lisbonblog

Have you ever noticed that Portuguese coffee somehow seems to taste better than coffee elsewhere, for example in France, Italy or Spain? It could be that it is the mix of the beans and the special roasting process coupled with an interesting conversation with a Portuguese. During one of those talks with a friend, another possible explanation was presented: As the Portuguese are not – well – the hardest working of people, the coffee machines are serviced, but not cleaned. After thousands of coffees, this produces a patina deep inside the steam pipes, giving the coffee its unique character. It would be very difficult to verify whether this is true. I wouldn’t rule anything out in Portugal, but it might well be that my friend’s imagination was fuelled slightly by the sun and the atmosphere on the terrace. We were drinking ‘Delta’ coffee, by the way. The founder of that producer started off with a very small coffee roasting business in the Alentejo near the Spanish border. Rumour has it that he made most of his profits with illegal smuggling across the border. Nowadays, ‘Delta’ is one of the major brands in Portugal.