Bica is the term commonly used in certain areas of

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...

for a ('

coffee Coffee is a drink prepared from roasted coffee beans. Darkly colored, bitter, and slightly acidic, coffee has a stimulant, stimulating effect on humans, primarily due to its caffeine content. It is the most popular hot drink in the world. S ...

' in Portuguese) that is similar to

espresso Espresso (, ) is a coffee-brewing method of Italian origin, in which a small amount of nearly boiling water (about ) is forced under of pressure through finely-ground coffee beans. Espresso can be made with a wide variety of coffee beans and ...

, but extracted to a greater volume than its Italian counterpart (akin to a

lungo Lungo (Italian for "long") is a coffee beverage made by using an espresso machine to make an Italian-style coffee – short black (a single espresso shot) with more water (generally twice as much), resulting in a larger coffee, a ''lungo''. A nor ...

in Italy) and a little bit smoother in taste, due to the Portuguese roasting process being slightly lighter than the Italian one. In almost all regions in Portugal, it is simply called ('a coffee' in Portuguese) and always served in a

Demitasse A demitasse (; French: "half cup") or demi-tasse is a small cup used to serve espresso. It may also refer to the contents served in such a cup (though that usage had disappeared in France by the early 20th century). A demitasse typically has a ...

cup. The name bica originates from the way the coffee flows, falling from the espresso machine to the cup on the tray, an analogy with a water spring or fountain, both can also be called bica in Portuguese.

History

The ''

Café A Brasileira The Café A Brasileira (; "The Brazilian Café") is a café at 120 Rua Garrett (at one end of the ''Largo do Chiado'' in the district of the same name), in the civil parish of Sacramento, near the Baixa-Chiado metro stop and close to the Universi ...

'' coffeehouse was opened in

Lisbon Lisbon (; pt, Lisboa ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 544,851 within its administrative limits in an area of 100.05 km2. Grande Lisboa, Lisbon's urban area extends beyond the city's administr ...

by Adriano Telles on 19 November 1905 at No.122 (an old shirt shop), to sell "genuine Brazilian coffee" from the Brazilian state of

Minas Gerais Minas Gerais () is a state in Southeastern Brazil. It ranks as the second most populous, the third by gross domestic product (GDP), and the fourth largest by area in the country. The state's capital and largest city, Belo Horizonte (literally ...

, a product generally unappreciated in homes of Lisboetas of that period. In order to promote his product, Telles offered each shopper who bought a kilogram of ground coffee (for 720

réis The first official currency of Brazil was the real (pronounced ; pl. ''réis''), with the symbol Rs$. As the currency of the Portuguese empire, it was in use in Brazil from the earliest days of the colonial period, and remained in use until 1942 ...

) a free cup of coffee. It was the first shop to sell the "bica", a small cup of strong coffee, similar to espresso, with fresh goat milk from nearby farms. There's a widespread belief among many (Lisbon) locals which makes out "Bica" to be an acronym for "Beba isso com açúcar", literally meaning "Drink it with sugar".

References

* {{coffee, nocat=1 Coffee drinks Portuguese drinks