I’m live-blogging my SAS EuroBonus SkyTeam Million Mile challenge this week. Click here for background and route information.
I enjoyed a delicious cup of coffee and fresh squeezed orange juice before my flight to Bucharest in Terminal 2 of Adolfo Suárez Madrid–Barajas Airport.
Best Coffee In Madrid Airport (MAD)
I found a place near by gate in Terminal 2 (between the C and D gates) called Santagloria Coffee & Bakery, which is a Spanish coffee chain dating back to 1963.
This particular coffee shop caught my eye thanks to its large manual machine, which all else equal, dispenses remarkably better coffee than the push-buttom automatic machine. I also noticed there was an orange juice squeezer, which frankly is an ideal combination with a strong cup of coffee.
The kind lady behind the counter did not speak a word of English or German, but my Spanish was good enough to order a cortado and zumo de naranja (orange juice).
Both were lovely. So lovely, in fact, that Augustine drank most of my orange juice…
Folks, I say it here often. There are plenty of Starbucks and major coffee chains at Madrid Airport, but good coffee is like good wine…you can taste the difference and it also is nice to support the local retailer, even if a local chain.
I was pleased to try the coffee (2,50 EUR) and OJ (5,00 EUR) here (yes, the prices were far higher than you’d find in central Madrid) and look forward to returning.
Finally, why not the lounge coffee? For some reason, the lounge coffee machines tend to add sugar or some other product in the milk that completely ruins the drink. Good coffee needs no sugar or syrup…
“good coffee is like good wine … you can taste the difference” .
I’ll say .
Kona is a Cadillac … Brazil is a Trabant .
@Alert: As a Brazilian and someone that comes from a family that farms there, I can assure you that Brazilian coffee is not a Trabant. You probably got the bad ones. Brazil is by far the largest coffee producer in the world and of course the difference in quality, variety, etc… will vary a lot. I have family members in the coffee business there and I can guarantee you that. the best coffee brands in the world have their buyers in Brazil all the time selecting the best coffee you can find. But again, it all depends what coffee you get.
@Santastico . I am sure you are correct . Thank you .
( It was actually a Kona joke .)
Agree with you. Coffee is coffee. No need for sugar. BTW, when you add real milk, the lactose on the milk brings the right amount of sweetness needed. All natural. As for the OJ, this is one my favorite things in Europe since you can get freshly squeezed OJ in almost every coffee shop and many hotels also offer that. I remember staying in a boutique hotel in Spain and they had fresh oranges and a machine that we could make our own orange juice My kids loved it.
The sweet taste from the milk is likely from UHT ( ultra high temperature ) pasteurizing process that yields a longer keeping product. I dislike those because not only is the flavor slightly sweet but they often react differently when cooked.
Yes, quite right – the most disgusting form of milk ever created. When I’m outside the USA I now start asking if the milk is fresh even at nicer coffee shops. UHT milk can ruin even the best coffee.
Plain black == actual coffee taste .
Add milk == get milk taste .
A touch of high-quality whole milk gently added as microfoam to espresso drinks creates one of the most pleasant tastes of all.
It’s interesting how some of the great tasting coffee we discover can come from surprising locations. I’ve had coffee in Italy, North America and Asia, but found my best tasting coffee in a tea house in Seoul, South Korea. Vietnamese coffee (anywhere in Hanoi) made from bitter Robusta beans also gives a good mid-afternoon jolt.
Funny enough there may be sugar in the coffee from the torrefacto roasting process
Another plausible theory.
I agree: it’s the UHT. Of course, his coffee snobbery is impressive: on his logic, the best milk for coffee will be in Switzerland (because, dammit, where else can you tell what time of the year it is by your milk tastes?), but, as he knows, Swiss coffee machines are almost all automated, so you’re not going to get that perfect cup easily.
Unless, of course, you do it at home. As one does.
MAD’s great plus is that there are Starbucks machines EVERYWHERE. No need to queue to get a coffee and hardly any places in Spain serve moccha coffee anyway.
As others have said it may be the ubiquitous boxes unrefrigerated UHT milk of Europe (and RFK pushes the other extreme).
It may also be that whole milk is more prevalent and sweeter because everything is still there. It’s getting hard even in specialty US coffee shops to get whole milk and it is not the default.