Café Cubano
Cafecitoka-feh-SEE-toh
The first few drops of espresso whipped hard with sugar into a pale paste, then the rest of the shot stirred in. That paste is the espuma, and it is the same trick as dalgona coffee, running about sixty years earlier.
At a glance
- Sugar : first pour
- 1:1
- Active time
- 6 min
- Total time
- 6 min
- Makes
- 4 demitasse
- Serve
- Hot, in small cups
- Kit
- Moka pot
Ingredients
Note: Everything depends on catching the first few drops out of the pot. Stand over it. If you walk away you will miss the window and you cannot get it back.
Method
-
Put the sugar in the cup you will serve from
Measure the sugar into a small heatproof jug or cup before the coffee starts. You will have about ten seconds to work later, and measuring sugar is not something you want to be doing then.
-
Catch the first drops
Start the moka pot on a medium heat and watch it. The moment the first dark drops come through, take about a tablespoon of them and pour that straight onto the sugar. Then put the pot back and let it finish.
Those first drops are the most concentrated coffee the pot will produce, and they are what the espuma is built from.
-
Beat it to a pale paste
Beat the sugar and that spoonful of coffee hard with a spoon. It starts as wet dark sand, then loosens, and after a minute or so it turns into a pale tan paste that holds a trail when you drag the spoon through it.
This is arm work. A minute of serious beating, not thirty seconds of stirring.
Beat 60 to 90 seconds -
Pour the rest in and serve
When the pot has finished, pour the remaining coffee slowly into the espuma and stir gently to combine. The foam lifts to the surface as a thick tan head. Serve in demitasse cups, and a cup each is plenty.
Why this works
The espuma is a sugar foam, and it forms for exactly the same reason dalgona coffee does. Beating a small amount of very concentrated hot coffee into a large amount of sugar dissolves the sugar into a thick syrup, and that syrup is viscous enough to trap the air you are driving in with the spoon. The coffee solids give it colour and stop it tasting of nothing. Try it with a full cup of coffee instead of a spoonful and nothing happens: the mixture is too dilute to hold any air at all.
So the ratio that matters is not coffee to water, it is sugar to that first pour. Roughly equal volumes is the target. Three tablespoons of sugar to about one tablespoon of liquid looks wrong written down and is right in practice.
The first drops specifically, rather than any coffee, because a moka pot's output gets progressively weaker as it runs. The opening drops carry the highest concentration of dissolved solids, which means more body and more flavour per drop of liquid. That concentration is what lets a tablespoon of it carry three tablespoons of sugar.
It is worth saying plainly that this technique predates the 2020 dalgona boom by decades, and the Greek frappé by a little too. Cuban bars were doing it in the mid twentieth century, and the mechanism is identical: sugar, a small amount of liquid, and a lot of agitation.
Once you can make a cafecito you can make the rest of the family. A cortadito is this with steamed milk poured in. A colada is a large one, poured out into little plastic cups and handed round, which is how it is drunk at a Miami window counter at eleven in the morning.
Variations
- Cortadito: top with an equal measure of steamed milk, served in a slightly larger cup.
- Colada: make a double batch and serve in small plastic cups to share. Not a drink for one.
- Café con leche: a shot of this in a mug of hot milk, which is breakfast rather than a pick-me-up.
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Questions
Why is my espuma not going pale?
Either you used too much coffee for the sugar, or you have not beaten it long enough. It takes a full minute of hard work and it stays dark and sludgy for most of that before turning suddenly.
Can I use an espresso machine instead of a moka pot?
Yes. Catch the first few drops of the shot the same way. A moka pot is traditional and cheaper, but the technique is identical.
Is three tablespoons of sugar really right?
For a traditional cafecito, yes. It is a very sweet drink served in very small cups. Two tablespoons still foams if you want it less sweet; below that the espuma stops forming.
Is this the same as dalgona coffee?
The mechanism is identical: sugar plus a little liquid plus hard beating. Dalgona uses instant coffee and water and is served over cold milk. Cafecito uses real espresso and is served hot. Cuba got there first by some decades.