As a longtime fan of this delicious coffee-and-ice-cream concoction, I was happy to see the recent Wall Street Journal blurb encouraging us to “embrace the affogato – the Italian version of a grownup soda-fountain drink.”
“The caffeinated wonder combines hot espresso with cold gelato to create a melty, spoonable (or gulpable) treat.”
The potion has been popping up on restaurant menus in New York where stratospheric temperatures have ensured it an enthusiastic reception. I’m hoping that the WSJ photo of pastry chef Sarah Cox’s single shot of espresso over “homemade double chocolate stout and milk chocolate ice cream” will rev up yet more interest in this Italian triumph of multi-tasking (dessert, coffee break, even breakfast, all in one).
I have fond memories of the first time I tasted an Eiskaffee, the German/Austrian cousin of Caffee Affogato. It was a layered production of cold brewed coffee (instead of espresso), vanilla ice cream and freshly whipped cream in a tall parfait glass. It was more than 30 years ago but I can still see the tiny café tucked away a cobblestoned alley in Innsbruck, Austria, and I can still taste the dark-roasted coffee, creamy ice cream and impossibly light whipped cream.
A more recent memory is of lunchtime last September at an outdoor café in Beame de Venise, France where my husband and I were biking with a Backroads bike tour group. The cranky waitress insisted she could not serve us caffe afogato or eiskaffee, even though the restaurant featured a free-standing ice cream shop, and espresso, well, godssake, the French make an art of drinking espresso and smoking Gaulois. After listening to her emphatic “No, no, no, ce n’est pas possible,” I ordered a dish of vanilla ice cream and an espresso and, while she watched with an apoplectic stare, created my own affogato.
Here in Vienna I’ve found what is surely the most memorable take on this high-voltage brew. At Pfarrwirt, a magical inn first established in the 14th century (it’s said to be Vienna’s oldest restaurant), I was fascinated by the clever riff on Eiskaffee pictured here.
The tiny demitasse cup contained a shot of espresso crowned with freshly whipped cream; the silky panna cotta was flecked with vanilla beans; crushed pistachios garnished the sphere of soft vanilla ice cream; and, on the side, homemade cookies. Dark-roasted coffee beans dotted a decorative squiggle of buttery caramel sauce. It was a yummy surprise in a country where traditional usually trumps trendy.
We’re heading today to the Südtirol, Italy’s northernmost region and home of the imposing Dolomite mountains where we’ll trek for the next 8 days. Caffé Affogato will be our mid-afternoon coffee break each day.
If you’ve found a great version of this “energy” drink anyplace in the world, or concocted a great one at home, please do let this coffee-crazed writer know about it.
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