In a cheap place, in a bareto, a coffee costs between 1.20 and 1.50 euros on average that is usually paid for a cup anywhere. At the airport or in one of those posh establishments that come with roasted selections and colorful vegan sugars you can pay two to five for the bitter caffeine. But there are also some secret spots where the coffee remains faithful to the (almost) always prices and times.
Whether with milk (with or without cream, with or without lactose, oatmeal, soy, almond…), cut (or stained, as they say in Madrid) or a dry espresso, probably the cheapest coffee that is served throughout Catalonia and perhaps in Europe is the one at the Hinojosa bar. It is in Santa Coloma de Gramenet, in the Fondo neighborhood, and costs 50 cents. Yes, 50 cents, which is not a trifle either because, be careful, it is the 80 pesetas it used to be. Those from when a coffee cost 50 pesetas, that is, 0.30 euros and the average national salary was about one hundred thousand pesetas (six hundred euros per month!). When you paid 370 pesetas (2.30 euros) for a ten-trip bus card, 300 pesetas (1.80 euros) for a menu and a thousand pesetas or 6 euros for a hardcover book, with which today You have a lot for a regular breakfast. With coffee with milk and a piece of ham, which if it’s good, you can forget about orange juice.
If for each run in a professional coffee maker, that is, for each cup served, 8 grams are needed, with a kilo of coffee that costs about 18 euros there are 140 cups. At 13 cents each. Then you have to add 10 cents for each splash of milk and 7 for each sugar. 30 cents! That’s what a coffee costs today.
The rest up to 1.50 on average or 0.50 at the Hinojosa bar? The light. The rent. The staff. And the mandatory tip with which Ayuso put so many waiters on a warpath. Little joke with coffee. From the 80 cents of that imaginary coffee from Zapatero in 2007 to the relaxing cup of café con leche from Ana Botella, passing through the recent coffee in Parla de Sánchez with those two young people who are still mileuristas, coffee has become an luxury of another time. The worst thing is that a lime is worth 2.45. And let’s not talk about the oil.
