Melbourne Magic
A double ristretto with silky steamed milk in a small cup, about two thirds the size of a flat white. It is sweeter and more intense than either a flat white or a cortado, and it is the drink Melbourne baristas made for themselves before anyone put it on a menu.
At a glance
- Ristretto : milk
- 1:3
- Active time
- 2 min
- Total time
- 3 min
- Makes
- 1 small cup
- Serve
- Hot
- Kit
- Espresso machine
Ingredients
Note: The cup size defines the drink. In a larger cup with more milk, it is a flat white with a ristretto. In a smaller one, closer to a piccolo.
Method
-
Warm a 160 ml cup
Warm a small cup, around 160 ml, with hot water. The size is part of the recipe.
-
Pull a double ristretto
Dose 18 to 20 g, and stop the shot at around 30 to 35 ml, before it starts to blond. About 15 to 20 seconds.
The ristretto keeps the sweet, syrupy early part of the extraction and leaves out the thinner, more bitter tail.
15 to 20 seconds -
Texture the milk thin
Steam the milk to about 60°C with only a brief stretch, as for a flat white. You want a thin, glossy microfoam, almost paint.
Steam 15 seconds -
Pour and fill to the top
Pour the milk into the shot, finishing with a small heart or a simple dot. Fill the cup to the brim. The thin layer of foam is part of what makes it a magic rather than a cortado.
Why this works
A magic is built from two ideas Melbourne already had: the ristretto and the flat white. A ristretto stops the extraction early, keeping the concentrated, sweet, viscous first part of the shot where most of the body and the sugars are, and leaving out the later flow, which is thinner and brings more bitterness. Two of them, as a double ristretto, give a short, intense base with a lot of sweetness for its volume.
That base can take more milk than a single espresso without disappearing, but the cup is kept small so it does not get the chance to. At about three parts milk to one of coffee in a 160 ml cup, it lands between a cortado, which is close to one to one with almost no foam, and a flat white, which uses more milk in a larger cup. The result is stronger and sweeter than a flat white and silkier than a cortado.
The milk is textured exactly as for a flat white: a short stretch to add a little air, then a long spin to break it into microfoam too fine to see. Steamed to about 60°C, it is at its sweetest, which pairs naturally with a ristretto's sweetness.
The name and the drink are both Melbourne usage, and it is usually said to have started as what baristas made for themselves to taste the day's coffee in milk. It spread to café menus across the city in the 2000s and is still rarely seen outside it. Order a magic in Sydney and you may well get a blank look.
Variations
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Questions
What is a Melbourne magic coffee?
A double ristretto with silky steamed milk in a small cup of around 160 ml. It is stronger and sweeter than a flat white and silkier than a cortado.
What is the difference between a magic and a flat white?
A magic uses a double ristretto rather than a double espresso, and a smaller cup with less milk. It is stronger and sweeter. A flat white is larger and milder.
What is the difference between a magic and a piccolo?
A piccolo is usually a single ristretto or espresso in a very small glass of around 90 ml. A magic uses a double ristretto in a slightly larger cup.
Can I order a magic outside Melbourne?
Sometimes, at cafés run by Melbourne-trained baristas. Elsewhere, ask for a double ristretto with flat white milk in a small cup.