How to order coffee in Spanish (and understand what you get)
Ordering a coffee is often the first real conversation a learner has abroad. It's short, it's predictable, and it happens every day, which makes it the perfect place to start speaking. The catch: coffee names differ from country to country, and the waiter will speak fast. Here's everything you need.
The coffee menu in Spain
| Order | What you get |
|---|---|
| un café solo | a single espresso |
| un cortado | espresso with a small dash of milk |
| un café con leche | espresso with lots of hot milk, roughly a latte |
| un café americano | espresso topped up with hot water |
| un carajillo | espresso with a shot of brandy or rum |
| un descafeinado | decaf (you'll be asked: ¿de máquina o de sobre? machine or instant?) |
| un café con hielo | an espresso and a separate glass of ice to pour it over |
| un bombón | espresso with condensed milk (Valencia and the south) |
Latin America is different
In Mexico, un café americano is the default, and café de olla is a sweet coffee brewed with cinnamon and piloncillo sugar. In Colombia, un tinto is a small black coffee, not red wine. In Argentina and Uruguay, a cortado is common, and a lágrima (literally a teardrop) is a cup of milk with just a drop of coffee.
Phrases for ordering
What the waiter might ask you
Paying
In Spain you usually pay at the end, at the counter or at the table. Catch the waiter's eye and say ¿me cobras? or la cuenta, por favor. Tipping is small: rounding up or leaving a few coins is normal. Card payments are accepted almost everywhere: ¿Puedo pagar con tarjeta?
A full dialogue
Practise before you go
Read the dialogue out loud, then cover the Spanish side and try to produce it from the English. When you can do it without looking, rehearse it with a partner who'll throw in a surprise question. That's exactly what the café scene with Lina in 2Lingua is for: she plays the waiter, changes the questions each time and tells you afterwards which phrases sounded natural.