Far be it from me to comment here, given I've never had the dish, but this seems to me to be a bad comparison.

However gross or watered down or removed from the fine European traditions it is, anything made by mixing coffee grounds and water is coffee. I've never heard anyone claim that the ubiquitous American weakly brewed drip coffee cup is any less of a coffee than a strong doppio perfectly pulled from the finest Italian roast. They're just two different styles.

I'm not saying that paella with chorizo is paella--I'll let the Spaniards define the dish as they want. I'm just saying that the above comparison doesn't make sense.