To Boldly Galão

Portugal means many things to me, many good things, many amazing things, including friends, sunshine, cakes, books, music, beaches, amazing cities, trams. One of the most emblematic of these items is the galão, the Lusitanian version of the café con leche...

The oddest galão I ever had was in a Chiado café in Lisbon on 24th October 2007, where I had been invited to do a reading for the British Council's reading group. This galão resembled a spectrographic analysis of the drink in question: the hot milk, coffee and cream were displayed in distinct bands.

From such spectrographs we can determine whether a beverage is likely to be delicious or not. On this particular occasion my initial opinion was that the depicted galão was delicious. Confirmation of my belief was obtained by stirring the separate elements into a single blend, raising the glass to my lips and drinking it dry. Yum!