What is Caffè Marocchino? What is Moroccan Coffee? How to Make Chocolate Coffee?

To enable more people who cannot tolerate bitterness to enjoy the deliciousness of espresso coffee, baristas will creatively add various flavorings available around them that can dilute bitterness into the coffee, thereby neutralizing the strong bitter taste of coffee. Thus, various specialty coffees have emerged.

Today, FrontStreet Coffee wants to share a particularly niche existence among specialty espresso coffees! Although it's niche, FrontStreet Coffee believes that the combination of ingredients for making it is quite familiar to everyone: espresso, milk foam, and chocolate sauce/cocoa powder! How about that? Isn't it very familiar?

That's right! It shares similarities with the mocha coffee often featured in FrontStreet Coffee's articles, but its flavor and texture are completely different from mocha coffee. And this is the Caffè Marocchino mentioned in FrontStreet Coffee's title!

The Origin and Meaning of Caffè Marocchino

In Italian, "Marocchino" means "Moroccan," so its literal translation is "Moroccan coffee." However, most of the time, we prefer to call it "Marocchino Coffee," which is its transliterated name. This is because calling it Moroccan coffee can easily lead to confusion with Morocco's local specialty spiced coffee, creating misunderstandings. Although Caffè Marocchino is named after Morocco, it did not originate from Morocco but was born in Italy, the birthplace of espresso coffee. As for why it was named Moroccan coffee, it's because the color of this coffee is very similar to a specialty product from Morocco.

The Historical Origins

According to research conducted by FrontStreet Coffee, the origin of Caffè Marocchino can be traced back to the mid-20th century, developed by a barista at Bar Carpano in Alessandria, a province on the edge of Italy. Because this bar was located near a factory operated by Borsalino, most of the bar's regular customers were employees from the Borsalino factory. FrontStreet Coffee would like to briefly introduce Borsalino—it's a historic Italian luxury hat brand known worldwide for its exquisite craftsmanship and iconic designs, especially its custom fedoras, which became one of the world's most popular hats when worn by many Hollywood stars.

Humphrey Bogart wearing a fedora in the 1942 film "Casablanca," which he starred in, was one of the reasons fedoras became famous. So why did FrontStreet Coffee mention this? Because some Borsalino hats are sewn with brown leather strips called "Morocco." As FrontStreet Coffee explained at the beginning, not everyone can accept the strong bitter taste of espresso, so to accommodate those who cannot drink bitter espresso, the barista at Bar Carpano used chocolate as a flavoring integrated into the coffee, then added milk foam to create a rich-tasting Italian coffee that wasn't as bitter. Then, because this coffee would be sprinkled with a layer of cocoa powder on the surface at the end of preparation, and the color of the cocoa powder was very similar to the color of the Morocco leather strips on Borsalino hats, the Carpano barista named it Caffè Marocchino. (There's also a theory that the Carpano barista was inspired by the Morocco leather strips on Borsalino hats and specifically developed this drink)

Comparison with Mocha Coffee

Although Caffè Marocchino and mocha have similar ingredients, they are completely different beverages. Mocha coffee is based on espresso, then made with a large amount of milk and chocolate sauce. The cup size is relatively large, with almost no bitter taste.

The cup size of Caffè Marocchino is not that large; in fact, it's very small because the cup used to make Caffè Marocchino typically has a capacity of around 60ml. Its main components are espresso, milk foam, and cocoa powder. It can be said that it's based on a macchiato with more milk foam and cocoa powder added, making the coffee taste very rich. You can find it on almost all Italian café menus, where it's very popular locally. However, it's worth mentioning that Caffè Marocchino may have different names in different regions, and the preparation methods may also vary.

Recipe and Preparation

Next, FrontStreet Coffee will share with everyone a relatively common way to make Caffè Marocchino~

The ingredients needed for making Moroccan coffee are very simple: double espresso, milk foam, cocoa powder (if the cocoa powder is unsweetened, then additional sugar is needed), and an additional small cup of about 60ml. First, we sprinkle an appropriate amount of cocoa powder into the cup. If the cocoa powder is unsweetened, it's best to add a little extra sugar here (just a tiny bit to dilute the bitterness).

Then we extract the espresso! FrontStreet Coffee is still using the regular house blend, Warm Sun Blend, with extraction parameters of 20g of coffee grounds, extracting 40ml of coffee liquid in 30 seconds! During the espresso extraction process, we can conveniently froth the milk foam—the thicker the foam, the better. Once the espresso extraction is complete, we directly pour the espresso into the cup.

Next, we take out the freshly prepared milk foam, use a small spoon to scoop the foam and cover it over the espresso until the cup is full. (Definitely don't use too large a cup, or you won't taste the coffee in one sip).

Finally, we just sprinkle another layer of cocoa powder on the surface of the milk foam, and a Caffè Marocchino is complete!

Tasting Experience and Final Thoughts

With one big sip, FrontStreet Coffee first experienced the aroma of the surface cocoa powder, followed by the dense texture of the milk foam, and then it quickly switched to the rich-flavored, thick-textured espresso. The layers were very distinct and abundant! Because the flavor of cocoa powder pairs very well with FrontStreet Coffee's Warm Sun Blend, the coffee flavors were further highlighted. You can clearly perceive whiskey, chocolate, butter cookies, and some berry notes. Overall, it's quite good, but if friends cannot tolerate bitterness, FrontStreet Coffee suggests adding more sugar when making it, or replacing the cocoa powder with chocolate sauce/changing the milk foam to cream would be more appropriate. Because milk foam itself doesn't have much flavor, it and a small amount of sugar can only appropriately dilute the bitterness without changing the overall taste. For friends who dislike bitterness, this is still a very stimulating cup of coffee. Finally: Not available in stores~

Important Notice :

前街咖啡 FrontStreet Coffee has moved to new addredd:

FrontStreet Coffee Address: 315,Donghua East Road,GuangZhou

Tel:020 38364473