Mazagrã (Portuguese Iced Coffee with Lemon)

Portugal’s summer coffee: an espresso sweetened while hot, poured over a glass full of ice with a squeeze of lemon and a lemon slice. The Portuguese dictionary defines mazagrã as a coffee drink, usually served cool, with sugar and lemon. Spain’s café del tiempo is the same idea.

Untested: not yet made in this kitchen. It is here for the Mazagran page.

Ingredients

• 1 espresso (about 30 ml), freshly made
• 1 to 2 teaspoons sugar, or 1 sugar sachet
• 1 to 1½ cups ice cubes, enough to fill a tumbler
• 2 slices lemon
• 2 to 3 tablespoons cold water, optional, for a longer drink

Directions

1. Stir the sugar into the hot espresso until it dissolves.
2. Fill a glass with ice. Squeeze one lemon slice over the ice and drop it in.
3. Pour the sweet espresso over the ice, add the water if you like it longer, stir, and garnish with the second lemon slice.

Notes

Where this comes from The Priberam dictionary: mazagrã is “a coffee drink, usually served cool, with sugar and lemon”. The method follows a 2021 RFM (Portuguese radio) recipe: a glass with plenty of ice, two lemon slices (one squeezed, one for garnish), one espresso, sweetened with a sugar sachet while hot and poured over the ice. Variations A splash of white rum, or a sprig of mint. A Brazilian version layers lungo, lemon juice, water, ice and sugarcane molasses. The photo A Valencian café del tiempo, coffee with a glass of ice and lemon, standing in for the Portuguese drink.