Mazagran (Portuguese Iced Coffee Lemonade)

Lisbon in August is not a gentle place to be outdoors, and mazagran is the local answer to that problem: strong coffee, lemon, sugar, and ice, served in a tall glass at a cafe table with absolutely nothing else required of you. It tastes like it shouldn’t work, coffee and lemon together, but it does, in the way that only a drink invented by people who’ve been perfecting their coffee culture for two centuries could.

The name comes from a French military outpost in Algeria, of all places, brought back to Portugal by soldiers and adopted so thoroughly that most people ordering one at Cafe A Brasileira have no idea it isn’t originally Portuguese. That’s true of a lot of good things here, borrowed and made local until nobody remembers the borrowing.

Lucas, my self-appointed savory-food critic, wants nothing to do with this one, too much lemon apparently for a nine-year-old palate, but my husband and I make a pitcher on the hottest days and drink it on the porch, which is about as close as Rhode Island gets to a Lisbon esplanada.

Mazagran Recipe

Prep time: 5 minutes · Cook time: 5 minutes · Total: 15 minutes · Servings: 2 · Calories: ~90 per serving

Ingredients

• 1 cup strong brewed coffee, or 4 shots espresso, cooled to room temperature
• 2 to 3 tablespoons sugar, to taste
• Juice of 1 lemon
• Ice
• Lemon slices, for garnish
• Splash of sparkling water (optional)
• 1 ounce white rum per glass (optional)

Instructions

1. Brew your coffee strong. While it’s still hot, stir in the sugar until fully dissolved, then let it cool to room temperature, or refrigerate to speed this up.
2. Fill a cocktail shaker or jar with ice. Add the cooled coffee, lemon juice, and rum if using. Shake well for about 15 seconds.
3. Fill two tall glasses with fresh ice and strain the coffee mixture over.
4. Top each glass with a splash of sparkling water if you like a lighter, fizzier drink.
5. Garnish with a lemon slice and serve immediately.

Recipe Notes

• Use a strong, dark roast for the coffee; a light roast gets lost against the lemon.
• This scales up easily. Make a big batch of the sweetened coffee ahead and keep it in the fridge, then shake individual glasses with lemon and ice as needed.
• Skip the rum for a kid-friendly version; my daughter Sofia likes hers with a little extra sugar and a cherry on top instead.
• If you can find Portuguese coffee brands like Delta or Sical at a specialty market or online, they’re worth using here, but any strong dark roast will do.