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The Coffee 100 · make it at home

An Italian cappuccino, the morning-only classic

5 min · 1 cup (about 150 ml)

In Italy it's a breakfast drink, before 11, with a cornetto: one espresso, steamed milk and a thick, velvety foam, in a small cup. The bars on the chart have made it the same way for a century.

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The real one

You need

• 7 to 9 g espresso beans for a single shot (Italian bars use a single; use 18 g for a double if you like it stronger)
• 100 ml (scant 1/2 cup) cold whole milk
• A 150 to 160 ml cup, warmed

How to make it

1. Shot (25 sec): Pull a single espresso, about 25 to 30 ml, into the warm cup.
2. Stretch the milk (5 to 8 sec): With the steam wand just under the surface, let air in until the milk grows by about a third. More than a flat white, less than a dry foam.
3. Spin (15 sec): Sink the tip to whirl the milk until the foam is fine and shiny and the pitcher is hot to the touch, about 60 to 65°C.
4. Pour (10 sec): Tap and swirl the pitcher, then pour into the centre of the shot, letting the foam come out at the end to dome just over the rim. You want roughly equal thirds of coffee, milk and foam.
5. Serve: With a cornetto, standing at the counter. A dusting of cocoa is a tourist habit in Italy but nobody will stop you.

Tips

• Order it after lunch in Italy and you'll get a look. After a meal it's an espresso.
• Trieste names it differently: there, a 'capo in b' is an espresso macchiato in a glass, and a cappuccino is called a 'caffelatte'.
• Whole milk makes the most stable foam; skim makes more foam but it's dry and stiff.

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