Café Crema is a coffee drink that has a Swiss-French-Italian origin and means “cream coffee” in Italian.
Originally, Café Crema was straight espresso in the 1940s and 1950s but then gained popularity as a long espresso drink in the cafes along the Italian-Swiss and Italian-Austrian border.
With Swiss influence, a thickened sweet milk concoction was added to the espresso creating a delicious, creamy beverage that is super satisfying and is served both hot and cold.
If you are interested in making your own Café Crema without having to travel to the nearest cafes, then read on.
The ingredients needed for this beverage are two tablespoons of flour, one pint of milk, two tablespoons of sugar or any sugar substitute, and three cups of strong coffee made from a French Press or a double espresso made from a moka pot or home espresso machine.
Once you have the ingredients organized, get a medium pot and mix the sugar and flour. Carefully add the milk and continue mixing until all three ingredients are well blended.
Next, put this blend over low heat and add in the coffee or double espresso. Continue stirring until it comes to a boil. Continue to boil for another minute and then remove it from the heat.
Then, pour the mixture into champagne glasses or any other presentable containers. This coffee beverage can be served either hot or chilled.
Cocoa powder, coffee beans and biscotti can be used to flourish the servings. The cocoa powder can be sprinkled over the drink as well as the coffee beans. The biscotti can be used as a side dish.
Read more on coffee flavors from around the world.
What coffee tastes do you gravitate towards? Do you like a thick Café Crema or not so much?
About Mike Quinn
Mike Quinn spent 20 years in the US Army and traveled extensively all over the world. As part of his military service, Mike sampled coffee and tea from all virtually every geographic region, from the beans from the plantation of an El Salvadorian Army Colonel to "Chi" in Iraq to Turkish Coffee in the Turkish Embassy in Kabul, Afghanistan. He spent nearly a decade in the Republic of Korea where he was exposed to all forms of traditional teas. Mike formerly owned and operated Cup And Brew, an online espresso and coffee equipment retail operation.
I would never have considered using flour in a coffee beverage, but your picture looks delicious, and reading the recipe made me really crave this. I know I wouldn’t do this on a daily basis, but it certainly sounds easy enough to do for special occasions, such as holidays, or even when a friend comes for coffee and a visit. I love that I have everything needed in the house already, so I’m going to try making this, so that the next time I invite a friend over, I’ll already know how to make it, and we can relax, and enjoy a cup together.
I’ve never thought of using it either, it seems so odd to add it, yet when you think about it, it also makes sense? It would really help make the coffee really soft, creamy and thick
Any specific flour for this particular recipe… or any flour will work? Definitely fixing this recipe somewhere in my kitchen-to-do list, now I just need to cross my fingers, I find ample time to try it {the recipe} out…I just might drizzle some cocoa powder or cinnamon on top the cafe crema 😉
It also feels crazy to me to add flour to coffee. I’ve never heard about it before, though to be honest, I don’t read much on the topic. I’ll have to try it someday, though. From the description, it feels like the type of coffee that I would enjoy. I like that it’s very easy to prepare!
My fiance LOVES espresso. We just got a French Press for Christmas and he has been experimenting with all types of coffee. This recipe would be great as a dessert drink after a meal. I will have to send him the recipe.
Well I have to say that I used to not indulge myself with these types of drinks and I would have scoffed at the idea of ordering one not too long ago, but I have come around in the recent past and I am enjoying them more and more. I took a trip to Italy about a year back and I guess I just caught on to the whole espresso thing. I still prefer a hot cup of black coffee, but if it is cheap enough I will usually get one of these as well. This one sounds particularly delicious too, so thank you for sharing.
This looks so good, you basically make seems every single coffee recipe as the most simple one, I want to try this one already!
I gravitate more towards the sweetest tastes, I guess… I don’t really like strong or even bitter coffees, so this is a perfect option for me. And yes, I really like a really good café crema, it’s a quite common drink here in a lot of coffee shops, and it’s probably one of my favorites, especially accompanied with a simple bread, just perfect! 🙂
I came across this while looking for how to make a cup of coffee like I received on a recent trip to Lucerne and this is not it. Interesting but not it. I was staying at the Continental Park and ordered a coffee at breakfast. I saw them using an espresso machine (actually they had what looked like a line of them or maybe it was a commercial one that could make multiple cups). They gound the beans and tamped them in a bowl. I thought I was going to get an espresso but actually received about 6 oz of coffee in a cup with a beautiful thick crema. this was the best cup of coffee I have ever had. I usually use a small amount of sugar and cream but I was actually drinking cups black and amazed at the smooth rich taste. I think it was what the Swiss call a Kaffee Creme but there is no milk involved. I’m going to have to write the Hotel and ask specifically what they call their coffee as I now need to duplicate it at home.
This isn’t cafe crema. Cafe crema is simply a longer espresso ratio, usually made with a more coarse grind setting.