Turin, Piedmont
Bicerin
Chocolate, espresso and cream in three layers you never stir
Poured in Turin since the 1700s in a small handled glass — bicerin means little glass. The whole point is that it stays layered and you drink down through it.
Small glass
Glass
120 ml
Layers
3
Rule
Never stir it
Servings
1
Ingredients
- dark chocolate, 70%, chopped25 g
- whole milk50 ml
- espresso36 ml
- whipping cream, cold, whipped to soft peaks30 ml
Method
1
Make the drinking chocolate
Warm the milk, take it off the heat, stir the chopped chocolate in until it is glossy and thick enough to coat a spoon.
2
Warm the glass, then fill a third
Chocolate into a warm glass. A cold glass sets it into a plug that the espresso will never sit on cleanly.
3
Float the espresso
Pour slowly over the back of a spoon. Sweetened chocolate is denser than espresso, so the coffee stays on top of it.
4
Cap with cream
Barely whipped cream, spooned on so it holds. Serve without a spoon — stirring it is the only way to get this wrong.
Notes
- The layers hold because each one is denser than the one above. Sweeten the chocolate, never the espresso, or you invert the order.
- The marocchino is this drink shrunk down — same three ideas, cocoa powder instead of melted chocolate.
What you need
- Espresso machine (pump) or Lever / piston machine or Moka pot