How to Make Cuban Coffee - The Perfect Blend

If there’s one thing Cubans know how to do well (besides dancing and cooking and arguing, but that’s not important right now =D), it’s how to make the Best Coffee on This Earth.

Seriously, every Cuban home I was lucky enough to have been a guest in, served the most delicious, practically perfect, just-sweet-enough-with-the-perfect-amount-of-“espumita” cup of Cuban coffee. But more than that, what I absolutely loved was that every single person who made the coffee prided themselves in their creation. And in every home there’s always the One Person who gets asked to make the coffee because they just “know” how to make it right.

So today, because I love you and I know what’s good for you, I am going to share with you the Perfect Blend of art and science, which will produce that just-sweet-enough-is-there-anything-better-than-this? -God-I-love-being-Cuban cup of Café Cubano.

And as much as I hate to admit it, in my house, I’m not The Coffee Maker. My daughter, Amy Kikita is. Which makes us The Perfect Blend: I cook the meal. She makes the coffee.

See what I mean? Perfect. 

How to Make Cuban Coffee

You will need:

Stovetop espresso maker

Cuban-style coffee (Bustelo, Pilon, La Llave – available here)

Sugar

Glass or metal pitcher

Demitasse cups

1) Fill the bottom of the espresso maker with water - just to the valve.

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2) Fill the strainer with Cuban-style coffee until it’s packed in well.

3) Screw the top on tightly.

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4) Place on the stove, over medium flame, slightly to one side, so you don’t accidentally burn the plastic handle.

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5) Place sugar by tablespoon in the glass (or metal) pitcher – the ratio is one Tablespoon of sugar per TWO demitasse cups. Remember we like our cafecito SWEET.

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6) When the coffee just begins to brew, remove from heat and pour a little bit into the pitcher with the sugar.

7) Place coffee pot back on the heat to finish brewing.

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8) Meanwhile, stir the sugar/coffee mixture quickly until the bit of coffee melts down the sugar and you get it nice and frothy. (this is your espuma!)

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9) Pour the rest of the coffee into the sugar mixture and stir. Very gingerly, scoop some of the froth and drop it in each cup.

10) Then very carefully pour the finished coffee into the cups making sure you don’t damage the espuma.

11) Sit back and enjoy. Not just the coffee, but if you’re The One, receive the compliments graciously. Smile, Look down. Blush if you can manage it.

And say, “it was my pleasure.” And mean it. 

How I Choose Who Gets the Giveaway Stuff (and Espresso Set Winner)

I'm still laughing at how seriously you all take your "taka taka" and how often you celebrate National Coffee Day. Some of you, it seems, celebrate National Coffee Hour, but that's not important right now. ;-)

I hope you enjoyed the "Taka Taka Time" video. I laugh out loud every time I watch it. It's obvious that I share my genetic material with those two, isn't it? (I know. Shut up.)

I'm grateful to all of you for taking the time to leave a comment and enter the drawing. I have lots more giveaways coming up in the next few weeks. 

(SPOILER: Tomorrow I'm celebrating a big bloggy thing with some giveaways. Now that I told you, I may have to kill you.....)

I love hosting giveaways, but I'm always so conflicted, because I hate choosing just one winner. (Can you say, "co-dependent?")

In case you were curious, this is how I choose that one winner:

• I read all the entries and check for duplicates. (If there are dupes, I don't count the 2nd entry in the final tally. I think it's only fair.)
• I enter the number of comments from 1 to 32 (in this case) into the Random Number Generator at Random.org.
• It immediately generates a number. 

Like so:

• Then I come back and count the comments until I get to that number and take a screen shot of the comment, like so:

• And then I congratulate the winner and ask them to send me an email so I can send the goodies to them.

So....congratulations, Crystal! 

Please send me an email with HEY, MARTA! I WON STUFF ON YOUR BLOG! in the subject line (so I don't accidentally delete it) with your snail mail address so I can send out your Coffee Goodies ASAP! You've won - a 10 oz. can of Bustelo Espresso Supreme, a 1.75 oz. jar of Café Bustelo Instant Coffee, and that beautiful Fiesta espresso set. (For those of you that are interested in purchasing your own, I got it from Cost Plus World Market - they have them in jumbo mug size, too. You're welcome.)

• Then I wait for an email from the excited winner.
• As soon as I get an address to send the stuff to, I pack it and ship it to the winner. Or sometimes, the company who sponsors will send stuff out to the winner directly. 
• And if you've ever won anything from me, that doesn't disqualify you in any way from winning again, so you're welcome to enter as many separate giveaways as you like. (Just not multiple entries on the same post. Did that make sense?)

I so delight in hosting giveaways, because I personally know how fun it is to get cool stuff in the mail and I love sharing. Plus I seriously love interacting with you. I love that you tell me about your coffee drinking or rice making or *insert random giveaway question of the day here* habits. 

You are genuinely the loveliest blog readers ever. 

Thank you!

National Coffee Day - It's "taka taka" time! (A Coffee Giveaway, too.)

Don't ask me how I know these things. I just do. 

This is one of those geeky things that has gotten stuck in my brain and screams to be celebrated.

Like Hobbit Day, which we always celebrate elaborately. Or like Pi Day, which also happens to be Albert Einstein's birthday. Or even Star Wars Day ("May the 4th be with you!" - get it?), but that's not important right now.

It's probably a homeschool thing. We're Uber-geeks, aren't we? I know. Shut up.

But today is slightly different. Today, September 29th, is National Coffee Day. (Let's have a moment of reverential silence, please.)

And being Cuban-coffee-loving-uber-geeks, we celebrate this particular holiday with great devotion. In fact, we pretty much celebrate coffee, not just yearly, but much more on a daily-possibly-even-hourly basis.

Of course, we love our first-cup-in-the-morning black coffee, or café con leche, or sweet espresso, or even a wake-me-up-please latte.

But around 2:00 pm, there's that slump. You know what I'm talking about.That boy-am-I-tired-how-will-I-get-through-the-rest-of-my-day feeling. And the answer to that (at least around here) is....

It's “taka taka” time!

Taka taka is the sound of the spoon in the cup stirring the espresso and sugar into Killer Espuma®.

For us Cubans, it's the highlight of our mornings and afternoons and evenings and around here, we dance and sing when it's taka taka time ...

My daughter, Amy Kikita is the reigning Queen of the Taka Taka. She's the one who makes the best cafecito in our household. In fact, she takes coffee making to another entire level.

Let me illustrate:

So, today, in honor of National Coffee Day, I'd like to do a coffee related giveaway. 

What better brand of coffee for a Hispanic Heritage Month National Coffee Day Coffee Giveaway, than our very own Cuban go-to brand? Bustelo, of course.

And no, the Bustelo people are not sponsoring this giveaway. (I wish!) This is my very own personal I-love-MBFCF-readers-because-you-are-all-so-fabulous giveaway. You're welcome.)

I'm giving away a 10 oz. can of this beautiful Bustelo Supreme Espresso by Bustelo:

  

and ...

a 1.75 oz. jar of Café Bustelo Instant Coffee: 
 

and ...

A this set of six beautiful (Fiesta colors, people!) espresso cups:

My son, Adam, gave me this very same set and I love these tacitas so much I want to marry them. (Sorry, Eric.)

So.....let's have some Coffee Talk.

I'll be giving away all THREE items to one lucky winner.

To be entered in this fabulous National Coffee Day Giveaway, please answer one or all of the following questions:

• Do you have a mid-afternoon coffee, latte, cappucino, decaf or regular?
• Do you make it yourself, or does someone else make it for you?
• Do you “taka taka”?  ;-)

I will pick a winner randomly from your comments on Friday, September 30th at 7 pm.

So, come on....let's talk “taka taka.

Espresso time! And the winner is...

I was quite pleased as I read the comments on the How to Make Cuban Coffee With Killer Espuma post.

Most of you are of the Old Stovetop School of Cuban Coffee Making Goodness. (Yay!)

And can I just tell you right now how much I love when you tell me about even the minutia of your life? I feel like we're sharing a cafecito at my kitchen table. So thank you all.

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The winner of the Red IMUSA^® Coffee Maker and Red Espresso Cups is:

Aida Nava said...

i'm not ashamed to say this, we fail at making any kind of espuma.. we have a stovetop maker but haven't mastered making anything delicous from it! but if i could get my hands on turkish coffee i'd be happy!

and...

The winner of the IMUSA^® Nine Piece Stainless Steel Espresso Set is

Suzy said...

It's all about being old school. I first learned how to make espumita with my Tia Olimpia. She use to blend her coffee and sugar in one of those weird bottle/glasses that already made shrimp cocktail came in. (Not sure if they had those in Cali, but my guess is probably). Anyway I was always fasinated by the foam that was created in that weird little glass.

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Congratulations to you both! Please shoot me an email with HEY MARTA! I WON STUFF ON YOUR BLOG! in the subject line (so I don't accidentally delete you). Please include your snail mail address so that I can forward to IMUSA^® and they can get your goodies out to you.

I'd like to thank the very generous folks at IMUSA^® for sponsoring this giveaway. And if you thought this one was cool (and it totally was)....they have very generously offered to partner with MBFCF and do some more fabulous giveaways in the next few months, so stay tuned for that.

Check out their fabulous products and visit them online at www.imusausa.com. Or go "like" them on Facebook - they have the best cooking tips every day. Thanks again, IMUSA!

I have lots of giveaways coming up this summer, so please keep checking back in. Seriously, I'm a little overwhelmed with all the coolness I get to share, but that's not important right now.

In the meantime, I hope you're all practicing your Killer Espuma^®.

How to make Cuban coffee with KILLER espuma. You're welcome.

Making Cuban coffee is more art than science.

I think I learned how to make Cuban coffee when I was about 8 years old and able to maneuver in the kitchen without hurting anything. It wasn't just a matter of making the coffee itself, there had to be a frothy topping to that café and just the right amount of sweetness. Of course, like anything else, some people can make it happen with apparently less effort than others. Hence the artistry.

My dad always smelled of a pleasant mix of Vitalis, puros, and Bustelo. If Cuban music is the soundtrack of my life, the aroma of freshly brewed espresso is the fragrance.

Obviously, you can use a fancy espresso machine to get your café made for you at the press of a button. But I'm from the old espresso-maker-on-the-stovetop school of Cuban coffee making.

Why?

Because of the ESPUMA. That's what we call the frothy stuff on top. (I would say "espumita," but the stuff I'm talking about is much more powerful than the diminutive suggests.) Killer Espuma - I should trademark that! - is a matter of personal pride in our family. Today, my daughter, Amy Kikita, who is The Official Family Killer Espuma^® Maker will share her secret for the Perfect Cuban Espresso with Killer Espuma^®.  ;-)

(By the way, she doesn't really talk like that, but that's not important right now.)

In keeping with today's theme of All Things Coffee, I am grateful for the generous folks at IMUSA^® for providing today's fabulous giveaway gifts.

Thing 1) An old-school (of course!) Aluminum Espresso CoffeeMaker in RED. (It's the same as the beautiful red one in the video.) Along with a set of four RED espresso cups & saucers.

Thing 2) A nine piece Stainless Steel Espresso Set. Beautiful, no?

They also have a wonderful and varied line of espresso related items. Check that out right here.

So, for a chance to win one of the two featured prizes above, please leave a comment on this post and answer one or both of the following questions:

• Do you use a new-fangled espresso machine to make your café, or are you an old-school stovetopper, like me?
• Do you like your espresso with Killer Espuma^®?  ;-)

I'll choose 2 winners on Thursday, June 16th at 6 pm Pacific Time.

Thank you, IMUSA^®!

(cross-posted at Babalú blog)

Must Have Cuban Coffee

Kikita wrote this post under the influence of caffeine. You have been warned.

Mmmmmm . . . do you smell that?

That is the smell of the perfect Café Cubano. One more time, deep breath . . . Yes! Glorious!

Everyone grab your "tacita", sit back and enjoy it!

What's that?

YOU. DON'T. HAVE. ANY. CAFE????

**Kikita se desmayo!! (Kiki has fainted!!)**

**Mami holds a cafecito under Kikita's nose to revive her.**

Ok, so you don't have coffee to make espresso with. That's no problem, I'm sure you have regular coffee.

WHAT???

This is supposed to be the BEST part of waking up! Beyond that, it's supposed to be the best MOMENT at ANY time of day. It's the afternoon/after-lunch pick-me-up.

"It's terrible and wonderful at the same time! It's like freedom in a cup!"

Not to worry! I, Kikita, can help you! You know I have a guy (bueno, gal) on the INSIDE!

Through the magic of Facebook, I was introduced to a yummy new supplier.

Kaña Cuban Coffee Roasters.

I asked them for a sample and I couldn't wait for it to arrive in the mail.

When it finally did, it was an event!

(Isn't it beautiful? So full of promise!)

EVERYONE had to have a taste.

Everyone came to the same conclusion: RIQUISIMO!! (DELICIOUS!!)

So, I strongly encourage everyone to try Kaña's Hialeah Blend (espresso grind) and then come back here and Learn How to Make Cuban Coffee OR you could get CRAZY and Learn How to Make Cafe Con Leche. Either way, you gotta try this coffee.

I know you won't regret it.

In fact, you'll probably start singing (the way we all did when we had our first taste) . . .