not being able to drink milk has made me crave a longer caffeinated drink to replace my beloved meia de leite, one that i can warm my hands on and take my time drinking. espressos are nice, but a bit too short. so over the years, i’ve turned to americanos or long black coffees, to scratch my itch.

when we moved back to portugal though, i thought my days of americanos were over. the portuguese are a bit set in their ways, and the right way to drink coffee is always an espresso — period. that is what “a coffee” is, around here. so imagine my surprise when, a few months after moving here (and already resigned to my fate), i heard someone ahead of me in the café ask for something that sounded funny… and receiving exactly what i wanted! a looooong-expresso-on-a-tea-mug kind of drink! :D

i pointed to the other lady’s cup and said “i want that as well… what do you call it?“, and the barista explained it was an a-ba-ta-na-do. oh, happy happy day! it existed! it had a name! :D

look at all that caffeinated beauty! next to it, the boy’s espresso looks tiny in comparison:

i don’t remember anyone mentioning abatanados in the north of the country, but everyone seems to know them here in the south, which suits me fine! it has become my #1 coffee drink, when outside of the house, and i’m really happy to have inadvertently stumbled on it! *glup* :)