | Meia de leite |
| Galão | Milk with a shot of espresso | Cafe latte with little foam |
Here’s a visual representation of the various drinks
Let’s cover the drinks in more detail!
Café
An espresso is the standard way coffee is served in Portugal. Ordering um café (a coffee) will get you a single espresso served with a sachet of sugar on the side.
I found the espresso to be rich in flavor and mouthfeel. It had a chocolatey, nutty, roasty flavor.
You’ll also see this called um expresso on some menus. Uma bica is sometimes used in Lisbon and um cimbalinho in Porto.
Um cafe worked everywhere for us to get a tasty espresso.
Café duplo
A double espresso for when you’ve got to get some things done or to recover from your overnight flight to Portugal.
Descafeinado
Descafeinado means decaffeinated. Ordering um descafeinado will get you a decaf espresso. You’ll also see descafeinado used as a modifier on other drinks like um galão descafeinado.
Abatanado
This is a larger coffee similar to an Americano. It is often made by adding hot water to espresso.
Meia de leite
Literally a “half of milk”, this drink is about equal parts steamed milk espresso with a bit of thin foam. We found it to be similar in strength to a strong cappuccino with less foam.
The pronunciation in European Portuguese sounds like “maya delight”. In Brazilian Portuguese, it sounds like “may-uh jee leche”.
Café com leite
Literally “coffee with milk”, we saw this on menus in the Algarve rather than meia de leite. The two wound up being very similar in practice.
Galão
Warmed or steamed milk with a shot of espresso. It has more milk than a meia de leite, akin to a cafe latte with little foam. We found that the size and strength varied from shop to shop.
For a weaker drink ask for um galão claro (light). For stronger ask for um galão escuro (dark).
Other drinks
Some places offer iced coffee drinks but not all. You’ll sometimes get a cup of ice on the side if you ask for it.
A few establishments also had drinks like cafe latte and cappuccino on their menus.
Tips for ordering Portuguese coffee in Portugal
We found that ordering the Portuguese coffee drinks by their Portuguese names gave us the most reliable results.
I got an unwanted Americano a couple of times when I led with English. Ordering “a cappuccino” somewhere resulted in getting flavored pod coffee rather than an espresso drink.
So, I’d recommend going with the Portuguese name unless other drinks are specifically on the menu.
What we brewed at home
We generally travel with an AeroPress so we can make coffee. It’s robust and produces great results.
We settled on Delta lote chávena with the fine (máquina) grind for our “at-home” coffee on the trip. That was universally available and reasonably tasty. It has a classic roasty flavor profile.
Portuguese coffee brands we saw were Delta, Sical, and Buondi.
Multiple Airbnb’s we stayed at also had a Nespresso pod machine. Two took the larger dolco gusto pods and a third took the standard small pods.
FAQs
How do you say coffee in Portuguese?
Café means coffee in Portuguese. Ordering um café (a coffee) will get you a single espresso.
How to order coffee in Portugal?
If you order um café you’ll get a single espresso. See our table above for more Portuguese coffee drinks you may want to order like meia de leite and galão!
How to say coffee with milk in Portuguese?
Café com leite means coffee with milk. You might also see meia de leite on menus. For a coffee with more milk go for a galão.
Tip In European Portuguese “leite” is pronounced like “light-uh”. The “uh” has very little emphasis or is even dropped. In Brazilian Portuguese, it sounds closer to the Spanish “leche”.
Wrapping up
We loved the coffee in Portugal and the surrounding culture!
My daily coffee intake in Portugal was as high, similar to my Cuban coffee consumption in the Florida Keys!
More seriously, this meant that even though I don’t drink, I always had options at bars and other establishments when others wanted something alcoholic.
Do you love Portuguese coffee? Are you excited to try it on an upcoming trip?
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