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Home » Beverages » Coffee

Cuban Coffee (Café Cubano)

Published: Mar 4, 2022 by Emma · This post may contain affiliate links, which can earn us a commission.

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Craving some homemade Cuban coffee? Learn how to make this delicious beverage at home with three simple ingredients. There's no need to move to Miami or Cuba to get an amazing cup of café Cubano!

Looking for more tips and recipes? Make sure to read our post about making moka pot coffee and pour over coffee.

person holding a small glass cup of Cuban coffee
Jump to:
  • About
  • Ingredients
  • How to Make
  • Recipe FAQs
  • Expert Tips
  • Recipe
  • Comments

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About

Café Cubano is a traditional Cuban breakfast drink made from stovetop espresso sweetened with sugar and topped with a delicious sugar foam. This strong, black coffee is served in small cups and enjoyed with buttered and toasted Cuban bread, pan dulces, and other breakfast foods.

Café Cubano is known to be extra strong and bitter since it's prepared from dark roast beans that have been ground quite finely. Since this drink is bitter on its own, a lot of sugar is added. Due to rationing in years past, Cubans learned to stretch their coffee and enjoy it in small quantities.

Ingredients

glass bowls of ingredients for Cuban coffee

Let's talk about the key ingredients. You won't need much to make this delicious recipe!

  • Coffee: Start with ground Cuban beans, such as Café Bustelo, Pilon, or La Llave. If you can't find one of these brands, use medium ground whole beans.
  • Water: Use filtered water for the best flavor.
  • Sugar: Use white sugar, brown sugar, or a mixture of the two, and measure out one tablespoon of sugar per cup (i.e. 6 tablespoons for a 6-cup moka pot).

How to Make

pouring water into moka pot and filling it with coffee
  1. Fill the lower chamber of the moka pot with boiling water to just under the steam valve.
  2. Use a spoon to fill the funnel with ground coffee, tapping the side to remove air pockets. Do not pack in the grounds, or you'll have an inferior brew. Level the top with a knife.
moka pot on the stovetop with coffee coming out

3. Drop the funnel into the lower chamber, then screw on the upper chamber and place over low heat with the lid open.

4. In a few minutes, you'll hear the water boiling in the moka pot, and shortly the first few drops of espresso will come out. Watch it carefully!

espumita before and after being frothed

5. Pour the first couple tablespoons of espresso into the sugar and stir to moisten. Don't add too much, or the espumita will not foam properly.

6. Place the moka pot back on the heat with the lid open and beat the sugar vigorously with a spoon (or a handheld electric mixer if you own one). Stop when it is a light caramel color, thickened, and trebled in volume.

mixing the coffee with the espumita in a glass cup

7. When the stream of coffee is honey colored, close the lid and remove the moka pot from the heat.

8. Pour the espresso into the espumita and stir to combine. Let it stand for a minute to allow the espumita to float to the top.

person pouring Cuban coffee into a glass cup

9. Pour the café Cubano into small cups, making sure each cup gets some espumita.

10. Enjoy immediately!

Recipe FAQs

What is a traditional Cuban coffee?

Traditional café Cubano is dark roast espresso that has been sweetened with sugar and is topped with a layer of foam called the espumita. This espresso drink is often served after dinner, or with a glass of hot milk (café con leche) and enjoyed at breakfast with buttered, toasted Cuban bread. It's popular among Cubans and Cuban Americans.

What is in Cuban coffee?

Café Cubano consists simply of brewed stovetop espresso mixed with sugar. The sugar is frothed with the first few drops of the brew to make a foam called espumita that floats on top of the espresso.

What is different about Cuban coffee?

Its most unique features are its strong, bitter taste and dark color. Since the beans are roasted longer and ground finer, it has a rich, bitter flavor that needs sugar to balance it out.

What is the difference between espresso and Cuban coffee?

Espresso is brewed under a lot more pressure than the traditional moka pot brewing method used for café Cubano, creating a crema (thin layer of foam) on top of the espresso, and it isn't sweetened until after brewing. Café Cubano is brewed in a moka pot rather than an espresso machine, is sweetened during the brewing, and its foam comes from sugar whipped with coffee rather than from high pressure.

Expert Tips

  • Fill the lower chamber with boiling water instead of cold water for less bitter java and faster brewing time.
  • When adding the grounds to the funnel, tap the side to level the grounds and remove air pockets. Don't tamp or pack them in.
  • Use 1 tablespoon of sugar per cup (I did about 9 tablespoons for my 9-cup moka pot).
  • Don't add too much espresso to the espumita at first; just enough to moisten it is good to start, then add a little more if needed.
  • Want to make café con leche?  Serve each cafecito with a taza (cup) of steamed milk to allow everyone to mix the espresso with milk to their preference.

Other Coffee Drinks You'll Love

  • Greek Coffee (Ellinikos Kafes)
  • Starbucks Salted Caramel Mocha
  • Homemade Pumpkin Spice Latte
  • How to Make Moka Pot Coffee

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Recipe

two cups of Cuban coffee with a creamer

Cuban Coffee (Café Cubano)

Want to learn how to make Cuban coffee at home? You don't have to move to Miami to have an amazing café Cubano. With this easy recipe, you can replicate your abuela's delicious espresso with the espumita on top!
4.3 from 4 votes
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Course: Drinks
Cuisine: Cuban
Prep Time: 5 minutes
Cook Time: 10 minutes
Servings: 4 4.5 fl oz cups
Calories: 98kcal
Author: Brooke & Emma

Ingredients
 

  • 1.6 oz ground Cuban coffee, or medium-ground coffee
  • 2 cups filtered water
  • ½ cup white or brown sugar, or a mixture of the two

Equipment

  • moka pot
  • handheld mixer
  • bell creamer
  • espresso cups

Instructions

  • Fill the lower chamber of the moka pot with boiling water to just below the valve, then fill the funnel with ground coffee, tap the side to remove air pockets, and level the top with a knife. Do not tamp the grounds.
  • Screw on the upper chamber and place the moka pot over low heat. (If you're using a gas stove, keep the flame smaller than the base of the moka pot.) After a few minutes, you'll hear the water begin to boil, and the espresso will start to come out of the top.
  • While the water is heating, measure the sugar for the espumita into the creamer or a glass measuring cup. As soon as the first drops of espresso come out of the top of the moka pot, pour enough into the sugar to moisten it, then put the pot back on the heat. Whip the mixture with a spoon or an electric mixer until the espumita is light brown, thickened, and trebled in volume.
  • Once the stream of espresso in the moka pot is honey colored, remove it from the heat and immediately pour the espresso into the creamer with the espumita. Stir to combine.
  • Let the mixture stand until the espumita has floated to the top, then pour into tacitas (demitasse cups) and serve immediately.

Notes

  • The ingredient measurements here are for a 9-cup moka pot.  If you're using a 3 or 6-cup pot, you won't need as much of each ingredient.
  • Use 1 tablespoon of sugar per cup (I did about 9 tablespoons for my 9-cup moka pot).
  • Don't add too much coffee to the espumita at first; just enough to moisten it is good to start, then add a little more if needed.
  • Want to make café con leche?  Serve each cafecito with a tazo (cup) of steamed milk to allow everyone to mix it with milk to their preference.
  • Get more tips for making a great moka pot brew in our blog post.

Nutrition

Serving: 4.5fl ozCalories: 98kcal (5%)Carbohydrates: 25g (8%)Protein: 0.2gSodium: 2.8mgSugar: 25g (28%)Calcium: 2.8mg

Serving sizes and nutritional information are only an estimate and may vary from your results.

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Beth

    March 04, 2022 at 12:27 pm

    5 stars
    The lovely espumita sweetens this very bitter coffee in a unique way. I love Cuban coffee! It’s great with espumita on top. I can see why Cubans have this at breakfast every morning.

    Reply
    • Emma

      March 04, 2022 at 12:28 pm

      Yes, this is just the right coffee drink to start off your day! Thanks for your kind review, Beth!

      Reply
  2. Alex

    March 04, 2022 at 12:25 pm

    5 stars
    The coffee is sweet and frothy, and is very good! It is nice and warm, and the cups are so cute!

    Reply
    • Emma

      March 04, 2022 at 12:27 pm

      So glad you enjoyed it, Alex!

      Reply

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Welcome to our kitchen! We're Brooke & Emma, the mother-daughter team behind Savor the Flavour. As self-taught cooks and bakers, we love to inspire you to cook from scratch with real food! Increase your kitchen confidence with our recipes, instructional photos, and helpful tips and facts.

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