London Lisbonite: Of coffee and castles

Wednesday, 28 July 2010

Of coffee and castles

When most people in the UK have a coffee in the morning, it's watery milky blandness drunk from a mug the size of a pint glass in a dressing gown before work. No so for the Portuguese. There is a very distinctive etiquette surrounding the morning coffee. Enter any cafe in Portugal and you'll notice that the tables and chairs are nowhere near the actual counters. Go there again at rush hour (before or after any major meal) and you will see why. The counter area will be packed with people calling for tiny shots of strong, fragrant black coffee. These potent little espressos (also known as "bicas") will be given to them on the counter and will be drunk standing up, with one swift throw back of the head. Change is left on the counter as payment, along with a small tip, and the consumer leaves, shouting "good day" as they exit. The whole ritual takes less than five minutes (unless the consumers are old men, in which case they'll clutter up the counters all morning) but the fact remains that having (or "taking") a coffee at regular intervals throughout the day is seen as extremely important for the digestive system. So it's no surprise that when IPPAR (essentially the architecture and archeology institute of Portugal) wanted to incorporate the monuments of Portugal into a creative campaign, they chose to do so by inviting contemporary Portuguese painters, designers, sculptors and architects to reflect on any of the great monuments and to design an espresso cup that reflects them. Some of the artists chose to reproduce small parts of the buildings themselves, some picked a tiny detail or used abstract designs to represent the feel of the place. Some just screenprinted photos. But whatever the method, they've produced rather a unique collection of espresso cups, all available from the IGESPAR shop here for about €32.50.
Pedro Silva Dias: Torre de Belém