Another Café in Porto?
You Bet! Café a Brasileira
Porto is full of the quaint, the old and the wonderful.
Architectural wonders abound. Walk down
any street and feast your eyes on what a city should look like. Many of those stone
marvels are hotels and cafés, left over from the gilded age when the upper
crust did not eat, they dined. One of
the best is the Café a Brasileira, dating from 1903, but recently refurbished
with all attention to every historic detail, with the columns, the fixtures,
the walls and colors, all matching the originals.
You might say, even the coffee is original, coming from a
farm in Brazil, only 150 kilometers (about 90 miles) from where the pharmacist,
Adriano Telles, first served coffee by the cup, although these days, every café
in Europe and America and even Japan survives by being a slave to lattes and
such. Café a Brasileira is no exception.
So never fear, you faint of hearts who don’t really like coffee, but love the idea
of having your java doctored to match your beach tan, nothing to fear at this
café.
But, for those brave
souls who are no slave to the latest trend in coffee-juice, and I proudly count
myself in that number, forgo the silly frills and tell the very attentive
waiter you’d like a snifter of Jameson Irish to go with your morning cup of
rich brew. Sure, you may have to suffer
the mild rebuke of your significant other, or you may be surprised to see her
lightly lick her lips, wink, and whisper, “I’d like a sip….if you know what I
mean.” Be sure to hold the snifter in
both your shaking hands as her perfect lips daintily touch the rim. Stand ready to applaud if she turns to the
waiter and demurely asks him to bring one for herself. Oh, be still my pants
heart!
But, more than just a place to sip a cup, the café is a great
place to watch the world go by, sample the justly famous Pastel de Nata
(custard Tart), and make yourself feel like the masterly traveler that you are.
Porto is a place that makes you feel like dressing for
breakfast and taking a leisurely stroll into a bygone era. Café a Brasileira. Don’t forget the name. I guarantee you won’t
forget the experience.
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| University Student in her black robe |
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| One of the very attentive waiters |
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| A chair back |
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