Whether you start your cycling day in Malaga with a coffee or you need a coffee and all in important cake stop throughout the day it’s good to know what type of coffee you can order in the Malaga province. The name of the coffee you order is based on the amount of actual coffee measured in the cup.
Below are the names of each type of coffee than you can order in Malaga.
un café solo: black, 90% of the glass is coffee. No milk is served.
un café largo: extra strong, About 80% coffee.
un semilargo: strong, About 70% coffee.
un solo corto: espresso, About 60% coffee.
un mitad or “sol y sombra”: literally, “half” or “sun and shade.” Half milk, half coffee, About 50% coffee.
un entrecorto: semi short, about 40% coffee.
un corto: short: more or less the same as an espresso shot, About 30% coffee.
un sombra: “shade” or “shadow,” used to refer to the amount of coffee vs. milk. This is opposed to the “mitad,” or half and half, about 30% coffee.
un nube: literally, “cloud.” This name refers to a lot of milk and just a splash of coffee less than 10% coffee.
It all began 50 years ago at the heart of the Plaza de la Constitución, in Café Central in Malaga city. The creator of the system was Don José Prado Crespo, who ran this once small working-class bar. The bar is still run by the founder’s family and they still source their coffee locally and have been using the same brand of coffee for over 70 years; always from the same local provider. The bar is a tourist hot spot at the top of Calle Larios the main shopping street in Malaga city. However, you can find equally traditional bars and more frequented with the locals in the side streets off from this main square.
Traditionally the coffee is served in a glass on a saucer and often the hot frothy milk is added at the table in the less tourist type bars. We have a favourite coffee place in Malaga just off the main Calle Larios to the right when looking at the beach. Here the waiters walk round the café with metal jugs of hot frothy milky adding to the coffee glasses on the table. It is a less tourist place then most, where the Spanish locals order coffee and churros with their favourite choice of coffee. Churros consist of deep-fried yeast dough encrusted with sugar and often dipped in chocolate. A calorie ridden breakfast great before a long days cycling!
Malaga also has a fabulous range of bread and patisserie shops which serve coffee and cake and bread to take away. In Malaga city there are plenty of these types of outlets with beautiful cakes displayed in the shop window and little patio table & chairs to sit on outside. These patisserie shops are a great rest stop to replenish the energy stores during a day’s cycling and watch the world go by.
Coffee, cake and sunshine in Malaga what more could a cyclist need?
Cyclemalaga are happy to not only provide bike hire but also due to our extensive knowledge of the area we can advise on the best tapas bars and coffee stops in the Malaga province.
