If you start with something strong like espresso or cold brew concentrate, the coffee won’t turn weak and watery once you add the other ingredients. I like to use espresso because it comes out of the machine really hot, and the heat helps dissolve the chocolate sauce so it blends into the milk really well.
The way I usually make it is:
Pour one to one and a half tablespoons of chocolate sauce into a cup or a pitcher.
Pull two shots of espresso and stir them into the chocolate sauce while they are still very hot.
Stir about a cup of cold milk into the espresso/ chocolate. Adding the milk before you add the ice means that the liquid cools down and doesn’t melt all your ice into the drink.
Now add the ice!
It’s so easy to find an affordable espresso machine. I got mine from Target. Just about any coffee shop will sell espresso beans and grind them for you to use in the machine. (You’ll want to get it finely ground.) When you get all this stuff home, it’s pretty easy to make espresso. The espresso machine has a handle with a space to hold the grounds. You fill it up with ground espresso, tamp the espresso down firmly, and then fit it into the machine. Then press a button to run hot water through the handle and into the cup.
To pour a really good shot, make sure that the espresso is ground finely and that you press it firmly into the handle. A really good shot will have a lovely toffee color when it is pouring out of the machine, and appear thick but viscous as it pours. When it’s in the cup it will have a fine layer of foam on top called crema. The shot tastes good for about 20 seconds after you pour it, and then the crema starts to go away and the shot will taste black and bitter. Adding milk to the espresso quickly after you make the shot stops this from happening.
The proportions of the recipe aren’t really that important. I like mine with more espresso and less milk. Enjoy!