Horchata Latte

A horchata latte uses Mexican-style horchata, a sweet drink of soaked, blended rice and cinnamon, in place of milk, with espresso poured over it on ice. The rice gives a light creaminess, the cinnamon a warm spice, and the coffee a bitter edge that keeps the sweetness in check.

Origin & Story

Two horchatas

"Horchata" names more than one drink. In Valencia, Spain, horchata de chufa is made from tiger nuts, small tubers soaked and ground with water and sugar; we cover it on our horchata de chufa page. In Mexico and Central America, horchata usually means a rice drink: raw rice soaked with cinnamon, blended, strained and sweetened, often with vanilla and sometimes with milk or almonds. It is one of the aguas frescas, the cold drinks sold from large glass jars at markets and taquerías.

The horchata latte uses the Mexican kind. It is a café drink of the United States, especially common in the Southwest and California, where horchata is an everyday drink. Some cafés make it with horchata concentrate or a horchata syrup; the best use real horchata in place of the milk.

Why rice works

Rice horchata is mostly water, with starch and a little fat from the rice, so it is lighter than milk but still creamy. That lightness is what lets the espresso come through. Milk-based horchata, or adding a splash of milk, makes it richer and closer to a latte. Cinnamon is the main flavour; Mexican cooks generally use the softer, papery canela (Ceylon cinnamon) rather than the hard cassia sticks common elsewhere.

Making the horchata

Soak long-grain white rice with a cinnamon stick in water overnight, in the fridge. Blend everything for a full minute or two, then strain through a fine sieve lined with cloth. This is the step that matters: badly strained horchata is gritty. Sweeten it, add vanilla, and chill it. It keeps for about three days in the fridge; shake it before pouring, because the starch settles.

Soaking in the fridge rather than on the counter is a safety choice. Rice can carry spores of Bacillus cereus, a bacterium that grows at room temperature, so keep the soaking rice and the finished horchata cold.

Building the latte

Pour chilled horchata over ice and float a double espresso on top. Because horchata is already sweet and spiced, the drink needs nothing else, though a dusting of cinnamon looks right. Hot horchata latte is possible, but rice starch thickens as it heats, so warm it gently and do not boil it.

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