Saturday, February 18, 2006

Un Buen Cafe

I was web surfing one very late eveing and stumbled upon that wonderful Italian company Bialetti -the people who make stove top Cafeteras.

Bueno, as I was musing the site, nurturing my thirst for Cafe, I stumbled upon a Mukka and was totally blown away.

For those who don't know a Cafetera in Italian is a Moka, and a Mukka (moo-ka) is a stove top cafetera that makes Cappuchinos (italian cafe con leches)!

Mesmorized by the flash footage, I looked at the price and nearly gagged -they wanted nearly 100 bucks! I surfed off in much disappointment and in a few hours it hit me -surely they didn't just come up with this! There had to be some Italian Abuelita (let alone some Cuban one) who used to this and inspired Bialetti to market it and make buko bucks. There had to be an easier way. Right?

Well there is, and I figured it out:

You need 3 tacita cafetera.

A SMALL single serving tacita (like the one Bene Casa makes)

Milk

Water

CAFE CUBANO (La Llave works best for this.)

Using the tacita as a measuring cup fill the bottom section with two tacita's of water.

In the middle section: put only, and I mean only, two teaspoons of CAFE (there is no need to compact it).

In the top section (where the CAFE is collected): put two tacitas of milk. Turn on the stove and procede as usual. DON'T WALK AWAY FROM THE STOVE because it will finish faster than normal. Once the CAFE has poured out, let the Cafetera sit for a LITTLE while longer -to ensure the milk gets hot. Once it is done, pour the freshly made CORTADITO into a cup and sweeten it to your taste. Not only will you save your money, but you'll enjoy an amazing Cortadito.

And that's how you make un buen CAFE.

Side Note: The only problem I've encounter is that a little of la borra (coffee grind) get's into the milk. This doesn't bother me personally -after all I'll eat espresso beans whole- but this may be a problem for those who don't like the smallest speck floating around.

2 comments:

La Ventanita said...

solution: un colador when you serve it, should take care of the borra. A fine one, or a cloth one should work. I only see one problem.....no espumita?

Anonymous said...

Solution to the Espumita...
Get one of those handheld battery operated frothers, and Voila! espumita!!!!!!