As we will be away from our beloved espresso machine for two months as we travel through South America and Europe, we would greatly appreciate recommendations for great coffee venues in Rio de Janeiro and Buenos Aires.

What a nice trip, 2 months..do you need someone to carry your luggages..

Brasilian and Angentinians drink very strong coffe... i am sure you will not miss your expreso machine. Any restaurant or cafeteria makes good strong coffee.

Bon Viaje.......

Miguel. We drink our espressos very strong in ristretto glasses or small demi-tasse cups and of course we enjoy capuccinos etc. Maybe I should ask where to find great capuccinos in Rio and BA - anybody know ??

In Rio for breakfast(cafe de manha) the usual will be cafe com leite at night after dinner cafezinho.

Thanks again Dondiega - we follow the modern Italian view of coffee - we tend to avoid it after about 4pm unless there is a medicinal reason for it. We are looking forward to those freshly roasted Santos beans.

After 4 PM? I guess you'll have coffee at lunch then. Rio is a late town, one night I wanted to go to Margutta and called about 10:30 PM for a reservation that night and they told me that they had a table available at midnight, I took it. When I got there at midnight I had to wait at the bar to be seated, must have sat down at 12:30 and many others sat down after me. I might have had my cafezinho(espresso) at about 1:30 am, I needed it.

there another great coffee place cafezinho on nossa senhora rua do peru sorry can[t spell hi dondiega

Steve, we have just returned from our South America trip and already I am missing the coffee. I spent some time watching how the Braziliians maki it and am now putting that into practise. One thing I did notice was there are no coffee making facilities in the hotels and I found I was hankering for a coffee most of the day. Just stopping for a short expresso but they were so cheap. If you enjoy coffee I would suggest taking a thermos with you at breakfast and fill it there. I saw a number of people doing that.

I am so envious of you going next month. It was WONDERFUL and I am full of praise. As for the danger in Rio - we saw nothing at all.In fact felt safe all the time and a number of other tourists all said the same.

Carole

Thanks for your posts Carole. Did you get to any of the National Parks, Ilha Grande, Noteroi etc while you were there ? We were also thinking of taking an organised tour to one of the favelas. I have been influenced during my life by the Music of Antonio Carlos Jobim and this is our first trip to Rio. We have many highlights on our trip but no doubt this will be very special. As for coffee, it will be difficult leaving the home and office espresso machines for two months.

Steve, if you haven't already and you want to see a favela then rent the DVD City of God(Cidade de Deus) it has subtitles and should give you a feel for a favela. The favela tour will take you to a favela but they will not if there are current problems between the police and the drug trafickers because they are afraid of stray bullets. The music of Jobim and the safety in a favela are two seperate things, cuidado.

Hi Don. I remember the movie Black Orpheus of course and also remember another movie I saw about 15 years ago about a person who lived between the two worlds of the favela and the city.

City of God is pretty new, I believe it won some awards at the Canne film fest last year, it just came out in DVD, rent it if you have the time.