Birdie & Liebling

Let's talk about: Cuban Coffee

Hello again! I plan on continuing these little series of blog posts that features different methods of brewing some damn good coffee. My most favorite type of coffee is Cuban coffee or café con leche (coffee with milk). Seems pretty basic, and actually it is. So let's do this.

1. You'll need an espresso maker! They are pretty much sold everywhere, Target, Publix, etc. I got mine from Ikea!

2. Fill the bottom part with water, it typically has a little notch connected to the bottom and that tells you where the water level should be.

3. As pictured above, once you're done with the water simply place that weird little part that I'm sure has a name but I clearly don't know what it is, back on top of the water. Once you're done with that, put the coffee grinds in it! Pat the grinds down so it's all compact.

4. So far, it looks like this ^^^

5. After these steps, screw the top half of the espresso maker back on and place it on the stove on medium or high.

I wrote down all the steps in my field notes. God bless Aaron Draplin.

6. So here's the hardest part of the process. To make a nice little foam on the top of your coffee, it requires some muscle! Stay with me here. In a measuring cup, pour about two to three tablespoons of sugar in it. Alright, seriously stay with me...while your coffee is brewing, you will hear it start to make a sort of rumbling sound. It's really crucial that you stand by it because when it starts to pour out the first few drops of espresso, you need to pour it into the sugar. Ok maybe not drops, but a good splash! See pictures below if you're having a hard time following.

7. Once you've poured the espresso into the sugar. You have to get a spoon and beat the living crap out of it. You want it to have a sort of grainy, sticky consistency, and it's best to beat it like you would using a whisk. Circular motions, but really fast for at least a minute. It'll look like this:

8. You've made it this far! Congrats. So the hardest part is over. Once you're done beating the sugar and espresso together, leave it alone. You want the rest of the coffee to finish brewing. It basically stops automatically and it should fill the rest of your espresso maker. It's going to smell so good.

9. Once the coffee is done brewing, pour it into the same measuring cup or container as your sugar!

10. Here's where you have some options! The espresso alone (pictured above) will be really sweet and bitter all at the same time. I don't recommend having a big cup of it, but it's more traditional to drink it in a little mug like the one pictured at the beginning of the post. The other option is to estimate how many cups of coffee you want to make, and heat up milk in the microwave or on the stove. I can't truly tell you the ratio of espresso to milk, that's more of a personal call. If I'm drinking my coffee with milk, I usually heat up one cup of milk and pour enough espresso into it to where my coffee is a light brown color. Essentially it's up to you!

I hope this all made sense and here's to making a really mean cup of Cuban coffee friends.