Espresso Coffee Ingredients in Under-the-Radar Café Drinks

Which espresso coffee ingredients show up in obscure café drinks?

Beyond everyday café menus, a range of espresso drinks rarely appear because their customer base is small, not because they taste poor. A Caffè Shakerato, for example, is made by shaking a double espresso with ice in a cocktail shaker until a thick foam forms, then pouring it into a cup. The Red Eye is another little-seen option.

The technique behind the Caffè Shakerato dates to the 1990s, when baristas borrowed bartending methods for coffee-making. Its ingredients are simple: a double espresso plus a suitable amount of ice. Shops often skip such drinks because demand is narrow, so the espresso coffee ingredients stay familiar even when the drink names do not.

Espresso drinks come in a wide variety. Beyond the classic items we're all familiar with from everyday café visits, there are also quite a few "under-the-radar" options that rarely appear on menus because their audience is relatively limited. These coffees don't taste bad—it's just that their fame and popularity haven't caught up yet. In this article, Front Street will walk you through several obscure espresso drinks you'll almost never encounter in a café, including the Caffè Shakerato shaken up in a cocktail shaker and the rather hardcore-sounding Red Eye. See how many of them you've tried.

What members make up the espresso family? A rundown of several obscure espresso milk drinks and Red Eye coffee rarely found in cafés

However, it's precisely because espresso drinks are so incredibly diverse that, beyond the common styles we order at cafés almost every day, there are still some coffees that many shops simply don't serve—or whose popularity is quite limited. The reasons for not offering them vary, but the vast majority boil down to one thing: the target customer base isn't broad enough. And because of this, these coffees that the general public rarely knows about are usually what we label "under-the-radar."

So today, Front Street is here to round up several obscure espresso drinks that rarely, if ever, appear on café menus! Why not check and see how many of them you've already tried?

1. Caffè Shakerato

In our content from a couple of days ago, Front Street introduced how to make an iced salted mocha with the help of a cocktail shaker—and in fact, that technique was borrowed directly from the Caffè Shakerato.

The history of Caffè Shakerato can be traced back to the 1990s, when baristas, seeking breakthroughs and innovation, tried incorporating techniques commonly used in bartending into coffee-making—and thus Caffè Shakerato was born.

The process and ingredients for this coffee are extremely simple: just put a double espresso along with a suitable amount of ice into a cocktail shaker and shake repeatedly. Once a thick foam forms on the surface, you can stop, then pour the coffee into a cup and serve it to your guest.

What members make up the espresso family? A rundown of several obscure espresso milk drinks and Red Eye coffee rarely found in cafés