What Is a Cortado? How to Make One at Home?

Your journey around the world of coffee can lead you to wonderful places, although navigating the coffee community can be a tricky business. Some drinks may be too bold, gritty, and strong while others can be too plain, cold, or even too sweet.

If you choose to explore coffee you will undoubtedly choose one of the espresso-based drinks sooner or later. Believe me, there is plenty to choose from. People like to start with a cappuccino, latte, macchiato, or an americano, but if you dive down the coffee rabbit hole it may lead you to a Spanish drink known as the cortado.

What Is a Cortado?

In simple terms, a cortado is half espresso and half warm milk. I love it when coffee is that simple to explain. Sometimes being that plain doesn’t make for a good read but there is no reason to dress it up any further. The cool name of the coffee originated from the Spanish word cortar, which translates to cut. I think you can fill in the blanks here. Basically, the cortado is a coffee cut with warm milk.

Similar to the macchiato from Italy, and the noisette from France, the cortado was created to subdue the strong taste and kick energy from a regular shot of espresso. Even though each of the drinks has the same ingredients the amounts of milk do vary, meaning so does the taste.

How to Make A One at Home?

If you’ve ever made a coffee with milk before you are well equipped to handle the process of brewing a Cortado.

Unlike almost any other espresso drink, this one has equal parts coffee and milk.

I suggest starting with two shots of espresso brewed in your machine. Pour the espresso into a mug with an equal amount of warm milk. Voila, you have yourself a Cortado.

If two shots brewed too much coffee for your liking, try to make a Cortado with just one shot next time. If you cut down the coffee make sure to use less milk as well. How simple does that sound?

No complicated measuring, whipping, or frothing. Just plain old espresso mixed with milk.

How Does It Compare?

Even though the volume of milk in the cortado makes it a pleasure to sip, don’t underestimate the kick of energy you get from the coffee. You see, the espresso gives it a high level of caffeine, and as all coffee geeks will tell you, that matters.

Effectively regarded as the middle child between the cappuccino and macchiato our cortado is perfect for anyone who finds the cappuccino too milky and the macchiato too intense. The major difference in all three cups is the amount of milk added to each drink.

Summary

Cortado – Spanish espresso cut with milk. Half-and-half.

Milk – Usually mixed with warm milk but certain variations use concentrated milk.

Origin – Cortado comes from Spain where ‘cortar’ means to cut.

The cortado is a good choice for anyone who likes mild coffee. A simple espresso is strong with a big punch. Cappuccino and latte, on the other hand, have a lot of milk that completely subdues the espresso. With the cortado, you get the real coffee taste without the kick of a plain espresso.

Here we are at the end of your introduction to the cortado and I hope you have more answers than questions. You should try this coffee at least once to get a good idea of how much milk affects the final taste of your espresso. If you’re interested in other espresso-based drinks, I made a whole article going over the familiar favorites.