The first thing one notices as you enter the "Deja Brew" is the subtle aroma of the house specialty: the cafe con leche. Simple, elegant, sweet, and just the right amount of bitterness to kickstart your day on the right foot. Grandma Araguaney's cafe con leche recipe was a favorite amongst the people of Little Hollow, back when she first opened the cafe, and now that her granddaughter has taken over, it continues to be a staple on the menu.

But don't be fooled. A cafe con leche is simple to make but difficult to master, especially if one were to replicate it at home without the proper tools. We will offer a few methods depending on the tools you have at home and add some variations to keep it fun.

But first, what is a cafe con leche?

To simplify it a bit, a cafe con leche is equals parts espresso, and scalded milk, mixed together. It might sound simple, and even reductive, seeing that mixing coffee and milk is in every coffee-drinking culture, but once you get to the nitty-gritty, you will see how wonderful and different it is. Let's take a look at some coffee/milk contemporaries, like the Italian cappuccino, the French cafe au lait, Autria's wiener melange, the American latte, etc. While all of them offer a mixture of coffee and milk, the differences start to pile up once we look at the ratios.

A cappuccino consists of ⅓ espresso, ⅓ steamed milk, and ⅓ milk foam, layered one on top of another, instead of mixed, giving it a velvety, layered texture, in which every ingredient can be tasted separately. The American latter, on the other hand, is mixed together, like a cafe con leche, but the ratios are ⅓ espresso, ⅔ steamed milk, which dilute the taste of coffee, giving it a sweet and creamy taste. Cafe au lait mimics the cafe con leche ratio, but instead of using espresso, it uses regular brewed coffee, making it lighter and softer, without the kick.

You can say that a cafe con leche mixes the best of both worlds, offering a balanced, but strong taste of coffee and milk. The perfect middle ground.

It is such a perfect balance that one finds the cafe con leche to be the coffee beverage of choice in several parts of the worlds, mainly Latin America and the Iberian Peninsula, where it is not uncommon to see both children and adults drinking it as part of breakfast or dinner(Although the Kid's version is made more like a cafe au lait), something Mimi bonded over with her Grandma.

Anyway, without further ado, let's make a cafe con leche!

CAFE CON LECHE RECIPE:

INGREDIENTS:

30 ml/1 oz of Espresso

150 ml/5 oz of milk(added volume to froth)

Sugar to taste.

INSTRUCTIONS:

If you wish to grind your own beans, do it immediately with a medium or fine grind and weigh 7g/0.25 oz, pressing well with the compactor or tamper.

Purge the machine, place the filter holder and prepare an infusion of 30 ml/1 oz for 25 seconds at 90-92º C, in a wide-mouth glass or in a cup of about 150/5 oz capacity. If you have an automatic machine, simply set it to prepare the espresso to taste.

Fill the pitcher with cold milk, always below the pouring spout on the inside mark, no more than half. Purge the frother nozzle - let out steam to eliminate the condensed water inside - and introduce it into the milk with the mouth of the jug facing towards it. The tip should be just below the surface of the milk.

Activate the steaming wand by holding the jug by the handle and the bottom. Heat up to about 60º C, never more than 65º C; Use a digital thermometer or simply feel the heat with the touch of the hand you hold underneath, as it should not burn.

Take out the nozzle and tap the pitcher gently against the table to homogenize the milk. Pour over the previously prepared coffee, tilting the cup and letting the milk fall about 2 inches high so that it mixes with the coffee. Once it's 2/3 full, straighten the cup and finish pouring the milk. Voila!

WAIT, I DON'T HAVE AN ESPRESSO MACHINE. WHAT DO I DO?

If you don't have an espresso machine to make cafe con leche, that's okay! You can use whatever coffee extraction method you have at hand, be it a classic drip machine, an Italian Mocca, or whatever you have on hand. A sock? Sure. Use a sock. Just remember, the ratio is 50/50 coffee and frotted milk. Don't have a frotter? Use a whisk and heat the milk on a stove! Just make sure not to boil the milk. It will start to break down the proteins and you won't be able to make a foam. Cafe con leche without foam is sad. You won't be able to do a sick latte art, but it's a small price to pay.

Now you're ready to impress Grandma Araguaney with your mad Cafe con leche skills. But that's not the only coffee you can find at the Deja Brew. No, for those in the know, there's a secret cafe con leche menu that only few have tried. But I'm sure that if you ask Mimi nicely, she will make you one. Let's tackle the cafe con leche variations you might find in this secret menu!

DEJA BREW SECRET MENU: CAFE CON LECHE VARIATIONS

Marron(Brown): It consists of a black coffee with a touch of milk without removing all the bitter flavor and you get that in the renowned "Marron," or Brown. It is a version of the cafe con leche that combines 70% coffee and 30% milk to give a strong but tasty drink.

Tetero(Baby bottle): As its name suggests, this type of coffee is more similar to a baby bottle. Its flavor is very soft, sweet and whitish in appearance. It is made with 85% or 90% milk and the other in coffee. It is regularly consumed by people who do not tolerate caffeine in large proportions.

Cortado(Cut): The Wario to the Tetero's Mario. We flip the proportions, adding 85 to 90% coffee to 10% milk. It's gonna kick you on the way in... and on the way out.

Envenenao(Poisoned): I heard you don't like milk. That's okay, why don't we switch coffee for Rum in equal parts? Don't tell the fuzz, though. Legally speaking, Mimi doesn't have a liquor license. It's a secret after all!

And that is how you make a cafe con leche. Hopefully, and with a little bit of luck, you might make an old woman happy in the afterlife. Cheers!