Coffee in Buenos Aires

The latest in what should be a regular series here: Coffee in Buenos Aires.

Bill Soukoreff weighs in with a critical tongue on a happy experience at Café Martinez... the first post I've seen in a long time that actually makes an attempt at identifying the best cup in town. I gave it a shot back in September but mostly from a "home-brew" perspective.

I hope that we've all simply been lulled into the fine porteño attitude that coffee is something to chat over with a dear friend and that's it's rarely bad and almost always tasty... especially when the friend is dear and it's served with the usual care by a pro waiter with tray and towel and a little soda and some tasty masitas. Not to even mention how much more relaxed the experience is without being seated across from a line of impatients waiting to get their jolt in a paper cup so that they can get back to running.

However, there has to be a certain contingent of expats here that haven't given up their demanding aficionado ways as regards what's actually in the cup!

Meself, I admit to being at a cozy state with what must be one of the better coffee cities that the planet has to offer... if the java pulls up a little lame, well, that's ok... if nothing else I can reach over the tasa and pat myself on the back that we live in the last remaining megapolis not to sport a major paper-cup outlet. (Contrary to popular belief, the Seattle chain is all over South America... just not here, yet.)

But as most folks know, when the stuff is sublime... it's SUBLIME.

So, if you feel like sharing your favorite joint and why you regard it so highly, please chime in.

Don't forget to include some places that have deteriorated (my nominee would have to be the Café de París, where Avenida Santa Fe loses it's name at Plaza San Martín... qué vergüenza, they even have a neon sign in the window now that says, "open".)

I'll kick things off by recommending la confitería Esmeralda at Juramento 2121/25 (4781-8866) Be careful, though; apparently "Esmeralda" is a common name for cafés. This one is in Belgrano not far from Chinatown. The place makes most of it's rev, I'm told, from catering. Maybe that's why it can keep the old storefront going in the fine style it's been accustomed to since the 30's.

All the accoutrement are there as well... especially the masitas, the little cookie-things that you invariably receive along with the coffee and water. I have no sweet tooth. However, Buenos Aires has sold me on the necessity of these lovely little things. Nobody does them better.

Furthermore, the coffee is so good that the Yanq forswears beer when there. Not such a tremendous oath, you might say. But get this: the masitas saladas, the salty ones, are the best on Earth. I believe that I've encountered their savory little bastards in the finest hotels in town.

WAIT! One more thing. I'm always curious about prices. A great cuppa in BsAs has always cost about a peso more than the so-so stuff. In the 3 years that I've been here, I've noticed the price of a the best dobles go from about $5 to $7 or more.