3 RISTRETTO TO MONDO
ESPRESSO DRINKS
Espresso is more than simply a way to make coffee—it is an entire coffee cuisine. And as espresso technology has been adopted by cultures outside Italy, that one cuisine has become many cuisines. The components that go into these cuisines are simple, however: coffee, always brewed by the espresso method; milk (or milk substitutes); and finally various flavorings added to the drink, at one time only chocolate, but in the United States an increasing (and often bewildering) variety of syrups and garnishes.
THE THREE CUISINES
I’ve chosen to describe three of these cuisines: the classic northern Italian, the Italian-American, and a new, thoroughly American cuisine that has erupted in many-flavored splendor out of Seattle over the past decade and a half, and has come to dominate the American experience of espresso. This last tradition could be called postmodern espresso, Seattle-style espresso, cart espresso (after the ubiquitous Seattle espresso cart), mall espresso, or even latte espresso, after its featured drink. I should add that Seattle, which recently has become one of the meccas of North American coffee culture, produces some of the purest and most elegantly presented espresso cuisine in the world. However, it also has spawned an innovating new cuisine that has about the same relationship to classic espresso as the pop singer Madonna has to her namesake. Starbucks has adopted a restrained version of the Seattle cuisine, and is busy initiating the rest of the world into its milky ways.
I’ve described the drinks involved in the three cuisines later in this chapter. Here, however, is an overview.
The Italian Cuisine
Here the emphasis is, above all, on the coffee. There are two principal drinks: a tiny cup of straight espresso, either small, smaller, or smallest, and an austere and splendid cappuccino, the classic drink in which a single serving of fresh, exquisitely brewed espresso is topped with just enough hot milk and milk froth to allow the perfume of the coffee to penetrate every molecule of the cup. The Italian equivalent of the ubiquitous American caffè latte is the latte macchiato, milk “stained” or marked with espresso, much smaller than the American latte, but similar in concept: hot milk and a little froth combined with espresso in a tall glass. Not many of these drinks are served in the average Italian bar, however, and the glass tends to hold 6 to 10 ounces, not the mammoth 16 ounces of the usual American latte glass. Caffè latte does not appear on the menus of Italian espresso bars except in places that attract American tourists. In Italian homes a drink called caffè latte may be made with ordinary coffee from the caffettiera and milk heated on the stove, but the perfection of the Italian bar espresso would never be ruined with the amount of hot milk the American espresso culture dumps into it. It goes without saying that the mammoth concoctions of the Seattle cuisine, double and triple servings of espresso sloshed in enough milk to satisfy a kindergarten class, are seldom if ever seen in Italian bars and caffès.
In addition to espresso drinks, Italian bars and caffès, particularly those associated with bakeries, offer an amazing hot chocolate. This is a chocolate beyond rich; it is a chocolate drinker’s apocalypse. There is a saying in Italy to the effect that hot chocolate is only acceptable if the spoon stands up in it. This drink, if one can call it that, is often served topped with whipped cream, which makes it resemble a hot fudge sundae without the ice cream. However, a drink combining hot chocolate and espresso similar to the American caffè mocha does not appear to be offered in Italian bars and caffès. It apparently once was; I ran across several references to such beverages in the Italian literature on chocolate. A writer mentions with fond nostalgia the barbagliata once offered in Milanese caffès, for example, and the Turinese bicierin, apparently both combinations of chocolate and coffee. I suspect that such drinks, together with the caffè latte, went out of style as the small, sleek espresso bar replaced the larger, more leisurely caffè after World War II, and as the espresso machine and its peculiarly Italian “less is more” aesthetic was perfected.
The Italian-American Cuisine
The Italian-American cuisine is my name for that traditional menu of espresso drinks that was developed in Italian-American communities during the 1920s and ’40s, moved from there into bohemian and university communities via the American coffeehouses and its various offshoots during the 1950s, and by the 1960s had been taken up by the specialty coffee culture, that world of small boutique coffee roasters and burlap-decorated stores that has now grown to become a major part of the American coffee industry.
The Italian-American cuisine at first glance resembles the contemporary Italian. There are a few more choices on the menu: in particular the caffè latte and the caffè mocha, or chocolate-espresso combination. Otherwise the list is similar: espresso, ristretto, or short espresso, cappuccino, etc. The drinks are usually larger, and the servings of straight espresso most definitely larger. But what sets the two cuisines apart more than anything else is the style of the coffee. In the United States, with high-quality Arabica coffees cheap and widely available, espresso blends tend to be sharp and pungent. In Italy, where the cost of coffee is higher and coffee drinkers prefer to take their espresso without milk, the emphasis is on smoother, lighter-flavored blends based on lower-grown Brazil coffees and bland but full-bodied robusta beans. Finally, American espresso blends, particularly on the West Coast, tend to be roasted darker than the northern Italian norm, further accentuating the more rugged flavor profile of American espressos.
Perhaps the most striking difference between the two cuisines is the rituals that surround them in public places, rituals that affect, and in turn are affected by, technical and flavor factors. In Italy, every facet of the brewing and serving ritual is focused on what might be called the perfect swallow: The coffee is ground fresh, just before brewing; a small amount is brewed in about 20 seconds into a tiny, preheated cup; and then, before this little liquid jewel can cool or the delicate aromatics liberated by the brewing can evaporate, it is drunk in a few rapid swallows.
Even the time it takes for a waiter or waitress to pick up an espresso and deliver it to a table probably halves the flavor potential in the cup. The premium the espresso system places on immediate consumption of the drink doubtless contributed to the trend in Italy toward the small, streamlined espresso bar that replaced the larger caffè or neighborhood bar of pre–World War II days, with its more unhurried rituals. Certainly other factors predominated in this development, including the rising cost of real estate and the faster pace of life after the war. Nevertheless, the new Gaggia brewing system introduced in the 1950s encouraged drinking the coffee immediately and quickly, to take full advantage of the extraordinary flavor perfumes liberated by the new machines.
By comparison, the Italian-American cuisine was developed and continues to thrive in a much more leisurely context. The American customers’ favorite drinks tend to be those that combine hot, frothed milk with the espresso coffee, so a serving lag between brewing and drinking is less important. For years these same customers were primarily artists, bohemians, university students, professionals with irregular work schedules, etc., all of whom not only paid for an espresso beverage, but in effect rented a table as well, where they were free to read a newspaper, write a poem, work on a term paper, or chat with a client in a comfortable and (depending on the social context) defiantly funky or nostalgically European atmosphere.
Think as well about the fundamental tradition of American coffee drinking: the expectation of the bottomless cup, the tradition of sipping relatively weak, often stale coffee for hours on end while occupied with work and talk. Contrast that ritual with the one developed in the Italian espresso bar, where customers stop everything for a few moments to take three or four explosively flavorful swallows of coffee, then immediately return to work or play, riding the resonance of flavor and stimulation. The moment an Italian takes his or her espresso is a brief, but utterly private moment, however public in context; you can tell by the eyes that it is a moment of silent communion between soul and coffee. Then the cup is returned to saucer or saucer to counter, decisively, with a single clack, like an exclamation point, signaling the return of the soul (vigorously) to whatever worldly matters face it.
Once an Italian picks up an espresso cup, it stays in hand until the little golden pool of elixir is completely consumed. By contrast, we Americans like to wrap ourselves around our coffee; nurse it; sip it; psychologically bathe in it. Thus it is no wonder that the Americanized Italian cuisine is longer and taller and milkier.
The Postmodern Cuisine
The same expansive tendency is even more spectacularly in evidence in the postmodern Seattle-style cuisine, where customers can order a triple serving of espresso in a mondo, or milkshake-sized container of hot frothed milk, perhaps further enriched by a shot of mint syrup and several kinds of garnishes. The rituals of the new postmodern espresso reveal additional differences from the traditional Italian and Italian-American cuisines. If the small standup bar is the quintessential Italian setting for espresso cuisine, and the café, with tables, chairs, newspapers, and light foods, is the typical setting for the Italian-American cuisine, then the espresso cart is the characteristic setting for the Seattle-style cuisine.
With the espresso cart the cup, saucer, and glass have been dispensed with, and replaced by a disposable cup, either plastic foam or paper. The customers range from those types who also inhabit the traditional café—the newspaper readers, two-hour talkers, and poetry writers—to professionals and clerks who are taking their coffee break outside and on the run, rather than inside, in the office lounge or at their desk. Everything tends to be improvised and casual, and the social space around the cart is continually created and recreated by those who stand, sit, stroll, or dash back to work balancing 16 ounces of espresso drink atop a pile of manila file folders. The carts may vaguely resemble Italian espresso bars, but the customers usually walk away with their tall, milky drinks, rather than down them immediately with an elbow on the bar.
As for the post-modern cuisine itself, it represents the expansive, defiantly nontraditional, and individualistically improvising spirit of western America at its iconoclastic best. It is a cuisine of extremes, from tall, milky, weak drinks in which the espresso can barely be detected amid the pop seductions of pomegranate or pineapple-coconut syrup, to austerely macho “triples” of straight espresso; from the skim milk latte made with decaffeinated coffee to a double breve, which delivers two servings of caffeine plus all of the butterfat floating around in 12 ounces of half and half.
It is clear that with the development of the Seattle-style cuisine, with its vigorous pop interpretations of traditional drinks coupled with a sophisticated grasp of espresso technique, espresso in America has finally departed the elitist preserve of imitation Europeans, fancy food freaks, university students, artists, and urban professionals, and is on its way into the mainstream American life.
THE CAFFÈ CUISINES IN DETAIL
What follows is a description of the various beverages that make up the espresso cuisines of the United States and northern Italy. A few words on the Cuban and other Latin American cuisines appears here, but I have not included purely Latin American espresso drinks here for reasons of space and coherence.
For a detailed discussion of assembling the espresso cuisine in the home, see Chapter 9 and related Espresso Breaks. For advice on choosing espresso coffees, see Chapter 6.
The Classic Drinks
Espresso. One-third (Italy) to two-thirds (United States) of a demitasse of espresso coffee, or 1 to 2 ounces, black, usually drunk with sugar.
Espresso Romano (United States; Italian-American). Espresso served with a twist of lemon on the side.
Espresso Ristretto. (United States), Corto (Italy), Short (Pacific Northwest). The restricted or short espresso carries the “small is beautiful” espresso philosophy to its ultimate: The flow of espresso is cut short at about ¾ ounce or less than a third of a demitasse (Italy) to 1¼ ounces or one-half of a demitasse (United States), producing an even denser, more perfumy cup of espresso than the norm.
Espresso Lungo (Italy, United States), Long (Pacific Northwest). A “long” espresso, filling about two-thirds or more of a demitasse. A term not much used in the United States, since most American espresso servings are already long by Italian standards.
Espresso con Panna (Italy, United States). A single or double serving of espresso topped with whipped cream in a 6-ounce cup, usually topped by a dash of unsweetened chocolate powder.
Double (United States), Doppio (Italy). Double serving, or about 2½ ounces (Italy) to 3 to 5 ounces (United States) of straight espresso, made with twice the amount of ground coffee as a single serving.
Cappuccino. One serving (about 1¼ ounces in Italy, up to 2 ounces in the United States) of espresso, topped by hot milk and froth. In the classic Italian-American cuisine, a good cappuccino consists of about one-third espresso, one-third milk, and about one-third rather stiff foam, in a heavy 6-ounce cup. In Italy, the milk is not frothed as thoroughly as in the United States, and is presented as a heavier, soupy foam that picks up and combines with the espresso, rather than floating on top of it, as is often the case with the lighter, drier froth typical of American production. The hot, frothed milk is always added to the coffee in the cappuccino. Like most espresso drinks, the cappuccino is usually drunk with sugar.
This popular drink is often customized, both in the United States and in Italy. It is not unusual to hear an Italian order a cappuccino senza spuma, “without froth,” and Americans versed in the ways of Seattle-style espresso have the option of ordering their cappuccino wet, with heavy froth, or dry, with mostly hard, buoyant froth and little milk.
In less sophisticated American caffès and restaurants a cappuccino can be almost anything, from what in Italy would be a weak latte macchiato to astounding concoctions in which the coffee is so thin and overextracted that it tastes like a solution of burned rubber, the milk is nearly boiled, and the froth is as stiff as overcooked meringue.
Caffè Latte (United States). In the United States, one or two shots of espresso and about three times as much hot milk, in a big bowl or wide-mouthed glass, topped with a short head of froth. Caffè latte has a greater proportion of milk to coffee than a cappuccino does, and tastes weaker and milkier. Strictly speaking, the milk and coffee should be poured simultaneously, from either side of the bowl or glass.
Such combinations of hot milk and coffee have long been the favored breakfast drink of southern Europeans, although the term caffè latte itself appears to be little used in Italy, where those who want a breakfast coffee with more milk than froth usually order a latte macchiato, or perhaps a cappuccino without foam. In fact, a sure way to reveal that you are an American in Italy is to order a cappuccino after lunch, or a caffè latte at any time. In the United States, caffès often distinguish between caffè latte (made with espresso) and café au lait, which substitutes ordinary American filter coffee for the espresso.
The five principal drinks of the classic Italian-American espresso cuisine. Clockwise, from the bottom: espresso, in 3-ounce cup properly half-filled with rich, crema-topped coffee; caffè mocha, in 6-ounce mug, as it was originally served in Italian-American caffès of the 1950s and ’60s; caffè latte in 16-ounce glass; latte macchiato in 10-ounce glass; and the classic cappuccino in 6-ounce cup.
Espresso Macchiato (Italy, United States). A serving of espresso “stained” with a small quantity of hot, frothed milk. Served in the usual espresso demitasse.
Latte Macchiato (Italy, United States). A glass filled with hot frothed milk, into which a serving of espresso has been slowly dribbled. The coffee colors, or stains, the milk. In both Italy and the United States, this drink is presented with a relatively short head of froth. Note that in the cappuccino, the milk and froth are added to the coffee, in the caffè latte they are poured simultaneously into a large bowl or glass, mixing them, while in the latte macchiato, the espresso is poured into the milk and froth, creating a layered effect as viewed through the serving glass.
Caffè Mocha (United States), Moccaccino (Starbucks). Not to be confused with Mocha Java, a traditional medium-roasted blend of Mocha and Java coffees. In the classic Italian-American espresso cuisine a caffè mocha is one serving (ideally 1¼ ounces) of espresso, mixed with about 2 ounces of very strong hot chocolate, topped with hot frothed milk. The milk is added last, and the whole thing is usually served in an 8-ounce mug. With a classic mocha the hot chocolate is made very strong, so it can hold its own against the espresso and milk. With increasing frequency American caffès simply add chocolate fountain syrup to a caffè latte and call it a mocha. So be it. The mocha does not appear on Italian espresso menus, although the drink is probably based on various coffee-chocolate drinks once popular in northern Italy.
Garnishes and Whipped Cream. In both the Italian and classic Italian-American cuisines, the froth of the cappuccino is garnished with a dash of unsweetened cocoa, which adds a subtle chocolate perfume to the drink. Don’t be intimidated by provincial American purists who claim chocolate on a cappuccino is unsophisticated. They haven’t been to Italy. Some American establishments use cinnamon as well, which is definitely not done in Italy. I don’t care for cinnamon on a cappuccino; I find the flavor too sharp and out of harmony with the dark tones of the coffee. Straight espresso is delicious with whipped cream (con panna in Italy), but topping a good, frothy cappuccino with whipped cream is as pointless as putting catsup on red-sauced spaghetti.
Postmodern Espresso, or America Embraces the Machine
Americans have begun to subject the classic espresso cuisine to their own brand of cultural innovation. In general, it would seem that we are frustrated by the brevity and simplicity of the classic Italian and Italian-American cuisines and want bigger drinks with more in them. Perhaps an ounce and a half of coffee in a tiny cup does lack comfort in the middle of the Great Plains or atop the World Trade towers. Still, I think it would be better if Americans understood and experienced the intensity and understated perfection of the classic espresso cuisines before immediately expanding them, watering them down, or adding flavored syrups and ice to them. At any rate, here are some of the more honorable results of American espresso cuisine innovation.
The majority of these creations appear to have originated in Seattle, where a passion for Italian coffee and a shortage of actual Italians seem to have fueled a veritable orgy of home-grown espresso creativity.
Americano. A single serving of espresso with hot water added to fill a 6-ounce cup. Note that simply running 6 ounces of hot water through a single dose of ground coffee will not produce an Americano, but will produce 6 ounces of thin, bitter, overextracted espresso. The Americano allows a regular 1¼-ounce serving of espresso to preserve its integrity and perfume, while stretching it to 5 or 6 ounces by adding the hot water.
Depth Charge. A cup of drip coffee with a single shot of espresso dropped into it. Definitely a stealth drink.
Double Cappuccino (or double cap, as in baseball cap). If this innovation is made correctly, you should get no more than 3 ounces of uncompromised espresso, brewed with double the usual amount of ground coffee, topped with 3 to 5 ounces of hot milk and froth, with emphasis on the froth. Usually served in an 8- to 10-ounce cup or mug. If the ground coffee is not doubled, and the operator simply forces twice as much water through one serving’s worth of ground coffee, you’re getting a bitter, watery perversion, rather than a taller, stronger version of a good drink.
Triple Cappuccino. Simply three cappuccinos, usually served in a 12-ounce mug or 16-ounce glass, made with three doses of ground coffee. On behalf of the medical establishment, I should point out that this drink is probably not good for one’s health.
Double Caffè Latte. The amount of ground coffee is doubled and the amount of coffee brewed is doubled. Usually, the amount of hot milk and froth remains about the same as in a single caffè latte, or enough to fill a 16-ounce glass. Consequently, a double caffè latte is usually a stronger tasting drink than a single, but represents the same volume of liquid. As with the single caffè latte, the head of froth should be modest, and the drink still relatively milky.
Triple Caffè Latte. See above. Simply a very strong caffè latte, made with three servings of espresso brewed with a triple dose of ground coffee, together with enough hot milk and froth to fill a 16-ounce glass.
Mocha Latte. A taller, milkier version of the classic mocha (see above). If I were to suggest proportions for this invention, they would be one part properly strong espresso, one part properly strong chocolate, and three parts milk and froth. These proportions produce a drink that is milkier, taller, and more muted than the classic mocha, but still rich enough to satisfy.
White Chocolate Mocha, Mocha Bianca. A caffè mocha made with white chocolate. Traditionally, sweet white baking chocolate is melted in a double boiler, combined with milk, and used in place of the normal chocolate concentrate in the caffè mocha. Some companies are now producing white chocolate fountain syrups especially formulated for this drink. Apparently Berkeley, not Seattle, gave birth to this sweet, delicate version of the classic drink.
Café au Lait. In some American cafés, a drink made with about half American-roast, filter coffee, and about half hot milk and froth, usually served in a 12-or 16-ounce glass or bowl. The proportion of coffee to milk has to be larger than with the espresso-based caffè latte, because American filter coffee is so delicate in flavor and light in body compared to espresso.
Latte by the Ounce. Thanks to Starbucks and imitators, this gas station approach to espresso service is becoming the standard in the United States. The customer specifies the number of shots of espresso (from single through quad, or four), the volume of milk or milk substitute (short, 8 ounces; tall, 14 ounces; grande, 16 ounces; venti or mondo, 20 or 24 ounces), and the kind of milk (no-fat, low-fat, regular, extra-rich, soy, etc.). These drinks are typically delivered with all the elegance of a service station pumping gas, usually into paper or plastic foam cups.
Breve. Seattle-originated term for a caffè latte made with frothed half and half.
Flavored Caffè Latte. The new American espresso cuisine’s most ubiquitous and purist-offending invention is the flavored latte, in which a caffè latte is transformed into a chocolate-mint latte, grenadine latte, cherry latte, or any number of other lattes, each through the addition of a dollop of the relevant Italian fountain syrup. The flavored caffè latte, made correctly (about ½ to 1 ounce of syrup to every serving of espresso and approximately 8 ounces of hot milk), should strike a judicious balance between the milk-muted bite of the espresso and the seduction of the syrup.
Eggnog Latte. Seattleites and their fellow decadent celebrants toast the holiday season with this combination of espresso and hot frothed eggnog.
Flavored Frothed Milk, Steamer, Moo. Essentially, a flavored caffè latte without the espresso. One-half to 1 ounce of Italian-style syrup flavoring in about 8 ounces of hot frothed milk, served with a modest head of froth in a caffè latte glass.
The Latte Meets the Soda Fountain, or Syrup-Oriented Variations. These are further elaborations of the flavored caffè latte, and may involve ice cream, whipped cream (often flavored with Italian-style syrups), and topped with everything from maraschino cherries to nuts and M&Ms. All in addition to the flavored frothed milk (and yes, the espresso is in there somewhere). Some of us would prefer espresso baristas to distinguish themselves with flawless espresso and perfect cappuccino, but we’re probably the same killjoys who order vanilla ice cream when we could get Cherry Garcia. For suggestions on exploring the soda fountain espresso cuisine at home, see here.
The Latte Meets the Health Bar, or Health-Oriented Variations. All over the United States, and particularly in Seattle, any number of custom variations are carried out on the classic drinks, particularly caffè latte, all designed to mute the presumed health hazards presented by the classic cuisine. Drinks are made with skim milk, with 1 percent milk, with 2 percent milk, and with soy milk. They are also made with decaffeinated coffee, and with various coffee substitutes. During the mid-1990s Seattle espresso carts devised an amusing set of jargon for health-oriented espresso drinks, including Tall Skinny, a tall caffè latte made with nonfat or 1 percent milk; Tall Two, a tall caffè latte made with 2 percent milk; No Fun, a caffè latte made with decaffeinated espresso; and Double No Fun, the same, with a double serving of decaffeinated espresso.
Iced Espresso. This is usually a double espresso, poured over plenty of crushed, not cubed, ice, in a smallish fancy glass. Some caffès top the iced coffee with whipped cream. Caffès that brew and refrigerate a pitcher of espresso in advance when they feel a hot morning on the way fail to deliver the brewed-fresh perfume of true espresso, but the practice still makes a fine drink, and one that doesn’t need to be iced and diluted as much as the version made with fresh espresso.
Iced Cappuccino. Best made with a single or double serving of freshly brewed espresso poured over crushed ice, topped with an ounce or two of cold milk, then some froth (not hot milk) from the machine to top it off. This drink should always be served in a glass. The triple contrast of coffee, milk, and froth, all bubbling around the ice, makes a pleasant sight on a hot day.
Espresso Granita. Traditional Italian-American granitas are made by freezing strong, unsweetened, or lightly sweetened espresso until it is slushy, removing it from the freezer, mixing it, putting it back in the freezer again, and repeating this process until a wonderfully grainy consistency is achieved. This strong, dark icy stuff is served in a parfait glass or sundae dish topped with lightly sweetened whipped cream.
Granita Latte, Granita. Frappuccino (Starbucks). The granitas now popular in the United States are tall blender drinks that combine espresso, milk, sugar, and (usually) vanilla. The best are made fresh on demand in a commercial blender. Icy cold but laced with the perfume of just-brewed espresso, these can be splendid summer drinks. Less successful are granitas produced by dispensing machines, the kind with big see-through tanks filled with various colors of slush. These granitas typically are made with either stale espresso or premade espresso concentrates. They tend to be flat and cloying compared to the fresh-made blender versions.
Chai, Chai Latte. Chai is a drink made with a mix of intensely flavored spices (ginger, cinnamon, cardamom), black tea, and honey or sugar, all mixed in frothed milk and typically served in a tall, latte-sized glass. Although chai is based on traditional recipes from central Asia, the current American version was developed and popularized by the espresso cart culture of the Pacific Northwest. Chai drinks contain no espresso or coffee, but the use of frothed milk as their vehicle most definitely makes them an important component of the new espresso cuisine. To my palate, the best versions of chai are the most traditional, those that combine fresh honey, a liquid concentrate made by boiling actual ground spices, and good black tea. Chai made from “instant chai” mixes can range from decent to absolutely awful: shallow and brassy sweet.
ESPRESSO BREAK
ESPRESSO AND EL GUSTO LATINO
Today the espresso machine is found not only in upscale professional and student and artist hangouts, but in other, less celebrated North American neighborhoods as well.
Cubans, Brazilians, and other Latin American cultures enjoy espresso traditions that may predate the North American–Italian tradition, and wherever Cubans in particular have settled in any numbers they have brought with them their own style of espresso culture.
If you do find Cuban-style espresso being served, much will be familiar: the little white cups half filled with dark coffee, the espresso machine behind the counter. But for Cubans and most Latin Americans, sweet is never sweet enough. Cubans usually pull the espresso directly into a demitasse that may be as much as half filled with sugar. As the hot espresso dribbles into the cup the coffee is stirred, immediately dissolving the sugar. The little cups of sweet black coffee are invariably served backed by glasses of cold water. The coffee itself often displays a particularly smoky, bitter bite.
Such small cups of strong, dark-roasted, filtered coffee have been enjoyed for generations in Latin America, beginning long before the development of espresso technology. In early twentieth-century Cuba, for example, the coffee was brewed by the cold water method. A large amount of dark-roasted, finely ground coffee was steeped in relatively small amounts of cold water for several hours. The resulting concentrated but mild-tasting coffee was then filtered through cotton cloth, stored, and when needed, heated and poured into small cups half filled with sugar. The coffee was always served with glasses of chilled water, seldom if ever mixed with milk, and taken in small quantities often throughout the day, just as Italians today take their espresso.
Before the development of the espresso machine very similar coffee traditions prevailed in Brazil and many other regions of Latin America, although the concentrated coffee was often mixed with hot milk in the morning, and the concentrate itself might be brewed by hot water as well as by cold water methods. In Brazil the brewing water is often sweetened before the coffee is brewed by the drip method, and the coffee is served in cups even smaller than the standard demitasse.
Obviously, the espresso method was made to order for such traditions, and it entered the mainstream of many Latin American coffee cultures long before it came into vogue in North America. It wasn’t until North Americans discovered the milkier side of the Italian cuisine, the ingratiatingly dessertlike cappuccino and caffè latte, that espresso began its spread into the mainstream of coffee culture in the United States and English-speaking Canada.
THE LATIN TASTE AT HOME
Unless you live in Miami or some other city with a relatively large Cuban community you may not have an opportunity to enjoy the public side of the Latin espresso tradition. However, the Latin taste in espresso can be easily experienced at home.
Simply spoon some sugar—for modest starters, try about a rounded teaspoonful of either refined sugar or demerara (raw sugar)—into a preheated demitasse, and pull the shot directly into the cup and over the sugar, stirring all the while with a demitasse spoon. Cubans also are fond of another sugar overload drink that combines espresso coffee with sweetened, condensed milk. Pour about ½ ounce sweetened, condensed milk in a preheated demitasse and pull a 1¼-ounce shot directly into the milk.
As for the coffee itself, markets in Latin American neighborhoods usually carry a range of excellent preground, packaged espresso coffees in the Latin style. These coffees constitute one of the great uncelebrated pleasures of North American espresso cuisine. They differ both from North American canned espressos, which tend to be lighter in roast and more acidy, and the packaged, preground espressos imported from northern Italy, which are smoother and milder than either Latin or mainstream North American blends. The Latin espresso blends are particularly effective for large, milky drinks like caffè latte, since Italian and mainstream North American packaged espressos may be too mild tasting to power through the milk.
Latin espresso blends usually carry the tag “Para el gusto Latino” (“For the Latin taste”) somewhere on the package. They almost always are precision ground for good espresso brewing. The same roaster often offers more than one blend, with a variety of names and packaging. These blends may differ subtly in flavor, but their differences are usually not described in the copy on the bags. A rule of thumb: the darker the colors on the package the longer the coffee has been roasted, and the more characteristically Latin the flavor.