Building Espresso Drinks at home

There is a plethora of drinks to be made with your home espresso machine, and one of the best things about having a café in your home is experimenting with the menu. The Micra is built ready for entertaining small groups and gatherings. This is our attempt to help you pull everything together, touch on what goes into building coffee drinks, and give you a baseline to build out your menu.

A balanced Espresso is the key ingredient and anything else we add should be complimenting that espresso. So, pull these shots like you’d be serving it straight as espresso. With a balanced espresso, the drink will have a balanced base that tastes great.

If espresso and milk go great together, sugar is the third wheel. A perfect companion when properly added. As far as sweeteners go—simple is usually better. We’d recommend starting with honey, brown sugar or chocolate.
Let’s walk through how to build a few popular drinks.

The Cappuccino

A cappuccino can have thick dense-foam or silky micro-foam, but traditionally, it is served in a cup no larger than 180mL and will have a thick cap of foam on top. A cappuccino made with micro-foam is sometimes referred to as a flat white and is native to Australia or New Zealand. The barista can always ask the customer what kind of foam they would prefer.

Recipe to build your cappuccino (espresso+milk):

Espresso shot
150mL dense-foam or micro-foam

The Americano

An Americano can be any size depending on how strong we want it to be. We recommend starting with 200ml of hot water. A good barista always asks if the customer wants room for milk and sugar. Iced versions of this are also popular, starting with a little less water, knowing that some of the ice will melt once added.

Recipe to create your Americano (Espresso+ Water):

Espresso shot
200mL water, either hot or iced

The Mocha Latte

For any latte the espresso and milk ingredients are the same, with the option to add a sweetener like chocolate, turning it into a Mocha. Mocha lattes are delicious, but swap out sweetener can be swapped out to make a different kind of latte and broaden your menu.

Pull a shot of espresso and add a small amount of rich chocolate or another sweetener and stir so that it can melt together, then combine with 200mL of smooth steamed milk.

Iced lattes are quite good too, just add cold milk instead of steamed!

Recipe to create your mocha latte (espresso+ chocolate + milk) :

Espresso shot
30mL chocolate/sweetener
200mL micro-foam or cold milk

Two Single-Shot Macchiatos

Looking for something that reminds you of Italy? Or want to share a drink with a friend? Try making two macchiatos. Utilize the versatility of the new Linea Micra portafilter to split an espresso shot, and steam enough milk for both dinks in one pitcher. A pair of single shot macchiatos are the perfect thing to share…

Recipe for the sharable espresso :
Espresso shot split into two demitasse cups
30mL micro-foam added to each