Espresso

I quit drinking coffee a while ago, but being here in Brazil coffee has been hard to resist ...actually impossible. You probably know that Brazil is the coffee capital of the world, with bean trees practically on every corner.

What you may not know is that Americans drink coffee differently than everywhere else. We like tall, grande and vente coffee sizes, meaning large, larger and huge. Really these are cups of coffee watered down to make large drinks to suit our large lifestyle.

Brazilians drink espresso, which are small cups of concentrated coffee. These are the shots that are used in frappes and other coffee drinks, but here they drink them straight up with sugar.

Espresso is served everywhere, even in the grocery store. And it's drunk in small plastic cups like the ones below, doubled so you don't burn your hand.



It's not uncommon to see men gathered around the pot enjoying a quick shot and then on you go. It takes just a few minutes, maybe 1or 2 to have a shot...effectively a pick me up.

I like this style of refreshment...you can keep your double shot half decaf black and white extra hot with low fat whipped cream. Too bad I'll have to quit again when heading home...too much caffeine for me! Then again the coffee back home just doesn't compare anyway.


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