Café Mocha
Espresso, chocolate and steamed milk. Made with real chocolate melted into the hot shot it is a different drink from the syrup version, and it takes about ninety seconds longer.
At a glance
- Espresso : milk
- 1:5
- Active time
- 4 min
- Total time
- 6 min
- Makes
- 1 cup
- Serve
- In a 300 ml cup
- Kit
- Espresso machine
Ingredients
Note: Twenty grams of 70 percent chocolate carries about 7 g of sugar, so this is far less sweet than a syrup mocha. Add a teaspoon of sugar if you want the familiar version.
Method
-
Chocolate in the cup first
Chop the chocolate finely and put it in the bottom of the cup with the pinch of salt.
Fine matters. A chunk will not melt before the drink cools.
-
Pull the shot onto it
A double straight onto the chocolate. Thirty-six grams of liquid at around 70°C is enough to melt 20 g of chocolate if you help it along.
25 to 30 seconds -
Stir to a smooth paste
Work it with a spoon for twenty or thirty seconds until there are no lumps and the mixture is glossy and dark.
This step is the whole difference between a good mocha and a gritty one. Do it before the milk goes anywhere near the cup.
Stir 30 seconds -
Steam the milk and pour
Texture 200 ml as you would for a latte, a short burst of air then spun smooth to 60°C.
Pour it in from a height at first so it mixes with the chocolate, then drop low to float a little foam on top.
-
Dust with cocoa
A light dusting of Dutch process cocoa over the top. It is bitterer than the drink underneath, which is the point: it gives the first sip some edge.
Why this works
Melting real chocolate into the shot and pumping syrup into the cup produce genuinely different drinks, and the reason is cocoa butter. Chocolate is cocoa solids suspended in cocoa butter, which is a fat, and fat coats the tongue and carries aroma. Syrup is sugar, water and cocoa powder, with the fat removed. The syrup version is sweeter and thinner; the real one is richer, more bitter and has a weight that syrup cannot fake.
The order is not optional. Chocolate needs heat and agitation to disperse, and espresso straight from the group is the hottest liquid in the drink at around 70°C. Add the milk first and the mixture drops to 60°C and below, where the chocolate seizes into grains that settle at the bottom of the cup. Every gritty mocha is this mistake.
Salt earns its place. A pinch suppresses bitterness perception, so the cocoa reads as more chocolatey and less harsh without any extra sugar. It is the same trick good brownie recipes use.
The name is a geographical accident. Mokha was a Yemeni port that dominated the coffee trade for centuries, and the beans shipped from it were said to have a natural chocolatey note. The drink is named after the flavour comparison, not the other way round, so there is no chocolate in a Mocha bean.
Variations
- White mocha: white chocolate instead, which is a different drink again.
- Syrup version: 30 ml of chocolate sauce in place of the chocolate, stirred into the shot.
- Iced: build the chocolate and espresso base, cool it, then pour over ice and cold milk.
- Mint: a drop of peppermint extract with the chocolate.
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Questions
Chocolate or syrup?
Real chocolate gives a richer, less sweet drink because the cocoa butter stays in. Syrup is faster and sweeter. If you use chocolate, melt it into the espresso before the milk goes in or it will be gritty.
Why is my mocha gritty?
The chocolate was added to a drink that was already too cool, or it was not stirred long enough. Chop it fine, put it in the cup first, pull the shot onto it and stir for a full thirty seconds before adding milk.
Is a mochaccino the same thing?
Usually, yes. Some cafes use mochaccino for a version built like a cappuccino, with more foam and less milk, but the terms are used interchangeably in most places.
Is there chocolate in Mocha coffee beans?
No. Mokha was the Yemeni port those beans shipped from, and they were described as having a chocolatey character. The drink took its name from that comparison.