I learned about Cuban coffee from my partner, who’s also Miami Cuban (and also worked at Starbucks for a time—he’s the barista of our household!). He didn’t make it at home until I had my first Cuban coffee visiting family in Miami, including the coffee his abuela made to greet us, and I took an interest in the style. Now we have a couple sets of espresso-size coffee cups he picked up in Miami (one with “But first, cafecito” printed on the side), and I’ll occasionally request a Cuban coffee as an after-dinner drink, or we’ll have a round to serve to friends. Never as our morning coffee, though. I think of it as primarily social, and also for drinking in the evening. He makes it the way you describe, with an espresso machine and stirring the sugar into a paste in the cup. We’ve had a few discussions about what makes it “Cuban” coffee and not just a sweetened espresso. To me it comes down to the whipping step—and the cultural context.
I learned about Cuban coffee from my partner, who’s also Miami Cuban (and also worked at Starbucks for a time—he’s the barista of our household!). He didn’t make it at home until I had my first Cuban coffee visiting family in Miami, including the coffee his abuela made to greet us, and I took an interest in the style. Now we have a couple sets of espresso-size coffee cups he picked up in Miami (one with “But first, cafecito” printed on the side), and I’ll occasionally request a Cuban coffee as an after-dinner drink, or we’ll have a round to serve to friends. Never as our morning coffee, though. I think of it as primarily social, and also for drinking in the evening. He makes it the way you describe, with an espresso machine and stirring the sugar into a paste in the cup. We’ve had a few discussions about what makes it “Cuban” coffee and not just a sweetened espresso. To me it comes down to the whipping step—and the cultural context.