This Nespresso Barista Creations Corto is the darkest roast of the three coffees released as part of the Barista Creations range that’s designed for preparing with milk. It’s a blend of African Arabicas and Robusta — with Ugandan Robusta as the base — that have been roasted long and dark for a Spanish-style coffee.

It has an intensity of 11 out of 12 and comes in a brown capsule with a marbled pattern.

The espresso was a translucent black-brown colour with a syrupy and dark roasted aroma.

Prepared as a cortado — 40 mL of coffee, 10-20 mL hot milk and 2 small spoons of milk froth — as recommended, the coffee was one of those most intense in the Nespresso range without a doubt. The flavour was intense and syrupy with an unrelenting bitterness even with the milk to take off the edge. Prepared using our preferred method as a long black with a 1:1 water to espresso ratio and 10-20 mL of hot milk, the syrupy richness of the dark roast continues to came through with a thick mouthfeel ahead of a strong bitterness in the body that continues to develop in prominence into the finish with a rich, roasted flavour lingering in the aftertaste. Overall, this coffee is too dark a roast for our preferences and we prefer the more pleasant bitter cocoa and cereal notes of the Dharkan.

This Nespresso Barista Creations Corto contained 10 x 5.3 g capsules. It was produced in Switzerland and purchased in Sydney, Australia in 2019.