How to Prepare Your CoffeeSpanish Barraquito
The barraquito is Tenerife's own coffee, built as five distinct colours in a small clear glass: condensed milk at the base, Licor 43 above it, espresso next, then warm frothed milk, with cinnamon and a curl of lemon peel finishing the top. Every layer is poured over the back of a spoon so it settles instead of sinking, and the glass is never stirred until it reaches the table. It is said to trace back to a regular at Santa Cruz's Bar Imperial nicknamed 'Barraco', and it stays a Canarian specialty — the drink barely travels beyond the islands, which is part of why visitors go looking for it.
Ratio breakdown
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.
What you need
- 1–2 tablespoons (15–30 ml)Licor 43
- a light dusting of ground cinnamonCinnamon
- a small strip of peel or zestLemon peel
- 1–2 tablespoons (15–30 ml), poured in firstCondensed milk
- warmed and lightly frothed, filled to the rim (~30–60 ml)Milk
- 1 espresso or cortado shot (30–40 ml)Coffee
Method notes
- Grind
- Fine — espresso grind
- Water temperature
- Hot — espresso 90–94°C, milk warmed and frothed, onto room-temperature condensed milk and liqueur
- Total time
- 5 min
Steps
Spoon condensed milk into a small, clear glass
It is the densest ingredient, so it holds the bottom on its own and gives every layer poured afterward something firm to rest on.
Pour the Licor 43 gently down the inside wall
Poured slowly against the glass rather than dropped in, the liqueur settles as its own band above the condensed milk instead of mixing into it.
Float the espresso over the back of a spoon
Holding a spoon just above the liqueur and trickling the shot over its curved back breaks the fall enough that the coffee spreads sideways and sits as a third, distinct layer.
Warm and lightly froth the milk, then spoon it on top
The same spoon technique keeps the milk from punching through the coffee below it — a thin skin of foam on a body of warm milk is what gives the glass its pale top layer.
Finish with cinnamon and a curl of lemon peel
Both sit on the surface rather than being stirred in, so their aroma reaches you before the first sip — the classic finish that also gives the drink its 'five colours' name.
Tips
- Ask for a 'barraquito especial' in Santa Cruz or La Laguna if you want every layer — some bars will otherwise assume you mean the simpler 'leche-leche' (just coffee, condensed milk and milk, no liqueur).
- In northern Tenerife the same five-layer drink sometimes goes by 'zaperoco' instead — same glass, same order, different local name.
- Warm the glass before you start; a cold glass cools the espresso layer fast and the drink is meant to arrive hot under its sweet, cold base.
Common mistakes
- Stirring before it's served — the layers are the point, and once mixed it reads as a sweet, spiked milky coffee rather than the drink it's meant to be.
- Pouring any layer straight in instead of over the back of a spoon — a direct pour breaks through the layer beneath and the stripes collapse into one another.
- Skipping the milk — that turns it into a café asiático or a carajillo con leche, not a barraquito; the frothed-milk layer is what makes this drink its own thing.
FAQ
Where does the barraquito come from?
Santa Cruz de Tenerife, and by the most repeated account it's named for a regular customer, Sebastián Rubio, nicknamed 'Barraco' or 'Barraquito', who ordered this exact combination at the Bar Imperial — still open today. Other accounts put its first pour at a different Santa Cruz bar or credit a port-area kiosk owner; none of it is documented beyond local legend, so the Bar Imperial story is repeated here as the most common account rather than settled fact.
Does it have to have alcohol in it?
No — the alcohol-free version, made of just coffee, condensed milk and steamed milk, is called 'leche-leche' ('milk-milk') on Tenerife and is what many bars will pour by default unless you ask for the 'especial' or specify Licor 43. Both are considered genuine local orders; they're just different drinks with the same base.
How is it different from a café asiático or a carajillo?
A carajillo is just espresso and a spirit, stirred and drunk hot, with no milk or condensed milk at all. A café asiático (Cartagena, mainland Spain) layers condensed milk, brandy and Licor 43 under floated espresso, but carries no milk layer. The barraquito is the only one of the three that adds warmed, frothed milk as its own layer — that fifth band, plus the lemon and cinnamon finish, is what makes it a distinct Canarian drink rather than a mainland one.
What glass should I use?
A small, clear glass — sources describe everything from a shot-sized glass to a tall latte glass to a champagne flute, and there's genuine variation between bars. What matters is that it's transparent enough to see the layers form; an opaque cup defeats the point of the drink entirely.
The Atlas
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