The Café A Brasileira (; "The Brazilian Café") is a

café A coffeehouse, coffee shop, or café is an establishment that primarily serves coffee of various types, notably espresso, latte, and cappuccino. Some coffeehouses may serve cold drinks, such as iced coffee and iced tea, as well as other non ...

at 120 Rua Garrett (at one end of the ''Largo do Chiado'' in the district of the same name), in the

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authorit ...

Sacramento ) , image_map = Sacramento County California Incorporated and Unincorporated areas Sacramento Highlighted.svg , mapsize = 250x200px , map_caption = Location within Sacramento ...

, near the Baixa-Chiado metro stop and close to the University.Noël Riley Fitch, Andrew Midgley (2006), p.114 One of the oldest and most famous

s in the old quarter of Lisbon and constantly active, the shop was opened by Adrian Telles to import and sell Brazilian coffee in the 19th century, then a rarity in the households of Lisbon. Over time the space became the meeting point for intellectuals, artists, writers and free-thinkers weathering financial difficulties and finally a tourist attraction, as much as another coffee shop.

History

During the middle of the 19th century, the Hotel Borges is founded along the ''Travessa de Estevão Galhardo'', in the proximity of the Hotel Universal (in the old Barcelinhos Palace, later the Chiado warehouses). The space is successively operated within the upper floors of the building, while a shop (operated by Ramiro Leão) functioned on the main floor. In 1868, Elie Bénard inaugurated a small bakery along ''Rua Garret'' at no. 104-106, while the Grande Hotel Borges continues to operate under its proprietor António Borges Areias (by 1883). The café, initially spelled ''A Brazileira'', was opened by Adriano Telles on 19 November 1905 at No.122 (an old shirt shop), to sell ''"genuine Brazilian coffee"'' from the 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. This was the second establishment Telles opened in Portugal, after the first one in Porto, in 1903. In order to promote his product, Telles offered each shopper, who bought a kilogram of ground

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

(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 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 a ...

. The founder, who lived in Brazil and imported his products, had no problem in importing coffee, ''

goiabada Goiabada (; from ''goiaba'', guava] is a Jam, conserve made of red guavas and sugar, commonly found throughout the Portuguese-speaking countries of the world. It dates back to the colonial times of Brazil, where guavas were used as a substitute ...

'',

tapioca Tapioca (; ) is a starch extracted from the storage roots of the cassava plant (''Manihot esculenta,'' also known as manioc), a species native to the North and Northeast regions of Brazil, but whose use is now spread throughout South America ...

, spices, tea, flour, in addition to wine and olive oils. In 1907 the owner of ''A Brasileira'' opened a similar establishment in

Braga Braga ( , ; cel-x-proto, Bracara) is a city and a municipality, capital of the northwestern Portuguese district of Braga and of the historical and cultural Minho Province. Braga Municipality has a resident population of 193,333 inhabitants (in ...

. In 1908, the Brasileira was remodelled by Manuel Joaquim Norte Júnior (1878-1962) in order to provide a café, and again in 1922, to re-orient the business model in order to sell drinks, in addition to coffee. Its redesign, completed by architect José Pacheco, was completed in the

Art Deco Art Deco, short for the French ''Arts Décoratifs'', and sometimes just called Deco, is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design, that first appeared in France in the 1910s (just before World War I), and flourished in the Unite ...

-style, with a green and gold entrance, and an interior that included mirrored walls, brass fittings, a long, oak bar and wooden booths. With the establishment of the

First Portuguese Republic The First Portuguese Republic ( pt, Primeira República Portuguesa; officially: ''República Portuguesa'', Portuguese Republic) spans a complex 16-year period in the history of Portugal, between the end of the period of constitutional monarchy ...

( 5 October 1910), its associated liberties, and the installation of the ''Directório'' in the ''Largo de São Carlos'' (then renamed ''Largo do Directório'') the Brasileira became a heavily transited café. It was during the nascent Republic that numerous intellectuals, artists and literary writers began to walk through its doors. United by the poet-General

Henrique Rosa Henrique Pereira Rosa (18 January 1946 – 15 May 2013) was a Bissau-Guinean politician who served as interim President of Guinea-Bissau from 2003 to 2005. He was born in 1946 in Bafatá. Interim President of Guinea-Bissau Rosa served as the int ...

(the adoptive uncle of Fernando Pessoa), many of the literary figures would help to establish the magazine ''Orpheu''. Between 1950–1960 the Brasileira was in risk of closing permanently. By 1993, the café had weathered its mid-century financial problems, and had applied for funds from the ''Lisboa 94 Capital Europeia da Cultura'' program to remodel and restore the building.

Architecture

Exterior

The building is a narrow, two-floor rectangular plan (main floor and basement), with a front façade that includes the establishment name ''A Brasileira'' and respective address number. The narrow façade with a differentiated decoration, includes many polychromatic elements: an arched cement façade with inlaid windows; with two reclined figures on either end of the curves; a geometric, cornice-like entranceway with three separate double-doors (the central access being the largest), fronting onto ''Rua Garrett''; and ornate handles and fixtures. Below the boilerplate, in relief, is the figure of a man taking a coffee, surrounded by curvilinear flourishments.

Interior

The long narrow hall includes mosaicked floors in alternating marble tiles (in black and white), a roof with ornamental friezes and square pillars along the walls, also decorated in sculpted wood. The room itself is painted in ochres, golds and reds, with brass fixtures intermingling with sculpted red woods. Between the pillars are mirrors, while at the far end of the café is a clock encased in a wooden decoration. The counter, is located on the right wall of the entranceway, while a staircase provides access to the kitchen located in the basement.

Culture

It was a favored haunt of intellectuals and academics, including Portuguese poet

Fernando Pessoa Fernando António Nogueira Pessoa (; 13 June 1888 – 30 November 1935) was a Portuguese poet, writer, literary critic, translator, publisher, and philosopher, described as one of the most significant literary figures of the 20th century and ...

, the writers

Aquilino Ribeiro Aquilino Gomes Ribeiro, ComL (; 13 September 1885 – 27 May 1963, Lisbon), was a Portuguese writer and diplomat. He is generally considered to be one of the great Portuguese novelists of the 20th century. In 1960, he was nominated for the N ...

and Alfredo Pimenta. Fernando Pessoa would regularly enjoy absinthe and a sweet '' bica'', while he continuously smoked, read or wrote. Over its storied history and because of the initiative of José Pacheco, the walls of the ''Brasileira'' collected prominent paintings from artists. In 1925, the Brasileira began to exhibit the paintings of the new generation of Portuguese painters, that frequented the café:

José de Almada Negreiros José Sobral de Almada Negreiros (7 April 1893 – 15 June 1970) was a Portuguese artist. He was born in the colony of Portuguese São Tomé and Príncipe, the son of a Portuguese father, António Lobo de Almada Negreiros, and a Santomean mothe ...

António Soares António Soares (born 2 February 1909, date of death unknown) was a Portuguese footballer, who played as a forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People * Forward (surname) Sports * ...

, Eduardo Viana, Jorge Barradas, Bernardo Marques, José Pacheko and Stuart Carvalhais.Paul Buck, p.81 These works were eventually sold to one buyer in 1969. This "museum" was renovated in 1971, with new paintings from painters of the epoch: António Palolo, Carlos Calvet, Eduardo Nery, Fernando Azevedo, João Hogan, João Vieira, Joaquim Rodrigo, Manuel Baptista, Nikias Skapinakis, Noronha da Costa and Vespeira. A bronze statue of Fernando Pessoa, by sculptor Lagoa Henriques, was eventually placed outside the café in 1988, even though Pessoa considered the '' Café Martinho da Arcada'' (on the

Praça do Comércio The Praça do Comércio (; ) is a large, harbour-facing plaza in Portugal's capital, Lisbon, and is one of the largest in Portugal, with an area of 175 by 175 m (574 by 574 ft), that is, 30,600 m2 (329,000 ft2). Facing the Tagus () to the South, ...

(founded in 1782), as his favorite café. The University of Lisbon's ''Faculdade de Belas-Artes'' ( en, School of Fine Arts) is located within the Chiado district, and its approximately 1300 students transit the quarter regularly, competing with tourists for open-air tables.

References