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The Coffee 100 · make it at home

Cuban cafecito with espumita, the Miami way

8 min · 4 to 6 thimble-size cups (a colada to share)

The fuel of Miami, from the ventanita at Versailles: dark espresso sweetened in the brewing, with a pale-gold sugar foam (espumita) whipped from the first drops of coffee.

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The real one

You need

• Finely ground dark Cuban-style espresso coffee (Café Bustelo or Pilon are classic), enough to fill a 3 or 6-cup moka pot basket
• Water to the moka pot's valve
• 4 tbsp (50 g) white sugar
• A small metal cup or jug and a spoon

How to make it

1. Brew (4 min): Fill the moka pot with water to just under the valve, fill the basket with coffee and level it without packing. Screw it together and set over medium heat with the lid open.
2. Catch the first drops (30 sec): Put the sugar in the metal jug. The moment the first dark coffee appears, pour about 1 to 2 teaspoons of it onto the sugar and put the pot back on the heat.
3. Whip the espumita (1 to 2 min): Beat the sugar and coffee hard with the spoon, pressing against the side, until it turns into a thick, pale, caramel-coloured paste like peanut butter. Add another few drops of coffee only if it's too dry to move.
4. Combine (30 sec): When the pot has finished (it gurgles), pour all the coffee slowly into the jug and stir gently. The foam rises to the top.
5. Serve: Pour into tiny cups or plastic thimble cups. A colada is the jug with a stack of cups, meant to be shared around the office.

Tips

• Take the pot off the heat as soon as it sputters, or the coffee burns.
• Cortadito: the same sweetened coffee cut with an equal amount of steamed milk. Café con leche: a shot with a big cup of hot milk, with buttered Cuban toast to dip.
• The paste is the secret, so don't rush it: thin espumita disappears; thick espumita lasts to the last sip.

Chef Amazing's own home version, in our words; not any café's recipe.