30/08/2022
I love these coffees. They are a local speciality and widely available in any coffee shop or restaurant in La Manga.
💛 In Cartagena, apart from the classic café con leche, cortado, Irish, American... but in particular there is a very special and well known by all Cartageneros, this coffee is called Asiático.
☕️ There are two versions as to the origin of this drink, but the truth is that it is deeply rooted in our customs.
💛 At the beginning of the 20th century with the arrival of sailors from Asia who used to ask for coffee with condensed milk and cognac and that is how it got its Asiático name.
🥛 Then there is another theory with more foundation given the popularity given to this drink in the Bar Pedrín at the hands of Pedro Conesa, located in the hamlet of Albujón as it would originate in 1950. Nowadays the original recipe is jealously guarded by Pedrín's wife and current owner José Rosique.
💛 Whatever the theory, what is certain is that the Asiático coffee has been spreading more and more to other parts of Spain since its beginnings.
🥃 Over time, Licor 43, made in Cartagena, also became part of the recipe, leading to the current recipe, which is completed with a little cinnamon, a lemon peel and a few coffee beans. But this is not the end of the peculiarities of the Asiatic, as it was always served in a vermouth-type glass made at the Unión Vidriera de España, in Santa Lucía (Cartagena). In the mid-1940s, the catering supply company José Díaz had it made by a company in Barcelona.
☕️ The original composition of this coffee, according to Rosique, is based on condensed milk, cognac, ground cinnamon and coffee, flavoured with lemon peel. It was served in vermouth-type glass cups made by Unión Vidriera de España in Santa Lucía (Cartagena).
💛 For the preparation of the Asiático coffee you only need these ingredients.
☕️ espresso coffee
🥛 condensed milk
🥃 brandy
🥃 liqueur 43
🟤 cinnamon
☕️ coffee beans
🍋 lemon peel
