As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. Of all the espresso drinks with milk, the cortado is one of the easiest to get right at home, because the hardest part of milk drinks, the foam, barely matters. If your machine can pull a decent double shot and warm a small jug of milk, you can make one as good as a café's. What You Need An espresso machine with a steam … [Read more...] about How to Make a Cortado at Home: A Double Shot and Barely Foamed Milk
Milk Drinks
Breville Bambino vs De’Longhi Dedica Arte: The Bambino Wins on Heat Control, the Dedica on Width
As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. These two machines end up on the same shortlist again and again. Both are small, both cost a few hundred dollars, and both have a manual steam wand that can make real milk texture. Which one is better depends on one question first: how much counter space do you have? Side by Side Breville Bambino (BES450)De'Longhi … [Read more...] about Breville Bambino vs De’Longhi Dedica Arte: The Bambino Wins on Heat Control, the Dedica on Width
Vienna Coffee Houses: Why One Melange Buys You the Whole Afternoon
A Viennese coffee house sells time as much as coffee. You order one drink and the table is yours for as long as you want it. The waiter won't bring the bill until you ask for it, and nobody expects you to order a second cup. Your coffee arrives on a small silver tray with a glass of water, and the newspapers hang on wooden holders near the door. The city takes this seriously. … [Read more...] about Vienna Coffee Houses: Why One Melange Buys You the Whole Afternoon
De’Longhi Dedica Lineup: Six Inches Wide, 51mm Baskets and a Steam Wand That Changes by Model
As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. The De'Longhi Dedica's selling point fits in one number: about 15 cm, six inches wide. It slides into the gap between a kettle and a toaster in a galley kitchen where nothing else fits. That's why it's one of the best-selling espresso machines anywhere. There are several Dedicas now, and the names get confusing. … [Read more...] about De’Longhi Dedica Lineup: Six Inches Wide, 51mm Baskets and a Steam Wand That Changes by Model
Espresso Beans for Milk Drinks: Why Italian Blends With Robusta Taste Better in a Cortado
As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. Not every good coffee makes a good cortado. A bright, fruity light roast that tastes wonderful as a straight shot can disappear in milk, or turn sour. Milk fat and sugar mute acidity and fruit. What comes through is chocolate, caramel, nuts and body. That's why Italian bars have used the same kind of blend for decades, … [Read more...] about Espresso Beans for Milk Drinks: Why Italian Blends With Robusta Taste Better in a Cortado
Piccolo Latte vs Cortado: Australia’s Ristretto Drink Carries More Milk
A piccolo, or piccolo latte, is Australia's small milk coffee: a single ristretto shot topped up with steamed milk in a little glass. It gets compared to the cortado all the time. Both are short drinks served in glass, and both keep the coffee up front. They're built differently, though, and the piccolo is the milkier of the two. How a Piccolo Is Made The base is a ristretto, a … [Read more...] about Piccolo Latte vs Cortado: Australia’s Ristretto Drink Carries More Milk
Light vs Dark Roast: How Roasting Changes the Bean, and Which Roast Suits Milk Drinks
At a market stall that sells coffee by weight, two baskets sit side by side under handwritten signs: Colombia Light and Colombia Dark. The beans came from the same country, maybe from the same farm. The only difference is how long they spent in a roaster, and that's enough to make them taste like two different coffees. Roasting turns green coffee, which smells grassy and makes … [Read more...] about Light vs Dark Roast: How Roasting Changes the Bean, and Which Roast Suits Milk Drinks
How to Order Coffee in France: Café, Noisette, Crème and Allongé
Ask for un café in France and you'll get an espresso, short and dark in a thick little cup, with a sugar cube or two on the saucer. Nobody asks what size you want. Anything else needs its own word, and the words aren't the ones that work in Madrid or Lisbon. If you drink cortados, the one to learn is noisette. It's the nearest thing France has to a cortado, with less milk than … [Read more...] about How to Order Coffee in France: Café, Noisette, Crème and Allongé
Greek Freddo Espresso: How Iced Espresso Took Over From the 1957 Frappé
Walk past a café in Athens in July and the glasses on the tables are tall, iced and topped with foam. For decades that meant a frappé. These days it's more likely to be a freddo espresso, or a freddo cappuccino with a thick cap of cold milk foam. Few countries take iced coffee as seriously as Greece. The Frappé, an Accident at a Trade Fair The story goes that the frappé was … [Read more...] about Greek Freddo Espresso: How Iced Espresso Took Over From the 1957 Frappé
Milk Frothers Without a Steam Wand: Which Ones Make Microfoam Good Enough for a Cortado
As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. A lot of good espresso gets made without a steam wand. Lever presses, moka pots, capsule machines and some compact machines have none. So the milk has to come from somewhere else. The good news for cortado drinkers: you need very little milk, and very little foam. That's the easiest job any frother can be given. The bad … [Read more...] about Milk Frothers Without a Steam Wand: Which Ones Make Microfoam Good Enough for a Cortado