The Places We Come From: Cuban Coffee

At Pedro & Tailor we love sharing stories about the places we come from. Its our goal to help everyone celebrate a life of wonder regardless of who you are or where you’re from. The Places We Come From series highlights unique aspects of different cultures.

— Cuban Coffee—

If you grow up in a Cuban household, it’s you’ll be drinking Cuban coffee by the time you’re in elementary school. It’s just part of how things are done, even if kids shouldn’t have caffeine.

 Traditional Cuban coffee is typically a dark roast and prepared espresso style. You might have seen Café Bustelo on the shelves at some super markets, it comes in bright yellow packaging and is one of the more popular brands of Cuban style coffee available in the US. Given the Cuban-American population (about 1.4 million), there is enough of a demand.

Back to the prepartion process, usually you’ll let the espresso drip so the sugar and espresso mix during brewing process and create a much sweeter profile.

If you stop there, you’ve got yourself a Cafecito. Essentially a single shot. If you order or make more to share with others, you’ve graduated to a Colada.

Add a shot to hot, steamed milk in a separate cup and that just became a Café con Leche. A Cortadito would be  your shot (Cafecito) mixed with several tablespoons of steamed milk.

Depending on where you live, enjoying Cuban coffee might prove a little trickier than other places. Either way, its worth trying if you can at some point in life. If you find yourself in Miami, it’s full of locations where you can enjoy a Cuban coffee.

Oh, and don’t worry we’ll make sure to create a guide for Miami.