El cafecito cubano

How to order one

The sizes

• el cafecito a small coffee — The diminutive is friendly, not about size.
• el cortadito a small coffee with a drop of milk
• la colada a big shot with small plastic cups, for four or five people — The same word is also the laundry.

How you want it

• solo black, on its own
• cortado "cut" with a little milk
• con azúcar, pero poca with sugar, but not much

The foam

• la espumita the sugar beaten with the first drops of coffee into a foam — Without it, it is not Cuban coffee.

• The sugar goes in first, beaten with the first drops of coffee to make the espumita; without the foam it is not Cuban coffee.
• A colada is a large coffee with small cups, for four or five people; people take it to work to share.

Un cafecito, por favor.

A little coffee, please.

Aquí el azúcar va primero, con el primer café.

Here the sugar goes in first, with the first coffee.

Sí. Sin espumita, no es café cubano.

Yes. Without a bit of foam, it is not Cuban coffee.

Es una colada. Es para compartir.

That is a colada. It is for sharing.

The manners that come with it

The woman at the window calls a stranger mi amor, and it means nothing romantic: it is normal in Cuba. Cubans put -ito on almost everything, so the coffee is a cafecito and the one with milk a cortadito. Even the grammar is relaxed: the gender of azúcar wavers, so you hear el azúcar blanco and la azúcar.

On a Sunday afternoon half of Havana ends up on the Malecón, the eight-kilometre seafront wall, where a man fishes with a line and a bucket and three musicians play a son.

• Mi amor between strangers is normal in Cuba and carries nothing romantic.
• Cubans put the diminutive -ito on almost everything: cafecito, cortadito, espumita.
• The gender of azúcar wavers: el azúcar blanco, but also azúcar morena and la azúcar.
• The Malecón is Havana's seafront avenue with a stone wall about eight kilometres long; on Sunday afternoons half the city comes, and musicians play son, the Cuban music that salsa grew out of.

¿Qué te sirvo, mi amor?

What can I get you, love?

Los domingos por la tarde, media ciudad viene aquí.

On Sunday afternoons, half the city comes here.

Tres músicos tocan un son con una guitarra y unas maracas.

Three musicians play a son with a guitar and maracas.

Words at the window

servir

to serve

¿Cuánto es?

how much is it?

el vaso

the glass, the cup

compartir

to share

el compañero

the workmate

traer

to bring

Cortadito. ¿Cuánto es?

A cortadito. How much is it?

Para cuatro o cinco. La gente la lleva al trabajo.

For four or five. People take it to work.

Qué bueno. Entonces mañana traigo a mis compañeros.

Great. Then tomorrow I'll bring my workmates.