How to order coffee in Spanish, in Mexico, Spain, Colombia and Argentina
You can order a coffee in Spanish with three words. The trouble is that the three words change from country to country, the cup you get changes with them, and locals notice the courtesy around the order. This page has the whole exchange, from walking in to paying, with the version for Mexico, Spain, Colombia and Argentina wherever the words differ.
The order, in one line
You can use the neutral form everywhere:
Un café, por favor. A coffee, please.
Locals soften it. People in each country have their own way of asking for something you are about to pay for, and using it is the difference between being understood and being liked.
| Mexico | Spain | Colombia | Argentina | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| How to ask | ¿Me da un café, por favor? | Ponme un café, por favor. or Me pones un café. | ¿Me regala un tinto, por favor? | ¿Me das un café? or Un café, por favor. |
| Literally | Will you give me / gift me a coffee? | Put me a coffee. | Will you gift me a black coffee? | Will you give me a coffee? |
Three things to know about that table.
Regalar means to gift, and nobody is giving anything away. In Colombia ¿me regala…? is the ordinary polite way to ask for something at a counter, and you will hear it in parts of Mexico too. You still pay. If you ask with quiero un café, people everywhere understand you, and they hear it the way English speakers hear “give me a coffee”: a little blunt.
Spaniards use the imperative, and it is not rude. Ponme un café is what everyone says to a barman, with por favor or without. The tú form to a stranger behind a bar is normal in Spain and would be a small surprise in Bogotá, where usted is the default even between friends.
Argentines use vos. ¿Me das un café? is the vos form of dar, spelled the same as the tú form. With che in front, anything sounds friendlier.
What the cups are called
A learner can get a different drink here from the one they meant. The same word is a different cup in each country.
| You want | Mexico | Spain | Colombia | Argentina |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Black coffee, small | un americano or un café negro | un café solo | un tinto | un café or un café solo |
| Black, large | un americano | un americano | un tinto grande | un americano or un café largo |
| Espresso | un espresso | un café solo or un expreso | un espresso | un café (the default is an espresso) |
| With a little milk | un cortado | un cortado | un perico (Bogotá) or un pintado (Medellín) | un cortado |
| Half coffee, half milk | un café con leche | un café con leche | un café con leche | un café con leche |
| Mostly milk | un latte | una leche manchada | un café con leche | una lágrima |
| Cappuccino | un capuchino | un capuchino | un capuchino | un capuchino |
| Decaf | un descafeinado | un descafeinado | un descafeinado | un descafeinado |
| Iced coffee | un café frío or un americano con hielo | un café con hielo | un café frío | un café helado |
The traps:
- In Colombia, tinto is a small black coffee. In Spain, tinto is red wine. Ask for un tinto in Madrid at nine in the morning and you will get a look.
- In Argentina, if you ask for un café on its own, you get an espresso in a small cup. If you want it longer, say un americano or un café largo; un doble is a double shot, stronger and not longer.
- In Spain, un café con leche comes in a glass or a cup and is half and half. Ask for un café con leche en vaso if you want the glass, which is common at breakfast.
- Cortado is a coffee “cut” with a splash of milk in Spain, Mexico and Argentina. Colombia has un perico in Bogotá and un pintado, “painted”, in Medellín and much of the interior, both with a little more milk than a Spanish cortado.
- Lágrima in Argentina is the reverse of a cortado: a glass of hot milk with a teardrop of coffee.
- Perico is a Bogotá word. Do not use it in Mexico, where perico is slang for cocaine.
- Frappé in Mexico is a blended, sweet, ice-crushed drink. Order it when you want that, not when you want cold coffee.
Milk, sugar, size, temperature
| You want to say | Spanish | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| with milk | con leche | |
| without milk | sin leche | |
| a little milk | con un poquito de leche | |
| oat milk | con leche de avena | Spain and Argentina cafés usually have it; ask before assuming |
| soy milk | con leche de soja (Spain, Argentina), con leche de soya (Mexico, Colombia) | Same word, different spelling and vowel |
| almond milk | con leche de almendra | |
| lactose free | sin lactosa | |
| with sugar | con azúcar | In Colombia the sugar often comes in the cup already. Say sin azúcar if you do not want it |
| no sugar | sin azúcar | |
| sweetener | con endulzante (Mexico, Argentina), con edulcorante (Spain), con endulzante or con sacarina (Colombia) | |
| hot | caliente | |
| very hot | muy caliente or bien caliente | |
| lukewarm | tibio | |
| iced | con hielo | |
| small | pequeño (Spain), chico (Mexico, Argentina), pequeño (Colombia) | |
| medium | mediano | |
| large | grande | |
| strong | cargado (Spain, Argentina), fuerte or cargado (Mexico, Colombia) | |
| weak | suave or flojo | |
| double | doble |
To go, or to stay
| Mexico | Spain | Colombia | Argentina | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| To go | para llevar | para llevar | para llevar | para llevar |
| To drink here | para tomar aquí | para tomar aquí | para tomar aquí | para tomar acá |
| The question you will be asked | ¿Para aquí o para llevar? | ¿Para tomar aquí o para llevar? | ¿Para aquí o para llevar? | ¿Para acá o para llevar? |
Argentines say acá where the others say aquí. Both are correct everywhere and both are understood.
Something to eat with it
| You want | Mexico | Spain | Colombia | Argentina |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| a pastry | un pan dulce | un bollo or una pasta | un pan, una almojábana or un pandebono | una factura |
| a croissant | un cuernito | un cruasán | un croissant | una medialuna |
| toast | un pan tostado | una tostada | una tostada | una tostada |
| a sandwich | una torta (Mexican bread roll) or un sándwich | un bocadillo (baguette) or un sándwich (sliced bread) | un sándwich | un sándwich or un tostado (toasted ham and cheese) |
| a cookie | una galleta | una galleta | una galleta | una galletita |
| cake | un pastel | una tarta | una torta or un ponqué | una torta |
Factura in Argentina means a pastry at the bakery counter, as well as an invoice. In a café, ask for la cuenta, not la factura. And in Colombia un pastel is usually a savoury filled pastry, pastel de pollo, not a sweet one.
Paying
| You want to say | Spanish | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| The bill, please | La cuenta, por favor. | Everywhere |
| How much is it? | ¿Cuánto es? | The everyday form at a counter |
| How much does it cost? | ¿Cuánto cuesta? | For a single item on a menu |
| Can I pay by card? | ¿Puedo pagar con tarjeta? | |
| Cash | en efectivo | |
| Do you have change? | ¿Tiene cambio? | |
| Keep the change | Quédese con el cambio. | |
| Separately | Por separado. or Cada uno lo suyo. (Spain) | |
| Together | Todo junto. |
Where you pay changes by country. In Spain you usually pay when you leave, at the bar or by catching the waiter’s eye; nobody brings the bill unasked. In Mexico and Colombia the bill comes to the table when you ask. In Argentina you ask, and the wait can be long, so ask early: ¿Me traés la cuenta cuando puedas?, will you bring me the bill when you can.
Tipping at a café: in Spain, coins or nothing. In Mexico, ten percent at a sit-down café is normal and expected. In Colombia, ten percent is often on the bill as propina voluntaria and the waiter will ask ¿Le incluyo el servicio?, do I include service. In Argentina, ten percent left in cash.
The courtesies
The words to use for a smooth exchange, and the ones only a visitor says.
Buenos días before the order, everywhere, always. In Spain a bar exchange that starts without a greeting is noticed. Buenas on its own, at any time of day, is the relaxed version in Spain and Argentina.
Gracias when the cup arrives and gracias again when you pay. In Colombia you will hear con mucho gusto back, the standard “you are welcome” there. In Mexico it is de nada or para servirle, at your service. In Spain, de nada or nothing at all; not answering gracias is normal there and not cold.
Disculpe to get attention, or perdón. In Spain, oye and perdona to a waiter of your own age are normal at close range; shouted across the room, oye is rude everywhere. In Colombia, stay with usted forms: disculpe, ¿me colabora?, will you help me, the Bogotá way to ask for anything.
Provecho or buen provecho when you pass someone eating. Mexicans say it to strangers at the next table. Spaniards say it less, and more to friends.
Ten orders you can say tomorrow
- Buenos días. Un café con leche, por favor. Good morning. A coffee with milk, please.
- ¿Me da un americano para llevar? Can I have an americano to go? (Mexico)
- Ponme un cortado y una tostada con tomate. A cortado and toast with tomato. (Spain)
- ¿Me regala un tinto, sin azúcar? A black coffee, no sugar. (Colombia)
- Un café doble y dos medialunas, por favor. A double coffee and two croissants. (Argentina)
- ¿Tienen leche de avena? Do you have oat milk?
- Descafeinado, con leche, muy caliente. Decaf, with milk, very hot.
- ¿Para aquí o para llevar? Para aquí. Here or to go? Here.
- ¿Cuánto es? ¿Puedo pagar con tarjeta? How much is it? Can I pay by card?
- La cuenta, por favor. Gracias. The bill, please. Thank you.
Questions people ask
Is “un café” enough? Yes. Add por favor and a greeting and you are polite in every country. The regional forms above are what locals say, not what you need.
Café or cafecito? Cafecito, little coffee, is affectionate and common in Mexico, Colombia and Argentina. It does not mean a small cup. ¿Un cafecito? is how a friend offers you one.
How do I say “coffee shop”? Cafetería everywhere, though in Spain a cafetería is often a café-bar that also serves beer and lunch. Un café is also the place, as in English. Argentina has el bar for the classic corner café and la confitería for the older, grander kind.
What is “café de olla”? A Mexican coffee brewed in a clay pot with cinnamon and piloncillo, unrefined cane sugar. Worth ordering once.
What is “café con leche” at breakfast in Spain? The default breakfast, usually with una tostada. Ask for un café con leche y una tostada con aceite or con tomate.
Is it “expreso” or “espresso”? Both are used. In Spain it is often written expreso; on menus in Mexico, Colombia and Argentina it is mostly espresso.
How do I pronounce café? Stress on the second syllable: ca-FE. Without the accent, cafe does not exist, and el café is both the drink and the place.
Practise these words
café, leche, azúcar, cuenta, llevar, tarjeta, cambio. Vozelu is a free website for practising Spanish, and it has each of these. You see a sentence with one word missing, you type the word, and a native voice reads the sentence back. Practise the words on this page.