Cortado facts for kids
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Cortado from Catalonia, Spain
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| Type | Hot |
|---|---|
| Country of origin | Spain |
| Color | shades of brown, white |
| Ingredients | espresso, milk |
A cortado is a popular coffee drink. It mixes espresso with a small amount of warm milk. The milk helps make the strong coffee taste a bit softer.
The milk in a cortado is steamed. But it's not foamy like the milk in a cappuccino. This drink comes from Spain, probably from the city of Madrid. The name cortado comes from the Spanish word cortar, which means "to cut". It's like the milk "cuts" or dilutes the strong coffee.
Contents
Coffee Drinks Like the Cortado
Many coffee drinks are similar to a cortado. They all mix coffee with milk in different ways.
Cortado vs. Other Coffee Drinks
In Spain, a café solo corto is a small black coffee. A café cortado is an espresso with a splash of milk. The word cortado itself often means coffee "cut" with milk.
- A macchiato (from Italy) has only a tiny bit of milk foam. It's just a "mark" of milk.
- A cappuccino has a lot of foamy milk on top.
- A flat white is also made with espresso and milk. But its milk is very smooth and creamy, called microfoam. This makes it a bit hotter and lighter than a cortado. It's more like a caffè latte.
The Cuban Cortadito
In Cuba, there is a special drink called a cortadito. It is a small espresso shot. But it's usually mixed with warm, sweetened condensed milk. This type of milk was easier to get in the past.
A cortadito is often served in a special glass. This glass usually has a metal ring base and a wire handle. There are some other versions too. For example, bombón is espresso with condensed milk. Leche y leche has condensed milk mixed in and a dollop of cream on top.
Cuban-Americans brought the cortadito to Miami, Florida, in the 1960s. Now, you can find it all over the city. It's an important part of daily life there, especially for Cubans. But remember, a cortadito is different from Cuban-style coffee. Cuban-style coffee has sugar added to the coffee itself, not just milk.
Piccolo Latte and Galão
In Australia, a similar small drink is called a piccolo latte. Or just a piccolo. It's a single ristretto shot (a very short espresso) in a small glass. Then it's filled with steamed milk, like a latte.
A larger drink popular in Portugal is the galão. It uses one part coffee to three parts milk. It is similar to both cortados and manchados.
Other Names for Cortado
The name for this type of coffee can change depending on where you are.
- In Catalan (a language in Spain), it's called tallat.
- In Basque (another language in Spain), it's ebaki.
- In Portuguese, it can be pingado or garoto.
- In the East Coast of the United States, it's usually called a cortado.
- In the Czech Republic, Costa Coffee sells it as corto classic.
The Gibraltar
The name gibraltar started in San Francisco, California. Coffee shops there, like Blue Bottle Coffee Company and Ritual Coffee Roasters, began serving a cortado in a specific glass. This glass is made by Libbey Glass Company and is also called a "Gibraltar" glass.
A Gibraltar glass holds about 4.5 ounces (133 mL). A gibraltar coffee drink uses a double espresso shot (2 ounces or 59 mL). The rest of the glass is filled with foamy steamed milk.
Some people say a gibraltar is the same as a cortado. But coffee shops that offer both often say they are different. A gibraltar usually has a richer, smoother texture. It is also served at a cooler, lukewarm temperature.
See also
In Spanish: Cortado para niños
