Features of preparing cortado
At the moment, it is the people of Spain who drink the most coffee. Spaniards can enjoy coffee drinks for several hours. The first coffee shop was opened in this country even before the First World War began.
Nowadays there are a large number of coffee shops in Spain, as well as coffee drinks themselves. Cortado is considered the most favorite. This drink was invented in Madrid. It is prepared on the basis of espresso and baked milk. Coffee beans must be well roasted; it is better to take Kenyan varieties.
The drink should look as if it was divided into two parts: dark and light. The coffee lives up to its name. Cortado means "to cut" in Spanish. In addition to milk, caramel, chocolate or cream are often added to the drink.
It is best to brew coffee over an open fire. To do this you will need a Turk or a saucepan. The coffee is brought to a boil at least three or four times. As soon as the foam rises, the Turk must be removed from the stove, wait a few minutes, and then put back on the fire. In this case, the cortado will turn out rich. Baked milk must be whipped only by hand, while warm. If you use a mixer, you will get lumps instead of a delicate foam.
How is it different from other coffee drinks?
There are many recipes for making coffee with milk. The most famous drinks are cappuccino and latte. Many coffee lovers have a question: what is different about cortado?
Only baked milk is always used in the preparation of cortado.
There is a big difference in the preparation of milk- and coffee-based drinks. For cortado, slightly whipped hot baked milk is used. The ingredients are taken in equal proportions. For example, more milk is used to make lattes than coffee.
How would you describe the taste of cortado?
Cortado has a delicate melted honey taste. Creamy notes give way to a characteristic coffee bitterness. If the beans are poorly roasted, then the coffee will turn out weak and tasteless. If the grind is coarse, the drink will not be strong.
If you add cream to the cortado, then the coffee will taste too rich and milky, and the drink itself will become too high in calories. Condensed milk will make the cortado sweet, so this recipe is suitable for those with a special sweet tooth.
When it comes to coffee beans, it is best to grind them yourself rather than buying ground coffee.
What determines the taste of coffee?
A real cortado should have a rich honey, truly delicate, melted taste. Ideally, it turns out layered: creamy, milky, sweet aftertaste, replaced by coffee bitterness.
In order for the cortado to turn out, it is necessary to use only high-quality roasted and freshly ground coffee beans.
If the grains are not roasted enough, the taste of the drink will be weak and unpleasant, and if the grind is coarser than necessary, the strength will suffer.
You should not use ready-made ground coffee to prepare cortado. It is better to buy coffee beans and grind them yourself. Baked milk must be fresh.
Many coffee lovers note that it is baked milk that gives cortado a strong, sweet, milky taste with a delicate aroma .
Some people prefer to add cream to the drink, which gives it additional calories and a rich milky taste.
For those with a real sweet tooth, we recommend including condensed milk in the cortado recipe. This will give the drink a very sweet, cloying taste that may not suit everyone.
Preparing Spanish coffee cortado
- Heat the glass with steam or pour boiling water over it.
- Pour hot espresso (50 ml).
- Add a teaspoon of sugar.
- Take a separate container and beat 50 ml of baked milk. The foam should be soft.
- Pour the milk into the coffee in a thin stream.
- Decorate the top with foam that will remain in the container.
- You can't mix it.
Baked milk can be made at home:
- Pour milk into a clay dish and add sour cream to it. The proportions are five to one.
- Place the milk and sour cream in the oven.
- Simmer for one to two hours at a temperature of eighty degrees.
- Wrap in a towel and keep in a warm place for several hours.
Once the milk has cooled, you can whisk it and add it to your coffee.
Making coffee at home
When preparing macchiato at home, consider a number of nuances.
Ingredients
It is best to use a coffee blend of 85% Arabica and 15% Robusta. This way the drink will be strong, but will not be bitter. Those who like weaker coffee can use 100% Arabica. It is not recommended to add too much robusta, as it negatively affects the taste.
A coffee mixture is used for preparation.
Be sure to use bottled water. When using tap liquid, there is an unpleasant bleach taste that will ruin the macchiato.
It is better not to use skim milk. Give preference to products with a fat content of 2.5% to 3.2%. This will make the foam thicker and the taste more delicate.
Proportions
Italians add 1 part milk to 2 parts coffee. The classic drink turns out strong, the soft taste of the foam emphasizes the bitterness of the liquid part.
In Europe, instead of the classic variation, they often offer a drink in which there is 1.5-2 times more milk than coffee. This variety is characterized by a creamy taste.
The nuances of frothing milk
It is necessary to whip the milk until it forms a homogeneous foam. To do this, it is allowed to use an automatic or mechanical cappuccino maker.
The product is poured into a metal jug, a pitcher. The cappuccino maker is immersed 5 mm in liquid. As you beat, the jug is slowly lowered lower so that the device is always at the same distance from the surface. When the foam rises so that 3-4 cm remains to the edges of the pitcher, the steam generator is immersed to the very bottom.
To froth milk, you can use a mechanical milk frother.
Then the foam must be compressed. To do this, the container is raised twice 30-40 cm above the table and placed on it again. To separate the foamed part from the liquid part, rotate the pitcher 2-3 times.
How to drink cortado correctly?
It is advisable to enjoy cortado after lunch. The Spaniards drink it even in the late afternoon. Despite the fact that this drink is delicate and soft, it can invigorate to some extent. People suffering from hypertension have no contraindications to this coffee.
Cortado is served in a small thick glass glass on a porcelain saucer. With a small spoon and a packet of sugar. Thanks to hot baked milk, rich espresso does not seem strong and bitter.
In France, this drink is usually served with cold milk with the addition of chocolate chips or even nuts.
Calorie content of the drink
Cortado based on 4% baked milk without added sugar in one 100 ml serving contains only 42 Kcal, and with sugar – already 65 Kcal.
The same drink, but prepared using skim or low-fat milk, will include 22 Kcal per 100 ml.
If cream with a fat content of up to 20% is added to the cortado with sugar, then the calorie content of the drink will be 92 Kcal. But the most high-calorie and dangerous for the figure is considered to be cortado with condensed milk. So, 100 ml of drink contains more than 100 Kcal.
You can find out the calorie content of other types of coffee with milk and without sugar at this link.
What it is
The country leading in the amount of coffee consumed is Spain. People living in this country cannot imagine their life without coffee. Cortado was invented in a Madrid coffee shop. It is customary to serve it without stirring in a small glass glass. They drink it most often in the afternoon.
To diversify the taste of the drink, add a little dark chocolate, honey, sweet caramel or cream.
Cortado has several names. In Cuba it is called cortadito, in Portugal - pingo, and in the cities of France - noisette.
In theory
The main barista rule: the milk foam in the finished coffee drink should be elastic and free of bubbles, and the serving temperature should be such that the milk does not burn your mouth. As Dima Argutus, our barista, said, newcomers behind the bar should first of all know how milk foam is affected by the composition of milk:
- protein is responsible for the elasticity and texture of foam;
- fats affect the feel and texture of a milk drink;
- Carbohydrates add sweetness.
Barista tools for making cappuccino are the steam wand of the coffee machine, which whips up the foam and simultaneously heats the milk, and the pitcher (milk jug). The latter is kept in the refrigerator to begin the process of frothing milk at a temperature of 4-5o C, bringing it to 60o C in the summer and 65o C in the cold season. Overheated milk “kills” the drink, so the heating of the pitcher is controlled by hand or using a thermometer. James Hoffman, in The World Atlas of Coffee, writes that the ideal temperature for milk and coffee is a subject of debate. But milk “irreversibly degrades” in taste and texture when heated above 68 degrees.
The whipping process itself is divided into two stages, “expansion” (during which the volume of foam increases) and “stirring” (when the milk is heated to the desired temperature). The same Hoffman describes the ideal milk foam as a “liquid marshmallow” - soft, thick and with a texture pleasant to drink. The sound of freshly whipped milk foam (called “micro-foam”) resembles the bursting of air bubbles in soda. In recommendations for milk, the author points out the obligatory freshness: the closer the expiration date, the less stable the foam will be.
