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

To help more people who can't stomach bitterness enjoy espresso, baristas have long gotten creative, stirring whatever ingredients they had on hand — milk, chocolate, anything that softens the bite — into their coffee. From that spirit of improvisation, a whole family of specialty espresso drinks was born.

Today, FrontStreet Coffee wants to share one of the more obscure members of that family. Its ingredients, though, will be instantly familiar: espresso, milk foam, and chocolate sauce or cocoa powder. Sound familiar?

That's right — it's closely related to the mocha, which we've covered many times here. Yet its flavor and texture are completely different from a mocha. Meet the Caffè Marocchino!

The Origin and Meaning of Caffè Marocchino

In Italian, "Marocchino" means "Moroccan," so a literal reading gives you "Moroccan coffee." In practice, most people use the transliteration "Marocchino," because "Moroccan coffee" is easily confused with Morocco's own spiced coffee specialty. And although the drink is named after Morocco, it wasn't born there — it comes from Italy, the birthplace of espresso. The name comes from the color: it closely resembles a famous Moroccan product.

The Historical Origins

According to what FrontStreet Coffee has been able to piece together, the Caffè Marocchino dates back to the mid-20th century and was developed by a barista at Bar Carpano in Alessandria, a province on the edge of Piedmont, Italy. The bar sat near a factory run by Borsalino, so its regulars were mostly Borsalino employees. For those who don't know the name: Borsalino is a historic Italian luxury hatmaker, world-famous for its craftsmanship and its iconic custom fedoras — a hat that became a global sensation, in part thanks to the silver screen.

Humphrey Bogart wearing a fedora in the 1942 film "Casablanca" was one of the moments that cemented the hat's fame. Why does this matter? Because some Borsalino hats are trimmed with brown leather called "Morocco" leather. As we said at the start, not everyone can take straight espresso, so to accommodate the bitter-averse, the barista at Bar Carpano folded chocolate into the coffee and topped it with milk foam, creating a rich Italian coffee that went down easy. Then, finished with a dusting of cocoa powder whose color matched the Morocco leather trim on Borsalino hats, the drink got its name: Caffè Marocchino. (Another telling of the story says the Carpano barista was inspired by those Morocco leather strips and deliberately set out to create a drink to match.)

Marocchino vs. Mocha

Though Marocchino and mocha share similar ingredients, they are entirely different drinks. A mocha builds on espresso with a large amount of milk and chocolate sauce; it comes in a relatively large cup and has almost no perceptible bitterness.

The Marocchino, by contrast, is tiny — it's traditionally served in a small cup of around 60ml. Its components are simply espresso, milk foam, and cocoa powder. Think of it as a macchiato with extra foam and cocoa: a concentrated, intense coffee experience rather than a milky dessert. You'll find it on nearly every café menu in Italy, where it's genuinely popular — though be aware that in different regions it may go by different names and be assembled slightly differently.

Recipe and Preparation

Here's a fairly common way to make a Caffè Marocchino at home:

The ingredient list is short: a double espresso, milk foam, and cocoa powder (if yours is unsweetened, add a little sugar too), plus a small cup of about 60ml. Start by sprinkling a layer of cocoa powder into the cup — and if the cocoa is unsweetened, a tiny pinch of sugar goes in as well, just enough to take the edge off.

Then pull the espresso. FrontStreet Coffee used our house Warm Sun Blend, with a recipe of 20g of grounds yielding 40ml of espresso in 30 seconds. While the shot runs, froth your milk — the denser the foam, the better. When the shot is done, pour it straight into the prepared cup.

Next, scoop the fresh milk foam with a small spoon and lay it over the espresso until the cup is full. (Don't be tempted to use a bigger cup — you'll lose the intensity that makes the drink work in one sip.)

Finally, dust another layer of cocoa powder over the foam, and your Caffè Marocchino is done!

Tasting Experience and Final Thoughts

Taken in one generous sip, you first get the aroma of the cocoa on top, then the dense texture of the foam, and then the drink flips into the rich, full-bodied espresso beneath. The layers are strikingly distinct. Because cocoa pairs so naturally with our Warm Sun Blend, the coffee's own flavors come through even more clearly — whiskey, chocolate, butter cookies, and a touch of berry. All in all, a very good cup. That said, if bitterness isn't your friend, FrontStreet Coffee suggests sweetening more generously, swapping the cocoa powder for chocolate sauce, or replacing the milk foam with cream: foam and a pinch of sugar only dilute the bitterness; they don't change it. For the bitter-averse, this is still a boldly assertive little drink.

FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

A Marocchino is only as good as the espresso behind it. From our espresso lineup, here are three beans that stand up beautifully to chocolate and cocoa:

FrontStreet Classic Blend — Built on the traditional Mamba (Mandheling + Brazil) recipe, made for espresso and moka pot brewing. It produces exceptionally thick, velvety crema and a mellow, full-bodied cup that even beginners can extract easily on basic home machines — the backbone of good lattes and cappuccinos.

FrontStreet Black Cocoa Blend — 100% Arabica, blending Yunnan small-bean coffee's ripe-plum acidity with cream-and-chocolate aromatics in the grounds. Balanced and highly versatile, it works for Americanos and lattes as well as coffee specials, with strong crema and a friendly price.

FrontStreet Natural Hambela SOE (Ethiopia, natural, medium roast) — Grown at up to 2,300 meters in Guji, this single origin keeps its elegant florals while picking up caramelization in the roast. As an espresso, it delivers cream, cocoa, berries, delicate florals, and black tea — a fruit-forward twist on the classic Marocchino.