bodum-macchiato
Originally uploaded by minhi.

Normally when I make an espresso drink I pull a double shot of espresso–which is 2-2.5 oz of espresso. In a demi-tasse you can get 2-3 oz of liquid. The proper recipe for a macchiato is:

1 part espresso
.5 part steamed milk
.5 part foamed milk

so for a 2oz double espresso you need 1oz of steamed milk and 1 oz of foamed milk. Obviously those 4oz will not fit in a espresso demi-tasse. So what to do?

You can pull a ristretto which is 1.5oz-2oz which evens up the ratio a little bit. But I think you waste coffee pulling ristrettos, especially if you’re going to mix it with milk which hides some brewing errors.

No, I just split the double into two cups and make two drinks. If you pull 2.5oz into two cups then a demi-tasse is just enough volume. Of course then you have to froth 1oz of milk into 2oz of steamed + frothed, it’s a little difficult to froth so little milk.

I just opened this bag of Caffe Fresco Ambrosia Espresso blend, I really like the coffee from Caffe Fresco, i’ll talk about them in the another post.

Yes, I feel a little wierd having two drinks at once, but there are times when i don’t want a straight espresso and a cappucino is too much milk. An espresso con panna (see back posts) is a good alternative too but it’s a little different from a macchiato. I have noticed that I can’t really drink latte’s anymore, they’re just too much milk. It puts me in a bad spot when i go out to marginal coffee shops. Their espresso is so bad that you have to get a milk drink to temper it (one of the reasons why drinks are so big at that big coffee chain) but most places cannot make a decent cappucino. Their foam is like bubble bath soap so it’s tasteless and nasty, but then their lattes tend to be so big. Sigh, maybe i’ll start drinking tea at coffee shops.