Mocha Coffee
A caffè mocha is a latte with chocolate in it — though the name comes from Mokha, the Yemeni port that gave its name to coffee with a naturally chocolatey cup long before anyone added cocoa to one.
What you need
- A double shot of espresso — 18 g of coffee in, 36 g in the cup
- 15–20 g of dark chocolate, chopped, or 20–30 ml of good chocolate syrup
- 150–180 ml of cold full-fat milk
- A 300 ml cup
How to make it
- Put the chopped chocolate or syrup in the bottom of the cup.
- Pull the double shot directly onto it.
- Stir until the chocolate has completely melted into the espresso. Do this now — chocolate will not dissolve properly once cold milk hits it.
- Steam the milk as you would for a latte, with only a thin layer of foam.
- Pour in, stirring gently once at the end to bring the chocolate up through the drink.
The ratio
Roughly 1 part chocolate to 2 parts espresso to 6 parts milk. Use real dark chocolate at 55–70% if you can — cocoa powder alone tends to stay gritty and tastes chalky, and milk chocolate makes the whole thing cloying.
Common mistakes
- Adding chocolate last. It never fully dissolves and settles at the bottom in a sludge.
- Sweet chocolate plus sugar plus syrup. The espresso disappears entirely.
- Skipping the stir at the end. The chocolate sinks as it stands.
Iced mocha
Melt the chocolate into the hot shot exactly as above, let it cool for a minute, then pour over ice and top with cold milk. If you add cold milk to hot chocolate-espresso too fast it will seize into specks.
Which coffee to use
Anything on our shelf works, but milk drinks reward a coffee with body and sweetness over one built for delicate florals — the milk will bury the top notes either way. Check the tasting notes and the process on each product page; a natural or a honey-processed lot usually cuts through milk better than a light washed one.