Cortado
In Spanish: café cortado
A cortado is espresso “cut” with a small amount of warm milk. The Spanish dictionary of the Real Academia Española defines it as coffee with very little milk; Dictionary.com, an American dictionary, describes roughly equal parts espresso and steamed milk. Either way it is small, and the coffee leads.
Sources: café, Real Academia Española, Diccionario de la lengua española; cortado, Dictionary.com
At a glance
- In the cup
- Espresso and a little steamed milk
- Milk
- Very little, up to about as much as the espresso
- Name
- Spanish, from cortar, “to cut”
What does “cortado” mean?
It is the past participle of the Spanish verb cortar, to cut. The Real Academia Española’s dictionary lists café cortado as “coffee with very little milk.”
Sources: cortado, Real Academia Española, Diccionario de la lengua española; café, Real Academia Española, Diccionario de la lengua española
Dictionary.com, an American dictionary, puts the steamed milk at approximately the same amount as the espresso.
Source: cortado, Dictionary.com
Cortado, macchiato or flat white?
Think of them by the amount of milk. A macchiato has a spot; a cortado has a little, up to about as much as the coffee; a flat white has more, textured into fine microfoam. The table in the guide sets the espresso-and-milk drinks side by side.
Sources: macchiare, Vocabolario Treccani; cortado, Dictionary.com; What is a flat white & where did it come from?, Perfect Daily Grind (2022)
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