Where do locals drink coffee in Barcelona?
Locals drink coffee standing at the bar — sitting down at a table costs more and marks you immediately as a tourist. The go-to order is a *tallat* (a cortado, essentially) or a *cafè amb llet* in the morning; you rarely see a Barceloní nursing a large filter coffee. For actual quality, Bar Calders in Sant Antoni draws a neighborhood crowd and does a solid espresso without the specialty-coffee theater. Federal Café in the Eixample skews younger and local despite its Australian roots. Nomad, which roasts its own beans, has a small bar in the Born where the coffee is genuinely exceptional and the clientele knows it. Avoid anything on Las Ramblas or the immediate Gothic Quarter perimeter, where the coffee is mediocre and priced for people who won't come back. The Gràcia neighborhood, particularly around Plaça de la Vila de Gràcia, has a cluster of unpretentious bars where a tallat runs around €1.20 and nobody is performing anything.
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