One could sit here and write volumes about coffee in Brazil, but if you want to read a good book about it, go to your local library and look for a copy of Vassouras: A Brazilian Coffee County, 1850-1890. The Roles of Planter and Slave in a Changing Society. Stanley J. Stein. New York: Atheneum, 1976. Instead, we'll tell you a little about cafezinho, a word that more than being a diminutive for café is almost a synonym for "welcome" in Brazil. (The antique coffee maker pictured here comes from Minas Gerais.)
Wherever you go, the minute you walk in the door, someone will pop the question "você toma/aceita/quer um cafezinho?" (do you want a cafezinho?) and they won't take no for an answer. Or maybe they won't even ask and the cafezinho will soon materialize on a dainty tray brought in by a maid. In offices, someone will come by and serve cafezinhos to you at your desk, so don't be surprised if, smack in the middle of a business discussion, your Brazilian counterpart offers you a cafezinho too. And, at that point, the conversation may well switch to a non-business topic while you sip away at your coffee. Or you can "belly up to the bar" at any botequim with a counter in Rio and enjoy your cafezinho in a traditional botequim cup...I got one as a present from a botequim owner in Leblon and now use it at home in Miami. Even Starbucks at the chic Shopping Leblon in Rio gives the option of having a paper cup like in the U.S. or a real cup!
Espressos have become so common now in Brazil that you have to specify "carioca," if you want a traditional cafezinho in Rio de Janeiro. At the padaria or bakery, you can still order a cafezinho the old way...Who knows for how long, though!
Cafés are meeting points for business discussions, birthday celebrations, and plain kaffeeklatsch in the afternoon. People, especially those who live alone, are also in the habit of having breakfast in a bakery or café. And entire families go out to these places for breakfast on the weekend; they're the IN place to meet your friends to chat and read the Sunday paper together
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