How to order coffee in Spain: solo, cortado, con leche and more
Published 22 October 2026
Coffee in Spain is quick, cheap and drunk standing at the bar as often as sitting down. Nobody orders a "large latte to go": you ask for a type of coffee by name, and the name tells the waiter exactly what to make. Learn a handful of these words and you will order like a local from your first morning.
How to ask
Keep it short. Name the coffee you want and add por favor, or use the everyday ponme:
Ponme un cortado, por favor.
A cortado, please.
Ponme (from poner) is how most people order at the counter. Friendly, not rude.
¿Me pones un café con leche?
Can I have a café con leche?
The question form is just as common and sounds a little softer.
The coffees on every menu
Un café solo.
An espresso.
Solo means alone: just a small, strong coffee. Ask for un café and this is usually what you get.
Un cortado.
An espresso with a splash of milk.
Cortado means cut: the coffee is cut with a little milk. A favourite after lunch.
Un café con leche.
Coffee with milk (about half and half).
The classic breakfast coffee, served in a bigger cup or a glass.
Un café americano.
An espresso topped up with hot water.
The closest thing to filter coffee. Want milk? Add con leche.
Un café bombón.
An espresso with sweet condensed milk.
Served in a small glass so you can see the two layers. Stir before you drink.
Un carajillo.
A coffee with a shot of brandy, rum or whisky.
An after-lunch classic. Say which spirit you want: un carajillo de ron.
Una leche manchada.
A glass of milk with a little coffee.
Manchada means stained: mostly milk, just a drop of coffee.
Un café con hielo.
A coffee with a glass of ice.
You get a hot espresso and a glass of ice cubes, and pour the coffee over the ice yourself.
Milk, sugar and decaf
These small extras are where most visitors get stuck, because the waiter will ask about them:
¿Con leche fría o caliente?
With cold or hot milk?
If you don't say, the milk usually comes hot. Templada means warm.
Con leche de avena, por favor.
With oat milk, please.
Plant milks are common now: avena (oat), soja (soy), almendra (almond). Sin lactosa means lactose-free.
Un descafeinado de máquina.
A decaf from the machine.
Order a decaf and you may hear ¿de máquina o de sobre?: from the machine, or instant from a sachet stirred into hot milk.
¿Tienes sacarina?
Do you have sweetener?
Sugar comes in sachets on the saucer. Sacarina is sweetener, azúcar moreno is brown sugar.
What the waiter might say
¿Cómo lo quieres?
How would you like it?
¿Solo o con leche?
Black or with milk?
¿Para tomar aquí o para llevar?
To have here or to take away?
Regional names worth knowing
Some places have their own coffee words. In Málaga, cafés use a whole scale from solo to nube (a cloud: almost all milk), with names like mitad (half and half) and sombra (just a shadow of coffee). In the Canary Islands, try a barraquito: condensed milk, coffee, a little liqueur, milk foam and cinnamon, served in layers in a glass.
A note on timing
Café con leche is a morning drink. After lunch, most Spaniards switch to a solo or a cortado. Nobody will stop you ordering a big milky coffee at 5 pm, but this is how to blend in.
Questions people ask
How do you say "a coffee, please" in Spanish?
Un café, por favor. At the bar, ponme un café, por favor is just as common. If you only say un café, you will usually get a café solo (an espresso).
What is the difference between a cortado and a café con leche?
A cortado is a small espresso with a splash of milk, in a small cup or glass. A café con leche has much more milk, about half and half, in a bigger cup.
Do you pay for coffee before or after in Spain?
Usually after. Drink your coffee, then ask ¿me cobras? or la cuenta, por favor. Busy cafés at stations and airports sometimes ask you to pay first.
Want to hear how it sounds? Watch our 15-second video on ordering a coffee. And when coffee turns into drinks, our guide to ordering in a Spanish bar has the rest.
Free printable cheat sheet
The key bar and café phrases from our guides on one page: download the free cheat sheet. Print it or save it on your phone.