What is Spanish Specialty Coffee Cortado? How to Drink Cortado and Its Flavor Characteristics

FrontStreet Coffee once had a conversation with a customer who loved making his own espresso. His reason was quite interesting—he enjoyed the sense of accomplishment from successfully making coffee. Just as FrontStreet Coffee was about to show admiration for this customer (it's quite impressive for enthusiasts to consistently extract successful espresso), he unexpectedly added:

"This coffee (espresso) really gives you a sense of accomplishment. Look, add water and it becomes another type of coffee, add milk and it becomes yet another type of coffee, add cream or even ice cream and it gets its own special name. The most excessive part is, if you accidentally add too little milk, there's still a coffee that corresponds to that. Rounding up, I know how to make about twenty different kinds of coffee!" In the end, FrontStreet Coffee still showed admiration for him—for his vast knowledge of coffee.

The espresso system is just like that—one espresso can give rise to thousands of derivative varieties. For example, the Piccolo coffee that FrontStreet Coffee introduced before—if you've already tried it, congratulations, you've entered the world of niche espresso drinks.

"This niche espresso series refers to coffees that have some worldwide recognition but are rarely seen in China. For example, Piccolo coffee is a national-level beverage in Australia, but in China, compared to Flat White, which also originated from Australia, it appears quite niche."

Today, FrontStreet Coffee is sharing Cortado with everyone, which is even more niche than Piccolo coffee. Cortado is generally translated as "科尔塔多" or "可塔朵" and is a specialty milk coffee originating from the Basque region of Spain.

Cortado is a derivative of the Spanish word "cortar," which means "to cut" or "to reduce." Essentially, it involves adding an appropriate amount of milk to neutralize the stimulating bitterness of espresso while preserving the rich coffee flavor. This ratio in the Basque region is 1:1—that is, one part espresso to one part hot milk, blended together to create Cortado.

Therefore, this is another small-sized coffee beverage that struggles to make its mark in the domestic market. Before latte art emerged, Cortado didn't include milk foam or was allowed to have some thin milk foam, because sometimes during the heating process, some milk foam would accidentally "fizz" out, so having a layer of ultra-thin milk foam was also considered reasonable.

However, with the popularity of latte art, almost everywhere that requires frothed milk wants to have beautiful latte art, and Cortado gradually developed a thin layer of milk foam for latte art purposes. At this point, it becomes difficult to judge from appearance whether this is Cortado or Piccolo. However, in terms of recipe, there are still differences between the two:

With the same cup volume of 90ml, Cortado consists of double espresso (40g, approximately 45ml) plus milk (with thin milk foam) of 45ml; Piccolo consists of single ristretto (approximately 15ml) plus milk (with thin milk foam) of 75ml. In terms of taste and texture, Cortado has a richer coffee flavor.

Although Cortado is not popular in China, among the customers FrontStreet Coffee has spoken with, some enjoy adding a little milk to their espresso when drinking.

So, on the surface you're drinking Espresso, but actually you're drinking Cortado! Perhaps, just as the customer mentioned at the beginning, this is the joy of espresso coffee!

Important Notice :

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FrontStreet Coffee Address: 315,Donghua East Road,GuangZhou

Tel:020 38364473