How to order coffee in Mexico City (in Spanish)

Mexico City has a serious coffee scene, from old-school cafés serving café de olla in clay mugs to tiny specialty spots pouring single-origin beans from Veracruz, Chiapas and Oaxaca. Ordering is easier than it looks, because the exchange at the counter almost always follows the same steps. Learn the steps and you can answer on autopilot.

The safest formula is ¿Me das un + drink + size, por favor? For example: ¿Me das un americano grande, por favor? (Can I get a large Americano, please?)

The order of the order

In most cafés, the conversation at the counter goes like this:

1. The greeting and the question. ¡Hola! ¿Qué te sirvo? or ¿Qué le sirvo? (What can I get you?)
2. Your order. Drink, size and, if you want, the kind of milk.
3. For here or to go. ¿Para aquí o para llevar?
4. Your name. ¿A nombre de quién? (Under what name?)
5. Paying. ¿Efectivo o tarjeta? (Cash or card?)
6. The pickup. They call your name, or bring it to your table.

Phrases for ordering

Any of these works and sounds natural:

• ¿Me das un café americano, por favor? (Can I get an Americano, please?)
• Quiero un capuchino mediano. (I'd like a medium cappuccino.)
• Un latte con leche de avena, por favor. (An oat milk latte, please.)
• ¿Me pones un café de olla? (Could you make me a café de olla?)

¿Me das...? (literally "will you give me?") is completely polite in Mexico, especially with por favor at the end. Quisiera... (I would like) is a touch more formal and always safe.

Tú or usted?

Staff in a trendy café may use tú with you (¿Qué te sirvo?), while a traditional café or an older waiter is more likely to use usted (¿Qué le sirvo?). You can simply mirror whatever they use. If in doubt, usted is never rude.

Sizes

Most places use chico, mediano and grande (small, medium, large). Some list sizes in ounces, like 12 onzas or 16 onzas. If you blank, say mediano and point. Everybody understands.

The drinks and what they mean

• café de olla: coffee brewed in a clay pot with cinnamon and piloncillo, unrefined cane sugar. Sweet, spiced and very Mexican.
• café americano: espresso with hot water, the everyday default.
• espresso or café expreso: a straight shot.
• capuchino and latte: just like at home, with the Spanish spelling for the first one.
• café con leche: coffee with plenty of hot milk.
• cortado: espresso with a splash of milk.
• frappé: a blended iced coffee drink, often sweet.
• descafeinado: decaf.

Milk, sugar and adjustments

You may hear ¿Con qué leche? (What kind of milk?). Common options:

• leche entera: whole milk.
• leche deslactosada: lactose-free milk, which is extremely common in Mexico.
• leche light: low-fat.
• leche de avena and leche de almendra: oat and almond milk.

To sweeten: azúcar is sugar, endulzante or sustituto is sweetener. Sin azúcar means no sugar, and un shot extra is an extra shot of espresso.

Something to eat

Coffee in Mexico City rarely goes alone. Look for pan dulce, the sweet breads on trays by the counter: the shell-topped concha is the classic. In the morning, street stalls sell tamales and atole, a warm corn drink, and a guajolota, a tamal stuffed inside a bread roll, is breakfast for anyone in a hurry.

Paying and tipping

• ¿Efectivo o tarjeta? Cash or card. Most cafés take cards, but small stalls often only take cash.
• ¿Aceptan tarjeta? Do you take cards?
• ¿Cuánto es? How much is it?
• La cuenta, por favor. The check, please, when you're sitting down.
• Tips. At a table with waiter service, leaving a propina is customary. At the counter, a tip jar is common and tipping is up to you.

If you pay cash, you may hear the shop's eternal complaint, ¿No tiene cambio? (Don't you have change?), because small bills and coins are always in short supply.

If you didn't understand

It happens to everybody. Three phrases that save the day:

• ¿Mande? The polite Mexican way to say "pardon?"
• ¿Me lo puede repetir, por favor? Could you repeat that, please?
• Más despacio, por favor. Slower, please.

To say thanks, gracias is enough. If you hear ¡Que le vaya bien! (Have a good one!), reply ¡Igualmente! (You too!)

A full order, start to finish

• Barista: ¡Hola! ¿Qué te sirvo?
• You: Hola. ¿Me das un latte mediano con leche de avena, por favor?
• Barista: Claro. ¿Para aquí o para llevar?
• You: Para llevar, por favor.
• Barista: ¿A nombre de quién?
• You: Sam.
• Barista: Perfecto. Son setenta pesos. ¿Efectivo o tarjeta?
• You: Tarjeta. ¡Gracias!

Notice how simple most of it is. Dar, para, aquí, por favor and gracias are all among the most used words in Spanish, as you can see in the 100 most common Spanish words.

Practice your order before the trip

In Pollyfriends, the friends are AI characters with jobs and routines. Vale, a barista at a small café in Narvarte, serves café de olla alongside espresso from Veracruz beans, writes every customer's name on the cup with a little drawing, and greets you with ¡Hola! ¿Qué te sirvo hoy? ¿Para aquí o para llevar? For regulars, it's just ¿Lo de siempre? (The usual?). And Doña Martha, who sells tamales and atole on a Narvarte corner, sets up with her pot at 6:30 every morning.

If you want to rehearse your order in a real conversation, meet the Spanish-speaking friends, no rush at all.