Great Coffee In Madrid Airport (MAD)

By

I’m live-blogging my SAS EuroBonus SkyTeam Milion Mile challenge this week. Click here for background and route information.

I enjoyed a delicious cup of coffee and fresh squeezed orange juice before my flight to Bucharest in Terminal 2 of Adolfo Suárez Madrid–Barajas Airport.

Best Coffee In Madrid Airport (MAD)

I found a place near by gate in Terminal 2 (between the C and D gates) called Santagloria Coffee & Bakery, which is a Spanish coffee chain dating back to 1963.

This particular coffee shop caught my eye thanks to its large manual machine, which all else equal, dispenses remarkably better coffee than the push-buttom automatic machine. I also noticed there was an orange juice squeezer, which frankly is an ideal combination with a strong cup of coffee.

The kind lady behind the counter did not speak a word of English or German, but my Spanish was good enough to order a cortado and zumo de naranja (orange juice).

Both were lovely. So lovely, in fact, that Augustine drank most of my orange juice…

Folks, I say it here often. There are plenty of Starbucks and major coffee chains at Madrid Airport, but good coffee is like good wine…you can taste the difference and it also is nice to support the local retailer, even if a local chain.

I was pleased to try the coffee (2,50 EUR) and OJ (5,00 EUR) here (yes, the prices were far higher than you’d find in central Madrid) and look forward to returning.

Finally, why not the lounge coffee? For some reason, the lounge coffee machines tend to add sugar or some other product in the milk that completely ruins the drink. Good coffee needs no sugar or syrup…