Let’s Discover Cafecito: The Sweet Cuban Coffee
We take you on a culinary journey to discover Miami’s best kept secret. Meet Cafecito coffee, the curiously strong and sweet brew that helps give the city its energy…
Coffee ice cream is one of the most popular flavors in the world, so when planning our starting lineup for this fall, we knew coffee flavor had to be one of them. But I wanted something that honored our home base in Miami. Fortunately, this caribbean-infused city has one of the most robust coffee cultures in the U.S. And the fuel that it runs on is a very rich, strong coffee called ‘cafecito’.
What is ‘Cafecito’?
Cafecito is a cuban preparation of coffee popular in Havana that arrived along with the Cuban immigration to the city (Cuban emigres are the largest share of the city’s population). “Cafecito” literally means ‘little coffee’ and is served in tiny portions. But don’t let that fool you, it’s very strong and many an unsuspecting tourist has ended up buzzed on the combination of concentrated caffeine and sugar.
Miami has one of the highest densities of coffeeshops per square mile in the U.S. (5.4, only bested by San Francisco!). And this isn’t counting the ‘ventanitas’ that grace almost every Cuban (and other Latin) restaurant! These are to-go walk-up coffee counter windows where you can buy the stuff, along with pastelitos (which is a whole other article!).
The Culture of Cafecito
When ordering at a ventanita, you need to know the two basic styles of cafecito: cortadito and colada. Cortadito is traditionally concentrated espresso whipped with sugar and condensed milk. Nowadays, you can find this concoction with whole milk instead of condensed. Colada is whipped with the sugar, but no milk. Whipped up in a small metal carafe, it’s usually presented in a little paper or plastic cup about the size of the sampler.
Here in Miami, we prize a rich espuma (the creamy foam that sits on the top of the rich, dark liquid) and crema (the creamy texture). The whipping part of the prep aerates the mix and creates both! If, like me, you are watching your sugar intake, you can ask for ‘sin azucar’ (no sugar) and whole milk rather than condensed… although you will likely get a sideways look because that isn’t the real-deal cafecito.
One reason for all the sugar? Cafecito commonly uses Robusta coffee beans, which has higher caffeine content than Arabica beans but at the cost of being a little more astringent and less sweet (for our Cafecito Coffee flavor, we cheated a little here and use arabica style beans to help maintain the no-sugar-added ice cream’s sweetness and let the ice cream itself serve as the condensed milk ). The most popular brand for cafecito beans is one that’s not very common outside the area: Cafe Bustelo. But of course, there is a new generation of coffeeshops that offer cafecito with artisan beans from all over the world, curated for flavor and grown under fair trade conditions.
Cafecito is woven deeply into the culture of Miami. At 3pm, in many offices, you can find a cafecito cart wheeled among the cubicles to offer the highly-caffeinated shots to employees. Part of this is culture, but one suspects it’s also a way to get workers past that 2pm-5pm productivity slide! And in lobbies of many buildings — from hospitals to office towers — you’ll see coffee carts vending cafecito.
In homes, cafecito is often brewed in a traditional Cuban coffee pot (a moka pot) and served on a platter with smaller demitasse style espresso cups for everyone to pour, share and drink.
I hope you’ve enjoyed this brief cultural tour of Miami’s coffee scene. If you feel inspired to try and make your own cortadito or colada, check out our quick recipe and guide here. We give you the skinny on both the traditional and some substitutions to create a “better-for-you” version. And also take a look at our rundown of our favorite ‘coffee culture’ cities in the USA here. Go ahead and continue your coffee journey. And to use a phrase that roughly means ‘get going!’ made popular by rapper Pitbull: ¡Dale!
