Starbucks Cortado

The Starbucks Cortado carries 69 calories and 106.6mg of caffeine in the 6oz cup it comes in, which makes it the strongest small drink on the Starbucks UK hot menu. Two ristretto shots go in and a short pour of warm milk goes over them. The cup is the recipe: 6oz leaves room for the shots and very little else.

Cortado means cut, and the milk is there to cut the espresso rather than to carry it. The result tastes closer to straight espresso than to any other milk drink on the menu, with the roast right at the front and only enough dairy to round off the edges. The milk is warmed rather than foamed, so the texture is silky and flat with no head at all. Held up to the light it shows a solid caramel colour rather than the layered look of a macchiato.

Starbucks UK does not publish a delivery price for the cortado, which is why no figure sits above rather than a guess. Nutrition is published for the 6oz serving only. At 69 calories it is the lightest milk drink on the hot menu, lighter than a Flat White at 76, and it carries more caffeine than either a Flat White or a Grande Caffè Latte at 89.1mg.

The cup itself is worth knowing about before ordering. Not every UK store keeps 6oz cups in stock, and a store that has run out will pour the same two shots and the same milk into an 8oz cup instead. The recipe has not changed but the drink has, because the extra space gets filled with milk and the ratio the cortado is built on disappears. It is worth asking rather than finding out at the first sip.

It is a short, fast drink and it suits the people who order it that way: two or three minutes, standing up, usually before ten in the morning. The small volume also means it cools quickly, so it is a poor choice to carry out. The Flat White is the same idea in an 8oz cup with more milk, and the Ristretto Bianco pushes the strength further with three blonde shots.