There’s an interesting phenomenon in Argentina. You have your age-old coffee culture, your beautiful ornate cafés all over Buenos Aires, the daily Argentinean ritual of morning and afternoon (or evening) coffee. And then you have your ‘coffee’.
The espresso here is, dare I say it, terrible, and many extranjeros will agree with me on this. It doesn’t matter what your order – cafe con leche (flat white), espresso, cappuccino, it will be scaldingly hot, weak as piss and watery to boot. So you’ll be sitting in a cafe, be it dingy or grandly ornate, and you’ll decide it’s time to give up on coffee altogether. And there’s plenty of time to make that decision, as the time between a mozo setting down your coffee and it being cool enough to take a sip averages 10 minutes.
I was here 2 years ago so I knew all this before I came back, but memory is a tricky thing and I fooled myself that somehow, somewhere I would find a decent espresso. I’m sure there’s one out there, somewhere. But I’m yet to discover it.
If anyone has any coffee (not café) recommendations for either Montevideo or Buenos Aires, sock it to me.
If you enjoyed this post, why not share it?
8 Responses to Coffee in Buenos Aires – Srsly, WTF??
About me
Sharing easy recipes, hunting down the best coffee. Honest accounts, nothing too serious. Read more...As featured in…
Connect
Popular posts this month…
Sparkling Long Black posted on May 10, 2011 
The quest for Mex part 2 – Feisty Chicken Burritos posted on December 21, 2010 
Bake Sale vs. Cake Stall posted on August 30, 2013 
Review – Philips Saeco Intelia posted on January 10, 2012 
How not to order a takeaway coffee posted on March 15, 2011 
Stay caffeinated over Christmas posted on December 20, 2013 
Café review – Flint and Steel (Coffee Alchemy), Marrickville posted on March 1, 2011 
Aerpress means no more shit #travelcoffee and #workcoffee posted on August 2, 2014
Stick to yerba mate for breakfast and wine for the rest of the day.
Wish I had some good new for you but sadly I don’t. How disheartening! I really feel your disappointment and can only hope you find somethinig semi-decent. Good luck!
Sorry to hear coffee in Argentina is no good!!!
On the other hand… how cool is it you are there!!! It’s always been a dream of mine to visit Argentina!!! I’ll have to ask for advise whenever I finally get to go!
Have fun and enjoy some good wine at least! <3
Oh no! What a shame that it has disappointing coffee. I hope you find somewhere good!
That’s quite a surprise. I would have thought with the Italian influence, they would have great coffee!
Corinne @ Gourmantic recently posted…Blind Date at Emmilou Tapas Bar: A Taste of Spring Menu
I’m argentinian, and had been in USA, Italy, Colombia, Cuba, Brasil, etc; I named those because they produce or have a coffee culture, or have the worst coffee ever.
I don’t like Brasilian and Cuban coffee, too strong and… don’t really know, but I don’t like that taste.
I really like Italian and Colombian coffee!!!
The argentinian coffee I like too, of course there are some places where it is not good, but that happens everywhere, even in Colombia.
And the worst coffe I ever had was in USA, oh my god, tasted like dirty water, the only exception is Stbks or similar, and it’s not the best either.
If you are australian I can’t say how coffee is there, but let me tell you I don’t think argentinian coffee is bad.
Hope you have enjoyed your stay here!!!
I loved my time spent in Argentina, and I am 100% determined to return and hunt out the best coffee!
[…] There was no doubt, NO DOUBT in my mind what my first (and second and third) stops would be after touching down in Sydney. They were, in no particular order, coffee, coffee and COFFEE. Senhor R couldn’t agree with me more as, although it was relatively easy to hunt out decent coffee in Brasil, coffee in Argentina, which was where we spent the bulk of our trip, left something to be desired. […]