Local Drinks

1. café solo

   Espresso (black coffee)

   Usage

   In a Spanish bar, plain "un café" means this small espresso; also called "café expreso"

2. café con leche

   Coffee with milk

   Usage

   Espresso and hot milk in roughly equal parts. The standard breakfast drink; ordering one in the afternoon can raise an eyebrow

3. cortado

   Cortado (espresso with a little milk)

   Usage

   Espresso "cut" with a couple of spoonfuls of milk. Stronger than a café con leche and served in a small glass

   Grammar Note

   From the past participle of "cortar" (to cut/dilute) — coffee "cut" with milk

4. café bombón

   Café bombón (coffee with condensed milk)

   Usage

   Espresso with sweetened condensed milk, popularised in the Valencia region and served in a clear glass so the layers show

5. barraquito

   Barraquito (layered Canarian coffee)

   Usage

   A Canary Islands speciality: condensed milk, coffee and foamed milk in layers, with lemon peel and cinnamon. The version with liqueur is a "barraquito completo"

6. chocolate a la taza

   Thick drinking chocolate

   Usage

   The thick hot chocolate made for dipping churros — so dense in some places a spoon stands up in it. The set is "chocolate con churros"

7. horchata de chufa

   Horchata de chufa (tiger nut drink)

   Usage

   From Alboraya, Valencia: a cold white drink pressed from tiger nuts, served with long "fartons" pastries for dipping. Contains no dairy

   Grammar Note

   In Mexico and much of Latin America "horchata" is a different rice-based drink; the Valencian one is specified as "de chufa"

8. leche merengada

   Leche merengada (cinnamon meringue milk)

   Usage

   Cold drink of milk whipped with egg white and sugar, flavoured with cinnamon and lemon. Sold in summer at horchata bars and ice cream shops

9. granizado de limón

   Lemon slush

   Usage

   Crushed ice with syrup. Besides lemon there is coffee ("granizado de café") and strawberry. A summer street staple

10. caña

    Small glass of draught beer

    Usage

    The standard way to order draught beer in a bar: a small 200–250 ml glass meant to be finished before it warms. A larger glass is "una jarra"

    Grammar Note

    Feminine: "Una caña, por favor"; two of them are "dos cañas"

11. clara

    Clara (beer with lemon soda)

    Usage

    Beer cut roughly half-and-half with lemon soda — light enough for daytime. Say "clara con limón" to make the mixer explicit

    Grammar Note

    Feminine; from the adjective meaning "light/pale", because the soda lightens the beer's colour

12. tinto de verano

    Tinto de verano (red wine with soda)

    Usage

    Red wine with fizzy "gaseosa" — the summer standard. Locals drink this far more routinely than sangría. Served with ice and lemon

13. sangría

    Sangría

    Usage

    Red wine with fruit, soda and sugar. Ordered by the jug as a shared drink, so a bar may decline to make it for one person

    Grammar Note

    Feminine, and the accent is required — "sangria" without it is not a Spanish spelling. Named from "sangre" (blood) for its colour

14. agua fresca

    Agua fresca (fruit water)

    Usage

    A non-alcoholic drink of Mexico and Central America: fruit or seeds blended with water and sugar, sold from large glass jars

    Grammar Note

    Usually advertised in the plural, "aguas frescas". Flavours are given as "de" + ingredient, e.g. "de sandía" (watermelon), "de jamaica" (hibiscus)

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