Caffè misto or misto coffee is a great new drink from Starbucks! It’s a creamy coffee beverage that’s quite different from the more traditional cappuccino, macchiato, and latte.
The French call this drink café au lait, but Caffè Misto is simply half coffee and half steamed milk. You can vary the flavor by choosing a different roast of coffee.
What is Misto Coffee
The drink, misto coffee, consists of equal parts drip coffee and frothed milk. To create a tasty beverage using this drip-to-milk ratio, baristas brew the coffee stronger than usual and use a dark roast to make up for the drink’s watery mouthfeel.
A tall caffe misto drink can be less than 3 dollars and tends to be cheaper than espresso-based drinks. It’s a cost-effective alternative.
Misto Coffee vs. Latte
Starbucks uses brewed coffee and warm milk to make misto coffee. The milky part can be topped with whipped cream or foam, or it can be left au naturel.
A caffe latte is the same drink as a caffe misto—they’re both espresso-and-milk combos—except that the former has foamed milk instead of steamed. The key difference between the two drinks is that a caffe misto has brewed coffee instead of espresso.
A caffe misto is simply a shot of espresso with a lot of milk foam or no foam added. It’s possible to order this beverage with any type of milk you want.
To make latte art, we pour steamed milk onto espresso. Latte art always has a little foam and enough buoyancy to create designs when poured into a cup of espresso.
Making Misto Coffee
Caffe misto is an espresso-based drink that you can make in a variety of ways. And it doesn’t require a pricey espresso machine.
I’ll show you the best way to do it.
Ingredients
- Brewed coffee
- Milk
And that’s it! There’s no need to run out and buy a fancy machine. You can make an excellent caffè misto at home with just a filter and some hot water.
Instructions
- You can brew your favorite coffee by starting with a cup of hot water and adding one or two tablespoons of ground coffee.
- Next, heat your milk to just below boiling. If you don’t have a special device for frothing or steaming milk, you can warm it on the stovetop.
- You can tell when your milk is hot enough by watching for slow bubbles to form around the edges. As soon as bubbles form, take your milk off the stove.
- When you want the richest flavor from your coffee, froth the milk just before adding it to your coffee.
- Finally, pour your warm milk into your cup of coffee to get a 1:1 ratio of coffee to milk, and enjoy!
The Taste Profile of Misto Coffee
If you have ever tasted a latte—a coffee drink made with steamed milk or cream and flavored with syrup—you already have an idea of what misto coffee tastes like.
Since caffe misto is made with espresso, it has more bitterness than a latte. Instead of the flavor of the steamed milk shining through, the bitter taste of the coffee will be stronger.
It’s like the difference between drinking melted chocolate and drinking hot chocolate. When you drink melted chocolate, you’re just getting melted chocolate. But when you drink hot chocolate, the milk helps dilute the chocolate’s strength and creates a different flavor altogether.
The same can be said of a caffe misto. The milk helps to dilute some of the coffee’s flavors and create a smooth, balanced drink.
