How to Prepare Your CoffeeBarbajada
What you need
Ingredients run from the top of the cup to the bottom; the last item is the bottom layer. Values are normalized to a true 100% stack.
- Grind
- Fine — moka or espresso grind; the recipe asks only for hot brewed coffee
- Water temperature
- Hot — heated through while whisking; also drunk chilled in summer
- Total time
- 8 min
Barbajada is Milan's old café drink of coffee, drinking chocolate and milk in equal thirds, heated together in a chocolate pot and whisked until a froth rises on top. It takes its name from Domenico Barbaja, a Milan-born café waiter who went on to become one of the great opera impresarios of his age; he is credited with creating it at a café beside La Scala in the 1800s. Milan's official city tourism site gives the rule that matters most: whatever quantity you make, keep the three parts equal. In winter it was poured hot into a cup, often under whipped cream; in summer it was drunk cold from a glass. It stayed in fashion until the 1930s and then all but vanished, though Milanese still know the name.
Steps
Brew the coffee and have the chocolate ready
The three parts go into the pot together, so each needs to be ready at once. If you start from cocoa rather than ready-made drinking chocolate, stir it with the sugar and a splash of cold milk into a smooth paste first — cocoa added straight to hot liquid forms lumps that a whisk will not break up.
Measure equal thirds of chocolate, coffee and milk into the pot
The city's recipe insists on the proportion above all else: one third of each, however much you make. More chocolate turns it into a hot chocolate with a hint of coffee, more coffee turns it bitter, and the balance of the three is the drink.
Heat gently, whisking hard the whole time
Whisking while the mix warms beats air into the milk and chocolate together, so a layer of froth builds on the surface; stop whisking and the froth subsides. Gentle heat keeps the milk from catching on the bottom of the pot while you work.
Pour into cups and serve straight away, with whipped cream in winter
The froth is at its best the moment it leaves the pot, so pour at once. A spoonful of whipped cream on top was the winter way to serve it; it melts slowly into the hot drink rather than sitting as a separate layer.
Cup ready
Time to enjoy your Barbajada
Brewed the way they do it in Italy. What next?
Tips
- Keep the three parts equal by volume — the one rule every source on the drink repeats, and the easiest one to drift from when the chocolate is rich.
- Use a tall pot or saucepan — vigorous whisking throws hot liquid up the sides, and a deeper pot gives the froth room to build.
- A hand blender does the whisking quickly — the city's own recipe allows it as a substitute for the whisk.
Common mistakes
- Layering it instead of mixing it — that gives you Turin's bicerin; the barbajada is one blended, frothed drink.
- Boiling it hard — milk scorches on the bottom of the pot and the froth collapses into a skin.
- Dumping dry cocoa into the hot pot — it clumps, and the lumps stay in the cup however long you whisk.
Variations
Within the Milanese tradition, the preparation above takes these familiar shapes:
Italian Bicerin
Turin's version of the same three ingredients — chocolate, espresso and cream poured as separate layers in a small glass and drunk unstirred, where the barbajada whisks them into one frothy drink.
FAQ
How is barbajada different from a bicerin or a mocaccino?
All three combine coffee, chocolate and milk or cream. The bicerin from Turin builds them as separate layers in a small glass and is drunk without stirring. The mocaccino layers chocolate, espresso and steamed milk in a glass. The barbajada does the opposite of both: equal parts are heated together in one pot and whisked into a single frothy drink before they are poured.
Should barbajada be served hot or cold?
Both are traditional. Historical accounts describe it served hot in a cup in winter, often topped with whipped cream, and cold in a glass in summer.
Who was Barbaja?
Domenico Barbaja was born in Milan in 1777 and worked as a café waiter before making his fortune. He went on to run the opera houses of Naples. Sources agree that the drink was created at a café beside La Scala, but they disagree on which one: some name the Caffè Cambiasi, also called the Caffè del Teatro, and others the Caffè dei Virtuosi. Some writers call the frothy barbajada an early ancestor of the cappuccino, but that is a guess, not documented history.
The Atlas
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