What Is a Cortado? Ratio, Size and How to Make One

A cortado is a double shot of espresso cut with about the same amount of warm steamed milk, served small, in a glass of roughly 4 to 5 ounces. The milk is steamed rather than foamed, so it softens the espresso without burying it. That ratio is the whole definition. The catch: the name travels badly, and what arrives depends on where you order it.

The ratio in one line: two shots of espresso, about two ounces of milk, little foam, a 4 to 5 ounce glass.

Where the cortado sits among espresso-and-milk drinks

The espresso barely changes across this family. The milk, the foam and the cup do. Here is the cortado beside the four drinks it gets confused with most.

Sources: macchiato from Breville's macchiato recipe and Methodical Coffee's three-drink comparison; cortado from Methodical's cortado guide; Gibraltar from Wikipedia's cortado entry; flat white from Methodical and Breville's flat white recipe; latte from Methodical's latte guide and Breville's latte recipe.

For the cappuccino, and a closer look at microfoam versus dry foam, see cappuccino vs latte vs flat white. The milk drink ratios tool lets you scale any of these to your own cup.

One name, three different drinks

Cortado comes from the Spanish cortar, to cut: the milk cuts the espresso. Wikipedia's entry notes that the exact ratios vary considerably by region, even in Spain. In the United States, three versions travel under nearly the same name.

The Gibraltar is named after its glass. Blue Bottle Coffee started serving cortados in Libbey's Gibraltar tumbler, which Libbey still sells as a 4.5 ounce cortado glass, and the name stuck in San Francisco. Starbucks added its Cortado to the core menu in January 2025, built on ristretto shots: the first, more concentrated portion of a shot, which Starbucks says tastes sweeter.

Ordering tip: an 8-ounce cup is nearly twice the size of a 4.5-ounce glass. If you want the small, espresso-forward original, ask for it in a glass, or order a Gibraltar where one is on the menu.

Cortado vs latte, flat white and macchiato

• Cortado vs latte: both usually start from a double shot, but a latte carries about 8 oz of milk to the cortado's 2, four times as much (calculated from Methodical's figures). A cortado tastes like softened espresso; a latte tastes like coffee-flavored milk.
• Cortado vs flat white: the closest cousins. A flat white is a little bigger, about two-thirds milk, and finished with thin microfoam.
• Cortado vs macchiato: a macchiato is espresso marked with a spoonful of foam. A cortado is half milk.
• Macchiato vs latte: the opposite ends of the table, a 2 to 3 oz shot with a dab of foam against a 12 oz cup that is mostly milk.

Because the milk only doubles the volume, a cortado has nowhere to hide a harsh shot. If yours tastes sharp or ashy, fix the espresso first with the sour vs bitter espresso guide.

How to make a cortado with an espresso machine

Methodical's home method, with Breville's milk temperatures:

1. Pull a double shot straight into a 4 to 5 oz glass.
2. Pour about 4 oz of cold milk into the pitcher. You will use roughly half of it.
3. Steam with only a brief stretch at the surface. The goal is hot, silky milk, not a foam cap.
4. Stop around 140 to 150°F, the range in Breville's recipes. If the pitcher is too hot to hold for more than a moment, you are there.
5. Tap and swirl the pitcher, then pour about 2 oz into the espresso until the glass holds roughly equal parts.
6. Drink it straight away, while the balance holds.

Milk, not foam: if the top looks like a cappuccino, you stretched too long. Keep the wand tip deeper and let it spin and heat.

The full steaming technique is in how to make a latte at home; a cortado uses the same skills with less air.

How to make one without a machine

A cortado with no espresso machine is a close cousin rather than the real thing, but a strong one is easy:

1. Brew a concentrate. Methodical puts a double shot at about 20 g of ground coffee. A small moka pot such as the Bialetti Moka Express 3-Cup, or the AeroPress Original run as an espresso-style recipe, gets closest; the latte guide has the AeroPress recipe, and moka pot bitterness fixes help if the stovetop version tastes harsh.
2. Warm 4 to 5 oz of milk on the stove to around 140°F.
3. Froth it only lightly with a handheld frother such as the Zulay, or a few plunges of a French press.
4. Combine about 2 oz of milk with the coffee in a small glass.

Whatever you brew with, make it strong. Coffee at ordinary drip strength plus equal milk is milky coffee, not a cortado.

Gear that makes it easier

• Espresso with milk handled for you: the Breville Bambino Plus has an automatic steam wand that textures milk to a set temperature and foam level, so you can keep the foam low.
• Espresso with a manual wand: the Breville Bambino keeps the fast heat-up and small footprint, and you control the stretch yourself.
• No machine, handheld milk: the Subminimal NanoFoamer makes fine microfoam from milk you warm separately.
• No machine, hands-off milk: the Maestri House frother heats and froths in one jug.

Weighing a machine against a pod system first? Pod machine vs espresso machine covers the trade-off, and espresso beans vs coffee beans explains what to put in the grinder.