Caramel Coffee

Caramel and coffee share a lot of the same roasted, sugary compounds, which is why the pairing works so well. The catch is that most caramel syrup has never been near a caramelised sugar — it is flavoured glucose. Cooking your own takes ten minutes and changes the drink completely.

Caramel sauce, first

1. Melt 100 g caster sugar in a dry heavy pan over medium heat. Do not stir — swirl the pan.
2. When it turns a deep amber, take it off the heat immediately. This is the moment that decides whether it tastes of caramel or of burnt sugar, and it moves fast.
3. Stand back and add 60 ml of warm cream. It will hiss and seize.
4. Return to low heat and stir until smooth. Add a pinch of salt.
5. Cool and store in a jar in the fridge for up to two weeks.

What you need

• A double shot of espresso — 18 g of coffee in, 36 g in the cup
• 20 ml of caramel sauce, plus a little for the glass
• 180 ml of cold full-fat milk, or steamed if you want it hot
• A 300 ml cup or a tall glass with ice

How to make it

1. Put the caramel in the bottom of the cup.
2. Pull the double shot straight onto it and stir until it has dissolved. Caramel will not mix into cold milk.
3. Add the milk — steamed for a hot version, cold over ice for a cold one.
4. Drizzle a little more caramel over the top.

The ratio

20 ml of sauce to a double shot. Salted caramel wants a little less, because salt makes sweetness read stronger.

Common mistakes

• Pulling the sugar off the heat too early. Pale caramel is just sugar syrup and tastes like it.
• Adding cold cream to hot sugar. It seizes hard and can spit. Warm it first.
• Adding the caramel after the milk, where it sinks and stays there.

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.