What is coffee cortado, recipes, serving

Features of preparing cortado

At the moment, it is the people of Spain who drink the most coffee. Spaniards can enjoy coffee drinks for several hours. The first coffee shop was opened in this country even before the First World War began.

Nowadays there are a large number of coffee shops in Spain, as well as coffee drinks themselves. Cortado is considered the most favorite. This drink was invented in Madrid. It is prepared on the basis of espresso and baked milk. Coffee beans must be well roasted; it is better to take Kenyan varieties.

The drink should look as if it was divided into two parts: dark and light. The coffee lives up to its name. Cortado means "to cut" in Spanish. In addition to milk, caramel, chocolate or cream are often added to the drink.

It is best to brew coffee over an open fire. To do this you will need a Turk or a saucepan. The coffee is brought to a boil at least three or four times. As soon as the foam rises, the Turk must be removed from the stove, wait a few minutes, and then put back on the fire. In this case, the cortado will turn out rich. Baked milk must be whipped only by hand, while warm. If you use a mixer, you will get lumps instead of a delicate foam.

Differences from other coffee drinks

It is also worth considering how cortado coffee differs from other coffee-based milk drinks. So:

• Unlike cappuccinos and lattes, preparing coffee cortado involves adding milk in a 1:1 ratio - this is much more than for other similar coffee cocktails.
• Mochaccino differs from cortado by adding hot chocolate to the drink.
• Cortado differs from regular espresso, as well as from its variations, such as, for example, espresso Romano, in that baked milk, as well as sugar or honey, are added to this drink.

There are other coffee cocktails that are less known to the average Russian citizen, for example, the Portuguese gallon. However, it is not too similar to a cortado in its proportions: very few coffee beans are used for a gallon, and almost three times as much milk.

How would you describe the taste of cortado?

Cortado has a delicate melted honey taste. Creamy notes give way to a characteristic coffee bitterness. If the beans are poorly roasted, then the coffee will turn out weak and tasteless. If the grind is coarse, the drink will not be strong.

If you add cream to the cortado, then the coffee will taste too rich and milky, and the drink itself will become too high in calories. Condensed milk will make the cortado sweet, so this recipe is suitable for those with a special sweet tooth.

When it comes to coffee beans, it is best to grind them yourself rather than buying ground coffee.

What determines the taste of coffee?

A real cortado should have a rich honey, truly delicate, melted taste. Ideally, it turns out layered: creamy, milky, sweet aftertaste, replaced by coffee bitterness.

In order for the cortado to turn out, it is necessary to use only high-quality roasted and freshly ground coffee beans.

If the grains are not roasted enough, the taste of the drink will be weak and unpleasant, and if the grind is coarser than necessary, the strength will suffer.

You should not use ready-made ground coffee to prepare cortado. It is better to buy coffee beans and grind them yourself. Baked milk must be fresh.

Many coffee lovers note that it is baked milk that gives cortado a strong, sweet, milky taste with a delicate aroma .

Some people prefer to add cream to the drink, which gives it additional calories and a rich milky taste.

For those with a real sweet tooth, we recommend including condensed milk in the cortado recipe. This will give the drink a very sweet, cloying taste that may not suit everyone.

Preparing Spanish coffee cortado

1. Heat the glass with steam or pour boiling water over it.
2. Pour hot espresso (50 ml).
3. Add a teaspoon of sugar.
4. Take a separate container and beat 50 ml of baked milk. The foam should be soft.
5. Pour the milk into the coffee in a thin stream.
6. Decorate the top with foam that will remain in the container.
7. You can't mix it.

Baked milk can be made at home:

1. Pour milk into a clay dish and add sour cream to it. The proportions are five to one.
2. Place the milk and sour cream in the oven.
3. Simmer for one to two hours at a temperature of eighty degrees.
4. Wrap in a towel and keep in a warm place for several hours.

Once the milk has cooled, you can whisk it and add it to your coffee.

History of the drink

Initially, the recipe for cortado coffee was prepared in a Turk, adding baked milk to it. The name translates as “cut” - most likely due to the separation of the layers, since the drink cannot be mixed before serving.

How does cortado differ from other milk-coffee drinks? First of all, the specific taste of milk simmering for a long time in the oven. Sometimes you can find it in the store, but the popularity of this product is low, so it is difficult to buy. All that remains is to cook at home, which is not very difficult technologically.

The second difference is the volume of the milk component and the presence of additional ingredients, for example, chocolate in the macchiato.

A latte or cappuccino uses whipped milk mixture in different proportions. In a cortado, according to the classic recipe, you don’t need to beat anything.

What is the benefit

For people who are watching their figure, cortado coffee without sugar will not add extra calories. There are very few of them in grains; in milk, calories are formed due to carbohydrates, which are also not many. Those who follow a diet according to the glycemic index can safely drink this drink, but without sugar, so as not to cause a sharp jump in blood levels and not to force the pancreas to work for wear.

Milk contains calcium, which is useful to consume with coffee drinks to avoid bone diseases. It softens the bitterness of heavily roasted beans, making the coffee smoother.

The combination of components in cortado coffee has a positive effect on the liver and intestines, helping the gastrointestinal tract get rid of toxins.

How to drink cortado correctly?

It is advisable to enjoy cortado after lunch. The Spaniards drink it even in the late afternoon. Despite the fact that this drink is delicate and soft, it can invigorate to some extent. People suffering from hypertension have no contraindications to this coffee.

Cortado is served in a small thick glass glass on a porcelain saucer. With a small spoon and a packet of sugar. Thanks to hot baked milk, rich espresso does not seem strong and bitter.

In France, this drink is usually served with cold milk with the addition of chocolate chips or even nuts.

Calorie content of the drink

Cortado based on 4% baked milk without added sugar in one 100 ml serving contains only 42 Kcal, and with sugar – already 65 Kcal.

The same drink, but prepared using skim or low-fat milk, will include 22 Kcal per 100 ml.

If cream with a fat content of up to 20% is added to the cortado with sugar, then the calorie content of the drink will be 92 Kcal. But the most high-calorie and dangerous for the figure is considered to be cortado with condensed milk. So, 100 ml of drink contains more than 100 Kcal.

You can find out the calorie content of other types of coffee with milk and without sugar at this link.

How to do?

To prepare coffee cortado at home, you need the following ingredients:

• two teaspoons of freshly ground coffee (finely ground);
• a teaspoon of sugar;
• 100 ml milk;
• 20 ml sour cream;
• 150 g of water.

Preparing the cortado:

1. Pour milk into a clay pot, put sour cream in it and place in the oven, preheated to 80 °C for two hours. The mixture should not boil.
2. Wrap a clay pot with milk and place it in a warm place for three hours. Making baked milk at home is not an easy process, but it turns out much tastier than store-bought milk.
3. Brew espresso from ground coffee and water. You can do this in a Turk or a coffee maker, at your discretion. If it is cooked in a Turkish pot, you need to bring it to a boil several times, this is the only way to get a flavorful drink.
4. When the espresso is ready, pour it into a glass, which should first be warmed well.
5. Whip the baked milk. This is done using a regular whisk or blender. But it’s best if the coffee machine has such a function.
6. When the milk is foamed, spread the foam onto the surface. This must be done very carefully, avoiding mixing of layers. If you follow these recommendations, you will get real cortado coffee (photos are presented in the article). You can see that it seems to be cut into two layers - dark at the bottom and light at the top.

What is a "cortado"?

The name of the drink comes from the word “cortado”, which is translated from Spanish and Portuguese as “cut, chopped, sawn, cut off.” When applied to coffee, this term means a shot of espresso, “cut” with an equal or slightly larger portion of hot milk. This drink also has names in other languages: “tallat” in Catalan, “pingo” or “garoto” in Portuguese, “noisette” in French.

Usually served in small cups with little or no foam. If we take into account the modern tendency to consume drinks, including coffee, in ever-increasing volumes, one can understand why this particular type is not particularly common outside of Spanish-Portuguese-speaking countries. Cortado accounts for only some 90-120 ml, and this reliably excludes it from the list of establishments with high traffic.

But, judging by the reviews of Arabica and Robusta lovers, the drink also has its own advantages, which can easily put it on par with a deliciously foamy cappuccino and super milky latte, despite its modest volume. Firstly, thanks to the small portion, you can afford to drink coffee several times a day and not be afraid to overdo it. Secondly, the equality of espresso and milk allows you to better feel the taste of coffee without interrupting it, which cannot be said about the same lat, for example. This drink will appeal to those people who cannot imagine coffee without milk.

Secrets of creating a real cortado

A cup of cortado in a coffee shop is quite expensive, so if you want to enjoy its taste and at the same time save a couple of hundred rubles, then create it yourself, and the following recommendations will not be superfluous.

• To prepare a tasty and aromatic cortado, you must use freshly ground, high-quality, well-roasted coffee beans of the Kenya, Tanzania or Santa Domingo varieties. It is unlikely that you will be able to brew an excellent drink from coffee powder, which, among other things, was stored in the wrong conditions; moreover, the finished coffee will most likely smell of rottenness and mold;
• The original cortado is made from baked milk, thanks to this ingredient the drink acquires a soft, sweetish taste. However, if you want to enjoy a richer cocktail, add cream. Some even put condensed milk in the cup, but we warn you - only those with a sweet tooth will like this coffee, as it turns out to be sugary;
• It is recommended to serve cortado in a 200 ml glass glass. Sugar is served separately in a bag.

How to serve and drink correctly

It is customary to drink the drink in the afternoon. It is served in 200 ml glass glasses. They are placed on the table on porcelain saucers. Packaged sugar and a spoon are served separately.

Before pouring the cocktail, the glass must be warmed up - doused with steam or hot water.

Cortado is an incredibly delicate drink that has won the hearts of a considerable number of coffee lovers. Understanding the intricacies of its preparation will not be difficult. To make such a cocktail yourself, it is enough to adhere to the proportions indicated in the recipe and strictly follow the sequence of actions.