Raf Coffee
Раф кофеraff koh-feh
Espresso, cream and vanilla sugar steamed together as one liquid rather than layered. It was invented in a Moscow coffee bar in 1996 for a regular named Rafael who did not like anything on the menu.
At a glance
- Espresso : cream
- 1:3
- Active time
- 5 min
- Total time
- 5 min
- Makes
- 1 cup
- Serve
- Hot, no foam
- Kit
- Steam wand
Ingredients
Note: Everything goes into the pitcher cold, before any heat. That is the whole trick, and it is the step most recipes get wrong.
Method
-
Combine everything cold
Pull the espresso straight into a steaming pitcher, then add the cream and the vanilla sugar. Stir once.
Do not steam the cream separately and pour the shot in afterwards. That makes a flat latte with cream in it, which is a different and worse drink.
-
Steam it as one liquid
Bury the steam wand deep, well under the surface, and heat the whole mixture to about 65°C. You are heating, not texturing: there should be no hiss of air and no visible bubbles at any point.
If you hear the tearing sound that makes microfoam, the wand is too shallow. Drop it lower.
Steam about 40 seconds -
Pour and stop
Pour straight into a warmed cup from low down. There is no latte art to attempt here, and attempting it means you aerated it when you should not have. The surface should look like single cream, flat and slightly glossy.
Why this works
The fat percentage is doing the work, and 10 to 12 percent is a narrow window. Below about 10 the proteins have too little fat around them and the mixture can break when it hits 60°C, leaving you with grainy coffee. Above about 20 you are into whipping territory, where agitation builds a foam you do not want. Single cream, sometimes sold as coffee cream, sits in the right place.
Dissolving the sugar before heating matters more than it sounds. Sugar in solution raises the boiling point slightly and gets between the cream proteins, which slows them binding to each other. That is the same reason a custard with sugar in it is harder to scramble than one without. Add the sugar at the end and you lose that protection at exactly the moment the drink is hottest.
Steaming everything together rather than in layers is what makes raf its own drink rather than a latte variant. The espresso's acids are buffered by the cream from the first second of heating, so the finished cup tastes rounder and less sharp than the same ingredients combined afterwards. Pour a shot into hot cream and you can taste the difference immediately.
On the history, because it explains the proportions rather than just decorating them. Coffee Bean on Kuznetsky Most in Moscow had a regular called Rafael who disliked every milk drink they served. The baristas improvised this for him around 1996. Other customers started asking for "Rafael's coffee", it got shortened to raf, and it spread across Russian cafes from there. It was built to please one specific person, which is why it is sweeter and softer than anything in the Italian canon.
Variations
- Lavender raf: a pinch of culinary lavender steamed in with the rest, strained on the way out.
- Citrus raf: a strip of orange peel in the pitcher, removed before pouring.
- Honey raf: swap the sugar for a teaspoon of runny honey, added cold.
- Cheese raf: a tablespoon of soft cream cheese blended in first. Strange on paper, very good in the cup.
Made it?
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Questions
Why is there no foam on it?
Because it is not a milk drink with coffee under it. Raf is one liquid steamed together, so the surface should be flat and glossy like warm cream. Foam means you held the wand too near the surface and let air in.
Can I use milk instead of cream?
You can, and you will have made a sweet vanilla latte. It is pleasant, but the texture that makes raf worth the trouble comes entirely from the fat in the cream.
What if I have no steam wand?
Heat the mixture gently in a small pan to about 65°C, stirring, and stop before it simmers. You lose a little of the silkiness but the drink works. A milk frother that heats will also do it.
My raf went grainy. What happened?
Either the cream was too low in fat, or it got too hot. Past about 70°C the proteins tighten and squeeze out water, which reads as grain on the tongue. Pull it off sooner.
Who was Rafael?
A regular at a Moscow coffee bar in the mid-nineties who did not like any of the milk drinks they served. The baristas made this for him, other customers asked for the same, and the name stuck in shortened form.