☕Coffee in Portugal

Coffee is everywhere in Portugal – it’s more than a drink, it’s part of daily life and culture. Whether you’re meeting someone for a quick chat or taking a break at your favourite pastelaria, knowing how to order the right coffee with the right name will make you feel confident and at ease.

After reading this post, you’ll know not just how to order coffee in Portuguese, but all the main types of drinks you might encounter – from the classic espresso to a creamy galão.

Main types of coffee in Portugal:

1. Espresso coffee
2. Galão = which is similar to a latte, but smaller.
3. meia-de-leite = which is a coffee with milk or a flat white.
4. Abatanado = which is similar to an americano but with less water.

---

The basic formula for ordering coffee in Portugal is:

• For an espresso: Queria um café, se faz favor.
• If it’s a latte you want: Queria um galão, se faz favor.
• For an americano: Queria um abatanado, se faz favor.
• And if it’s coffee with milk you’re looking for: Queria uma meia-de-leite se faz favor.

The meia-de-leite is in the feminine form because the word “meia” is feminine. The tense we use is the Pretérito Imperfeito do Indicativo.

Watch the video next for the pronunciation:

---

🍮 Main Coffee Types in Portugal

Portuguese coffee culture mixes simplicity with subtle variants. Here are the ones you’re most likely to see:

Expresso

💬To order, say:

Queria um café, se faz favor.
Queria uma bica, se faz favor.

You can modify espresso like this:

If you like a stronger espresso, you can order what we call “short” espresso. That is a short shot of espresso (espresso with less water). 

“Queria um café curto, se faz favor.” (Keep in mind that would be “curta” for “bica”)

But if you like a weaker espresso and more quantity, you can order a “full” espresso, which is an espresso with more water.

“Queria um café cheio, se faz favor.”

---

Italiana

You can also order an Italian, which is an even shorter shot of coffee than the “curto” one.

“Queria uma italiana, se faz favor” (this coffee is also in the feminine form).

---

Café com Cheirinho

“Queria um café com cheirinho, se faz favor.”

---

Café Duplo

---

Café sem Ponta e Carioca

To know what this is, you have to understand that the first drops of coffee that come out of espresso machines are the most concentrated. And a café sem ponta (coffee without tip/point) is precisely a coffee without these first drops. Some people call this “café sem princípio”(coffee without a start) or “café escorrido” (drained coffee). 

I did not know this coffee existed, seeing as when I was younger, it was explained to me that this was carioca or “drained coffee”. But, in researching for this post I see that this is not quite correct.

As it turns out, a carioca of coffee is a second coffee made with the same grounds as the first coffee. This is why some people refer to this type of coffee disdainfully, calling it dirty water or dishwater.

In short, a carioca is a much weaker coffee than a café sem ponta. But don’t confuse with a lemon carioca, which is the result of adding lemon zest to very hot water.

“Queria um café sem ponta, se faz favor.”

or, for a carioca

“Queria um carioca de café , se faz favor.”

---

Pingo, Pingado and Garoto

In some places, there seems to be no difference between café pingado and apingo, or between a pingo and agaroto. But there is. One thing that is certain and common everywhere is that they are all served in an espresso cup.

In my experience, café pingado is usually a regular espresso coffee with a drop or two of cold milk. And pingo is a short shot of espresso coffee with a drop or two of cold milk or milk foam. Finally, the garoto is a normal shot of espresso topped off with milk.

But equally, for the garoto, I have seen two explanations for its preparation. One is that it is usually a short coffee or anItaliana topped up with milk. And the other explanation is that it is a small meia-de-leite, meaning a normal shot of espresso topped off with milk. Moreover, this is called “pingo” in the north, and this only adds more confusion to the mix!

Perhaps, now you see why there is so much arguing about coffee here!! And you still may run into someone who doesn’t know what the difference is.

“Queria um café pingado, se faz favor.”

or

“Queria um pingo, se faz favor.”

and

“Queria um garoto, se faz favor.”

---

Galão

“Queria um galão, se faz favor.”

If you like a stronger latte, you can ask for a “dark” galão = “galão escuro” or “escurinho“, which is served with more coffee and less milk. 

And on the contrary, if you prefer a weaker option, you can ask for a “light” galão = “galão claro” or “clarinho”, which is a latte with more milk and less coffee.

---

Meia-de-Leite

---

Honourable Mentions

Before moving on to the last type of coffee, I have a few honourable mentions to make.

Mazagran or Café com Gelo

Cappuccino

Bombom coffee (café bombom)

Lemon coffee (café limão)

---

Abatanado

And finally, we come to the abatanado. This is another type of coffee that’s often the subject of arguments among the Portuguese. The“abatanado” is an espresso coffee in a large cup with more water. It is, in essence, similar to an Americano, but with less water. But some say that an abatanado is the same as a double espresso (café duplo), or two espresso shots with extra water served in one large cup. 

“Queria um abatanado, se faz favor.”

Important to keep in mind that it’s very common in some countries to serve americano or abatanado with milk on the side. But here in Portugal, it usually isn’t. So you have to specifically ask for the milk if you want it. It’s also good to specify that you want cold milk. So you can ask for it like this:

“Queria um abatanado com leite frio à parte.”

And that was my list of coffee in Portugal. If all this were not complex enough, there is more vocabulary you can add to your order to get the perfect coffee.

• Chávena escaldada (scalded cup) – is a coffee cup that has been scalded with hot water.

• Chávena fria – cold coffee cup

• Adoçante – sweetener

• Pau de canela = cinnamon stick, for flavouring and stirring your coffee instead of a spoon.

• Leite vegetal = plant-based milk, for those who don’t want to drink cow’s milk. You can ask if they have leite de soja (soy milk), leite de aveia (oat milk), or leite de arroz (rice milk), for example.

And how can I forget to mention the descafeinado, which is decaf coffee.

To order one, you say:

“Queria um descafeinado, se faz favor”

If you want to make any of the drinks I listed today a decaf, except the espresso, all you need to do is add the word descafeinado after the name of the drink, for example:

“Queria um galão descafeinado, se faz favor.”

So now you have a good guide to avoiding confusion in Portugal when ordering coffee. Now you need some inspiration to generate conversations in Portuguese too. Find out what to read next.

Posts for Further Reading

• Small talk in Portuguese
• Ordering Drinks
• Order your Food
• Tea in Portugal

Back to Portuguese Food | Back to order your tea and coffee in Portugal