Cortadito lessons at Versailles

My Cuban uncle was the first person to ever take me to Versailles. About a year and a half ago, he turned to me and said, “Listen up, I know you like that Colombian coffee, and the whole world does, but I’m going to show you a Versailles cortadito, con leche evaporada.”

From then on, everything was different.

I knew it was going to be legit before I even caught a whiff of the coffee. The entire restaurant was full of Cuban viejitos, hanging out, laughing, talking smack. If they trusted Versailles’ coffee, I trusted Versailles coffee.

Then we got our cortaditos.

First off, let’s talk about the size. Cortaditos are just right. If you have a colada, you have to share it with friends, you can’t just drink it on our own or you’ll feel crazy. And a cafe con leche, sometimes it’s just too much liquid.

A cortadito is perfect, because it’s not too much coffee but it’s also not too much milk. And at Versailles, leche evaporada makes the coffee just a little bit thicker and a little bit sweeter.

For the past year and a half I’ve been drinking these things, nonstop, so I figured it was time to learn exactly how it’s done. I popped in to learn from the masters themselves.