Coffee in Buenos Aires

If a coffee, black, to go, is what you’re looking for, keep looking. This is a place with a real coffee culture and they are in no hurry to change that. The term ‘coffee culture’ is used a lot here to describe the endless hours spent sipping café con leche, deep in conversation, nibbling on medialunas. Wikipedia defines it as a term used to describe a social atmosphere that depends heavily upon coffee to act as a social lubricant. Porteños and foreigners alike enjoy conversing and a taste of café is the perfect justification to sit down and have a good chat.

There is neither a slip of the check with the not-so-subtle hint that it’s time for you to move on nor the constant questioning from a waiter asking if you need something else. In Buenos Aires, you have to ask for the check or it may never come. Here you can sip away freely as long as you’d like. The cups may be smaller than you’re used to but the extras make up for it. Maybe a nice tiny glass of OJ or a little alfajor would be perfect with your afternoon boost.

It’s no wonder that the night merges with the morning in Buenos Aires, a phenomenon that takes some getting used to, as everyone is cracked out on caffeine. Every time is a good time for a cup, not just for the blurry-eyed, morning commute. This city serves up liquid fuel morning, noon and night and can be found on the corner you’re standing on right now. After leaving a party in the wee hours of the morning, I am often asked to go to a coffee shop. At first I was shocked at the idea of drinking coffee at that time, but it turned out to be exactly what I wanted. A good cup of joe is here at your command and I’m pretty sure can be delivered to your office building, front door or possibly, if you ask nicely, maybe even your seat at the movies.

Cookies aside, there is a different taste in your cup here. Unlike drip coffee or your local brew in California, Argentine coffee boasts it’s very own flavor. Partially from the brewing styles and partly from the delicious cash crop with roots in this rich soil. In some brands sugar is already added to the grounds and steamed milk is a must even if you make it in your own kitchen.

If you’re a do-it-yourselfer there is yet another fun and funky surprise. No drip coffee in this city. Here coffee creation is either hard work or art work, you decide. At home coffee is traditionally made in a metal coffee pot, or cafetera, where you by pour boiling water over the coffee grounds nested in a paper or cloth filter inside a holder that is perched atop the pot. If you’re too lazy to do this you can rock the Italian press style. This little devices will only get you a cup and a half, but with a serious kick. A quick lesson: water goes in the bottom compartment, coffee goes in the metal filter inside and the coffee, believe it or not, actually defines gravity, moving upward into the top compartment, complete with a spout. My Italian press likes to tell me its finished brewing by spitting coffee all over the place and burning my hand as I try to move it off the burner. You gotta really want it.

Gran Café Tortoni is the oldest café in Buenos Aires, nay in Argentina, and holds tight to its slow moving tradition. The café itself has an archaic and cozy feel inside with antique black and white pictures and mirrors lining the walls, tiled floors and polished wood everywhere. This is a fantastic place to hang around to soak it all in, you’ll need a few cups maybe. If I had stepped into this place 50 years ago, I feel certain it looked the same. In a world moving so fast to make change, it’s always nice to see something standing in time, especially for the sake of coffee and culture. This little piece of BA historical bliss can be found at 829 Av De Mayo, just a few blocks from 9 de Julio, and is on the way to several important sights in the city, fitting nicely into your pre-made Lonely Planet walking tour. www.cafetortoni.com.ar.

The only downside to this marvelous caffeine infused custom is the actual size of the cup. What is going on here? Where are all those giant cups you see Ross and Rachel drinking out of? Well, for those of you who like to start your day with the mega cup jitters, have no fear. Helena, found at Nicaragua 4816 at Jorge Luis Borges in Palermo apparently bought all those Central Perk coffee cups and are serving up steaming bowls of café con leche, called a “Super Tazon”. For a cool $12 you have a cup of coffee that could give an elephant the jitters. Bottoms up!

There is a great amount of time to be wasted at sidewalk cafes, fancy shops and little, dimly lit holes, but Buenos Aires isn’t immune to the world of chains however. Havanna, Bonafide, Café Martinez are the locally owned coffee shop chains in the city. Havanna, boasting the invention of the alfajores, can be found around the city with bright red neon signs and a welcoming atmosphere. They may be chains but each provides their own special groove to the café scene.

Mostly untouched by foreign chains Buenos Aires has been able to keep this culture rocking well into the 21st century. However, Starbucks has recently made its way to in Buenos Aires. They are good if you’re craving a chai latte need a bit of nostalgia, but mostly you just wait longer and overpay for lame coffee. These stores lack the culture completely as they are busy and bustling, have a cold corporate atmosphere and make you pay for the cookies. If you ask any porteño they will tell you “Starbucks doesn’t really work here because we have such a coffee culture.” Its true, most locals I’ve met have never been to nor have the desire to go to a Starbucks. Can’t blame them, it’s a lot like fast food when surrounded by so many neighborhood shops.

The coffee culture in Buenos Aires is a brilliant marriage of something old and something new. The slow motion of traditional cafes, conversation and cookies mixed in a bowl with a city that is on the move and relies on the fuel for the endless days they bring upon themselves. A nice reminder that it’s not always out with the old to bring in the new and a subtle hint to stop and smell the coffee beans.