Liquid Gold

Liquid Gold

So it´s a rainy Tuesday morning here in Galicia and I am working the morning shift at the cafe. I taking small sips of my cafe con leche grande (you might have heard me describe it as liquid gold). Spanish coffee is so smooth and so rich, that it makes Starbucks taste like burnt coffee grinds watered down with hot dirty water ("Them´s fighten words" say all the Starbucks fans).

I remember very clearly my very first cafe con leche experience. It was on February 2, 2000. I was in Madrid for the first time and we went to grab dinner at a tiny hole-in-the-wall restaurant a couple of blocks off of the Gran Via. We had some kind a Spanish food, which I really can´t remember. At the end of the meal, as is the tradition here, they asked if we would like a coffee to end our meal. I had a cafe con leche.

I can say I was definitely disappointed when they brought out this little tiny shot glass of a coffee cup. "¿That´s it?" I thought. What is this??? I can´t believe how everything in Europe is so t-niney. I was so used to carrying a large refillable mug of coffee with me all day that I could not imagine being able to drink something so small.

I lifted the dainty glass to my lips and took my first sip of the dark creamy liquid. It tasted some how familiar, but was so much richer and smoother than any coffee that I had ever had before. I was blown away. It changed how I view coffee forever.