Italian coffee, made properly at home
Italy·Lighter version available

Affogato al caffè

Drowned gelato — dessert in 20 seconds

The one recipe where a slightly over-extracted shot is fine, because sugar and fat forgive everything.

Small glass
Gelato
2 scoops
Espresso
1 shot
Serve
Immediately
Servings
1

Ingredients

  • fior di latte or vanilla gelato2 scoop
  • espresso, very hot36 ml

Method

1

Freeze the glass

Cold glass buys you an extra minute before it turns into soup.

2

Scoop and pull

Gelato in the glass, then pull the shot directly over it at the table.

3

Take the coffee to the gelato

Not the other way round. Thirty seconds of carrying a shot across the kitchen is the difference between a dessert and a bowl of soup.

Notes

  • Variations worth doing: pistachio gelato under a dark roast, or hazelnut gelato with a strip of orange zest.
  • A scoop of frozen crema di caffè instead of gelato makes it richer and more Italian still.

Lighter version

Frozen banana blitzed with a splash of milk gives you a scoopable base that behaves like gelato under hot espresso. Not the same drink, but it is genuinely good and it is one ingredient.

What you need

  • Espresso machine (pump) or Lever / piston machine or Moka pot