While traveling in Europe in May I developed a new appreciation for espresso. Having returned to US, I started trying espresso there but eventually concluded that it just isn’t the same. In Brazil, however, espresso appears to be much more like in Europe, at least in some places. It even comes with a little cookie or a piece of chocolate. At the same time, it happens to cost about ¼ as much: R$1.50 (US$0.60) rather than 2 euros (US$2.6).

The trick is that espresso is somewhat hard to find – Brazilians usually drink drip coffee (same method as in US but brewed stronger). However, I am slowly making progress in mapping out espresso points throughout Rio.