The Spanish latte, available in both hot and iced versions, is known for its “subtly sweet” and “velvety” taste. In the Canary Islands, it’s recognized as a longer version of the local café leche y leche.
While the term “latte” is Italian for milk, it’s rarely used when ordering coffee in Spain. Instead, if you’re looking for something similar to a café latte, you would ask for a café con leche. This drink, which arrives in a cup and saucer, is one of the larger coffee options in Spain, though it’s smaller compared to the large, frothy coffees typically served in American-style coffee shops. Many Spanish coffee shops also offer cappuccinos, often topped with cocoa powder on the foamed milk.
For smaller servings, there’s the café cortado, which is a shot of coffee with a small amount of steamed milk. This is similar to the Italian macchiato. A café solo, on the other hand, is just a straight espresso shot.
In the Canary Islands, there are two popular sweet drinks: leche y leche (milk and milk), which mixes heated milk with sweetened condensed milk, and the Canarian barraquito, a layered coffee drink made of five elements: condensed milk, liquor (usually Licor 43), espresso, milky coffee, and foamed milk.
In Spain, milky coffee drinks are a common choice in the morning, but they can be enjoyed at any time of day. There’s no restriction like in Italy, where coffee is typically not served after lunch. In Spain, it’s perfectly normal to end a long lunch with a coffee.
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