Spanish Steps - Fact file - Coffee

Coffee is the most common hot drink in Spain and is one of the most important commodities exported from Latin America. For Colombia, home to over 900,000 hectares of coffee plantations, the rich dark beans are the second largest export to the US and Europe, driving the development of many areas of the country. It's so much a part of daily life that there was even una telenovela, a soap opera, named in its honour - the intriguingly entitled Café con Aroma de Mujer, 'Coffee with the scent of a woman'.

Coffee is affectionately known as el tinto in Colombia, the word usually used for red wine, and the common belief is that the Spanish and Latin Americans love their coffee strong with mounds of azúcar, sugar. However there are many other options.

In Spain un café solo is an espresso, while un cortado has a drop of milk added. If you need something with a little more 'kick', there is un carajillo, coffee with a drop of brandy in it. All these are served in small espresso coffee cups.

A gentler option is un café con leche, warm milk with a drop of espresso to give it flavour, very much like the Italian latte or the French café au lait. This is served in a glass or a large cup. Some people have it for breakfast with a buttered roll, a biscuit or a pastry. You could also opt for un americano, a slightly diluted black filter coffee.

Connoisseurs of coffee debate endlessly about which country produces the best beans. Colombian coffee has a well-deserved reputation, rivalled only by that of another Latin American producer Costa Rica, whose beans are praised for el aroma, fragrance, el sabor, flavour, and finally el cuerpo, body.

Tea drinkers are not so well catered for in Spain, and if ordering tea you are quite likely to end up with a cup of warm water with a teabag on the side. El té al limón, lemon tea, is a safer option, or try the herbal alternatives like té de menta, peppermint tea, and manzanilla, camomile.

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