In a Coffee-Mad City, the Bitter With the Sweet

John Maier Jr. for The New York Times

IN Rio de Janeiro, every street corner offers an opportunity for refreshment: juice bars, açaí stands, open-air bars and of course botequins. These neighborhood institutions are part café, part lunch counter and part bistro; the place for a quick salgadinho, one of the salty snacks like fried balls of salt cod, and a cafezinho, the little cup of coffee beloved by Brazilians.

Bright with mirrors, cool tile and loud signs in red and yellow lettering, the botequins have a retro feel. Café Gaúcho, in downtown Rio, is a classic. It opens to a busy street corner, making the most of the city's joyful culture and tropical air. Commuters step off the sidewalk to the cashier, offering a few coins in exchange for a chit, which they then take to the coffee counter.

At Café Gaúcho, the counter is a circular island where patrons stand, a typical arrangement that is said to have been invented here. A man in a crisp white shirt stands in the center, working a stainless steel contraption of pipes and tanks, one tank for coffee and one for milk, kept warm by a bath of hot water. Cups and saucers steep in the water too, and after he takes the chit, the operator opens a steel door and pulls out a set, placing it, wet, on the stone countertop. Then he fills a stainless steel pitcher with dark, steaming coffee from a tap at the base of the tank, and with a fluid motion, splashes it into the tiny cup.

Coffee in Brazil has always been a world unto itself. For more than a century, Brazil has been by far the planet's largest coffee producer. And Brazilians themselves drink coffee enthusiastically: total consumption is second only to the United States. But quantity and quality are different things: nearly all the best coffee is exported.

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