About Café au lait, A French Coffee Drink

Café au lait is a French coffee drink. The meaning of the term differs between Europe and the United States; in both cases it means some kind of coffee with hot milk added, in contrast to white coffee, which is coffee with room temperature milk or other whitener added.

In Europe, "café au lait" stems from the same continental tradition as "café con leche" in Spain, "kawa biała" ("white coffee") in Poland, "Milchkaffee" ("milk coffee") in Germany, "koffie verkeerd" ("wrong coffee") in The Netherlands, and "café com leite" ("coffee with milk") in Portugal. In northern Europe, café au lait is the name most often used in coffee shops.

At home, café au lait can be prepared from dark coffee and heated milk; in cafés, it has been prepared on espresso machines from espresso and steamed milk ever since these machines became available in the 1940s – thus it refers to the usual "coffee + milk" combination, depending on the location, not to a specific drink.

"Café au lait" and "caffè latte" are used as contrasting terms, to indicate whether the beverage is served in the "French" or the "Italian" way – the former being in a white porcelain cup or bowl, the latter in a kitchen glass and always made from an espresso machine, whereas "Café au lait" might be espresso or dark coffee based.

In many American coffeehouses, a "café au lait" is a drink of strong drip brewed or French pressed coffee, to which steamed milk is added; this contrasts with a "caffè latte", which uses espresso as a base. American café au lait is generally served in a cup, as with brewed coffee, being served in a bowl only at shops which wish to emphasize French tradition. The term misto (literally, "mixed") is also used to refer to a café au lait, most notably by Starbucks.

Café au lait in New Orleans has been popularized in part by Café du Monde. There, it is made with milk and coffee mixed with chicory, giving it a strong, bitter taste. Unlike the European café style, a New Orleans style Café au lait is not made with steamed milk. Instead, the milk is warmed over heat to just below boiling. Inclusion of roasted chicory root as an extender in coffee became common in colonial Louisiana, and eventually was incorporated in its local variant of the French-style coffee drink. The bitterness of the chicory offsets the sweetness of the powdered-sugar-covered beignets, a common accompaniment. [source : Café au lait]

Café Cubano : The Traditional Cuban-style Espresso

Café Cubano ( Cuban coffee, Cuban espresso, cafecito, Cuban pull, Cuban shot) is a type of espresso which originated in Cuba after espresso machines were first imported there from Italy. Specifically, it refers to an espresso shot which is sweetened with demerara sugar as it is being brewed, but the name covers other drinks that use Cuban espresso as their base.

Traditional Cuban-style espresso is made by adding demerara sugar to the container into which the espresso will drip, allowing the espresso to mix with the sugar as it is brewed – compare Vietnamese coffee preparation. Some people believe that this results in a smooth, sweet espresso.

A method commonly used to prepare a café cubano is to initially add only the first few drops of espresso to the sugar and mix vigorously. This results in a creamy, light brown paste. The remaining espresso is then added to this paste and mixed, creating a light brown foam layer, or espumita, atop the coffee. A proper cafecito can be made using either an espresso machine or an Italian moka pot, macchinetta.

The heat from the coffee-making process will hydrolize some of the sucrose, thereby creating a sweeter and different tasting result than adding sugar at the end.

There are several variations of café cubano: Cortadito (espresso topped with steamed milk), Café con Leche (coffee with milk), and Colada. A common variant is that the drink is sweetened while the espresso is being brewed. In this version, the sugar (most often brown sugar) is packed above the coffee grounds in the espresso machine and allowed to pass with the hot water through the espresso puck while brewing.

It is common for Cubans to drink café cubano first thing in the morning, after meals and sometimes as a social and cultural activity. Whether someone comes to visit your home, or a chance meeting on the street, following the initial "hello," an offer is always extended to have a "café."

Gourmet Cuban restaurants will serve a patron a glass of water to cleanse the palate before drinking the espresso, although some Cubans think the water is to dilute the café once it hits your digestive system. For purist coffee drinkers, drinking water after the espresso brands one as a non-appreciative espresso drinker. In some circles, an acceptable end to a Cuban espresso is to lightly dunk the tip of a Cuban cigar in the bottom of the demitasse and then light it up. [source : Cuban Espresso]