Marocchino
Caffè marocchinoma-ro-KEE-no
A small glass of espresso layered with cocoa and a thick cap of milk foam, bitter chocolate first and soft milk last. It is not a mocha. There is far less milk, no sugar, and the cocoa stays as a dusting rather than being stirred in.
At a glance
- Espresso : milk foam
- 1:1
- Active time
- 2 min
- Total time
- 4 min
- Makes
- 1 small glass
- Serve
- Hot, in a glass
- Kit
- Espresso machine
Ingredients
Note: Many bars line the glass with a spoon of chocolate sauce or melted dark chocolate instead of dry cocoa. That is the richer version and arguably closer to Alessandria.
Method
-
Cocoa in the glass
Dust half the cocoa into a small warmed glass and tilt it so some clings to the inside walls.
The coffee hitting dry cocoa blooms it, so the bitter chocolate note is there from the first sip.
-
Espresso over it
Pull a single espresso straight into the glass.
25 to 30 seconds -
Foam, not milk
Steam the milk with plenty of air to a thick, stiff foam. Spoon or pour it on so the glass is mostly coffee and foam, with very little liquid milk.
The drink should be about half foam by volume.
-
Cocoa on top
Dust the rest of the cocoa over the foam and serve. Do not stir it. You drink through the layers.
Why this works
A marocchino is built around contrast rather than blending. Cocoa without sugar is intensely bitter, espresso is bitter and acidic, and milk foam is soft and sweet-tasting. Layered, each sip moves from foam to coffee to the chocolate clinging to the glass. Stirred, it becomes a small, unsweetened mocha, which is a perfectly good drink but not this one.
Dutch process cocoa suits it better than natural. Alkalising lowers the cocoa's acidity and darkens it, so it reads as rounder chocolate against espresso's own acidity rather than doubling it. Hot espresso landing on the dry powder blooms it, hydrating the cocoa solids so their flavour opens up in a way a cold dusting never does.
The foam is mostly air for a reason. A dense, dry foam sits on top of the espresso without sinking, so the layers last until the end of the glass. A wet, liquid milk would sink through the coffee and give you a little cocoa latte.
The drink comes from Alessandria in Piedmont, and the usual story is that it was named after a shade of brown leather called marocchino, used for the hatbands at the city's famous Borsalino hat factory. The colour of the drink matched the leather. Whether that is literally true, the drink is genuinely Piedmontese and is rarely ordered by name south of Milan. It belongs in the same family as Turin's bicerin, which takes the idea of coffee, chocolate and cream in a glass much further.
Variations
- With chocolate sauce: a spoon of melted dark chocolate in the glass instead of cocoa. Richer.
- With Nutella: a thin smear of hazelnut spread inside the glass, a modern bar version.
- Marocchino freddo: espresso shaken with ice and cocoa, topped with cold foam, served in summer.
- With cream: whipped cream instead of milk foam, which pushes it towards a bicerin.
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Questions
What is the difference between a marocchino and a mocha?
A marocchino is small, unsweetened and layered, with cocoa dusted rather than stirred in and mostly foam rather than milk. A mocha is a larger, sweet latte with chocolate mixed through it.
Where does the name marocchino come from?
The usual explanation is the colour of a brown leather called marocchino, used in the hatbands at the Borsalino factory in Alessandria, where the drink comes from.
Is a marocchino sweet?
Not as it is traditionally made. The cocoa is unsweetened. Sugar is on the bar if you want it, and bars that use chocolate sauce make it sweeter.
How big is a marocchino?
Small, around 100 ml in total, served in a glass rather than a cup.