The best coffee dessert: affogato

If you like coffee and do you like ice cream you’re going to love affogato. It’s an Italian dessert made with coffee and ice cream and it is the simplest thing in the whole world to make and it’s absolutely perfect for a hot sunny afternoon or for dessert on a summer evening.

Aggogato means “drowning” in Italian and it is so named because the expresso coffee drowns the ice cream in the glass or bowl.

Great espresso is the starting point.

 All you need is some excellent espresso, some vanilla ice cream or gelato and a little bit of chocolate to top it off. You have to be sure to have all the ingredients ready because you have to make it relatively quickly otherwise the ice cream will melt before you are finished. 

You can use any glass or bowl or cup you like but I think it’s good to make affogato in a stem glass with a relatively wide bowl. A martini glass is perfect if you have one. Some people chill the glasses in the fridge for 10 minutes beforehand but If you’re in a hurry there’s no need to do this. It will work out absolutely fine without chilled glasses. 

We always use Dreambeans Bourbon Manizales when we’re making affogato. There’s something about the taste notes and the lovely long finish that makes it very amenable to mixing with the vanilla ice cream, but any of the Dreambeans blends work brilliantly.  

How to make affogato

So how do you make an affogato? The first thing is to make some espresso. One shot per person is enough but keep a little extra in reserve, just in case. Once you have made the coffee put a single scoop of ice cream into each of the classes and pour the hot espresso slowly over the top of the scoop of ice-cream. The coffee will start to melt the ice cream as it flows over the top. Grate dome chocolate and over the top or chop some chocolate finely with a sharp knife and sprinkle it over the top. 

That’s it. That’s all you need. Grab a spoon and tuck in. You’ll love it!