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Mocha

3.8

(2)

Sure, the mocha is often a gateway to other coffee drinks—it just takes some customers longer to move along than others. One of our very first regulars at the Hayes Valley kiosk became so addicted to mochas that, at the apex of his habit, he consumed five mochas in one day, earning the nickname Five Mocha David. Eventually, David moved on to drinking straight black coffee, but he hasn't been able to shake his chocolately moniker. Since the ganache is extra-thick and is used warm, we have to respectfully deny requests for iced mochas; we've found the chocolate will seize up into unsightly globs in a cold and icy environment.
Note: omit the espresso and voilà, you've got a hot chocolate.

Recipe information

  • Yield

    Makes 1 drink

Ingredients

8 fluid ounces (1 cup / 240 ml) steamed milk or steamed soy milk
1 double ristretto shot of espresso

Preparation

  1. Put the ganache in a 10-ounce ceramic cup. Pull the espresso directly over the ganache, then pour the steamed milk over the top from 12 to 20 inches above the cup. The force of gravity will be all the agitation that is required to mix the ganache with the milk. No stirring will be required. Serve immediately.

Reprinted with permission from The Blue Bottle Craft of Coffee: Growing, Roasting, and Drinking, with Recipes by James Freeman, Caitlin Freeman, and Tara Duggan. Copyright © 2012 by James Freeman; photographs copyright © 2012 by Clay McLachlan. Published by Ten Speed Press, an imprint of the Crown Publishing Group, a division of Random House, Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher James Freeman is the founder and owner of Blue Bottle Coffee Company. After starting out in a tiny converted potting shed in Oakland a few years ago, Blue Bottle is now the country's leading artisan roaster, with six cafés in the San Francisco Bay Area, roasteries on both coasts, and a presence on the High Line and in Rockefeller Ceneter and Chelsea in Manhattan. In addition to its cafés, Blue Bottle is served in fine restaurants nationwide, including Chez Panisse, Gramery Tavern, Coi, and others, and regularly garners national media attention. See www.bluebottlecoffee.com for more. Caitlin Freeman is the resident pastry chef for Blue Bottle Coffee Company and was a longtime owner of the San Francisco cake and sweets shop, Miette. James and Caitlin Freeman live in San Francisco, CA. A staff writer for the San Francisco Chronicle's food section for ten years, Tara Duggan earned a James Beard Award for best newspaper column and was nominated for an additional James Beard Award for feature writing. She lives with her family in San Francisco, and this is her third book.
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