Macchiato (Espresso with Milk)

Yield: 6 demitasse cups
18 ounces This coffee is ‘spotted’ with mild. (The word for spotted in Italian is macchiato.) According to Ms. Warren’s book, the drink is popular with elderly men who believe they are too frail for the undiluted espresso of their youth. In my experience, those who like their coffee strong order this. Jack often orders it. You will need a stove-top espresso pot or a modern electric espresso maker. The directions below are for a stove-top espresso pot that holds 2 ½ cups of water. In Eritrea, this is served in small glasses without handles.

6 level tablespoons dark-roasted Ethiopian finely ground coffee
4 tablespoons sugar
½ cup milk

1. Separate the top and bottom of the pot and remove the basket.
2. Put 2 ½ cups of water into the bottom half. It will come to just below the safety valve.
3. Return basket to the bottom half, and fill it with the ground coffee, packing it down with the back of a spoon. The basket will be filled nearly to the top.
4. Screw the top half of the lid on tightly.
5. Place the pot over medium heat and allow it to boil until it stops sputtering and the top half of the pot is nearly full of coffee. This takes 5 to 10 minutes (depending on altitude).
6. Put 2 teaspoons of sugar into each demitasse cup.
7. Heat the milk in a separate pot until bubbles form around the edge. Watch carefully or the milk will boil over and burn.
8. Fill each cup with espresso.
9. Use a spoon to drop a few spots of milk into the coffee, and serve.