Three interesting coffee beverages are macchiato, mazagran and mélange. All are best made with healthy organic coffee. Here is a bit of info about each of them.

Macchiato

The name of this coffee drink means stained. It is essentially espresso with just a dash of foamed milk. It is similar to but stronger than a cappuccino. Milk is foamed directly into the espresso cup and the espresso is added. Cocoa is usually sprinkled over the top. A long macchiato has two shots of espresso and a little extra water and a short macchiato has one shot of espresso and less water.

Mazagran

This is a cold coffee drink. It came from Algeria where it is served in a tall glass. Mazagran consists of coffee poured over ice with the addition of various amounts of sugar, rum, lemon or extra water.

Mélange

This is a popular drink in Europe, particularly the Netherlands, Austria and Switzerland. It originated in the 1700s as a café drink in Austria and is often called Wiener Mélange, Wein being the German word for Vienna. Make mélange by combining equal amount s of espresso and steamed milk plus milk foam.

Always Organic

Our preference is for organic coffee and or all organic ingredients. For help finding organic ingredients visit this link. Like organic coffee, other organic foods are certified by the United States Department of Agriculture, the USDA. If you are in doubt about where to find organic ingredients follow the links on the organic ingredient site. If you are in doubt about what constitutes an organic food or drink read the excerpt from the USDA web site.

Start with Espresso

Most coffee beverages are variations on coffee house coffee and start with espresso. Espresso is very concentrated coffee that retains a lot of dissolved as well as suspended solids from the roasted coffee bean. It is made by forcing steam (boiling water) through fine ground coffee. It has a thicker feel because of the suspended solids and foam because of the pressurized steam. Espresso concentrates the flavors of coffee and is served in a small cup, usually an ounce (30 cc). A cup of espresso typically has between 40 and 75 milligrams of caffeine while a standard cup of percolated coffee contains about twice this much but in an 8 ounce cup. Thus coffee house coffee espresso is about four times more concentrated than the cup of coffee that you had a home for breakfast. Because espresso contains more coffee per ounce also contains more organic coffee antioxidants if you insist on organic for your espresso.

Here are the basic coffee house coffees made from espresso.

Americano

Americano is a coffee house coffee made from espresso and diluted with water. This goes back to the World War II era and after when GI’s who were used to Mom’s home perked or boiled coffee asked the barista to add water to their espresso to make it less strong. Think “weak espresso.”

Breve and Latte

Both of these are made with espresso and foam. Latte is made with steamed milk and breve is made with half and half. For latte think “coffee with milk” or café au lait and for breve think “coffee with milk and cream.”

Cappuccino

Cappuccino is made with espresso plus hot milk plus lots of steamed foam.

Mocha

Mocha is for coffee and chocolate lovers. It is made with espresso plus chocolate syrup plus milk.