The Two-Ingredient Coffee Dessert I’m Making All Summer Long

I am a coffee snob—the kind of person who packs a hand grinder and scale in his luggage to avoid bad coffee at my destination, and who would sooner suffer a caffeine-withdrawal headache than submit to whatever’s brewing at many ubiquitous chains. And yet, even I swore that I would never go down the road of making espresso at home. It was too much of an investment in equipment, a skill I was happy to leave to baristas.

And then I was given an espresso machine from work for long-term testing. I’ve now gone down the espresso road. Far down it. It didn’t take long before I was upgrading the portafilter basket, swapping out my grouphead for a better one, tearing open the machine and voiding the warranty to install a PID for better temperature control. I got a new grinder that could handle espresso grinds, then I bought another new grinder that could handle espresso grinds better.

The thing is, I’m enjoying it. I’m a going-down-the-rabbit-hole kind of guy, and despite my years of avoidance, it’s clear that adopting an espresso practice at home is the logical thing for a person like me. Plus, now I can make one of the world’s quickest and easiest coffee desserts—the affogato—whenever I want. And this summer, I expect that to be all the time.

Affogare means “to drown” in Italian, and so this dessert drink’s (or is it a drinky dessert?) name describes the act of drowning gelato in a hot shot of espresso. The recipe is so simple, it’s hardly a recipe. There are only a few things to know:

• Taste is subjective, but most people will probably prefer a medium to darker roast here. More lightly roasted coffees tend to be brighter, fruitier, and more acidic, which can be great when drinking them black; however, they don’t always pair as well with dairy and sugar. A richer, chocolatier, roastier coffee is a more natural pairing with vanilla ice cream. That said, if you love bright, fruity coffee with ice cream, go for it.
• This isn’t a particularly exacting drink, but you’ll probably want roughly an ounce to an ounce and a half of espresso for a generous scoop of ice cream. That should be enough to “drown” the ice cream with espresso without overwhelming it.
• Feel free to experiment: Vanilla gelato is the classic pairing, but you can try other ice cream flavors. Chocolate and coffee are natural partners, as are caramel or butterscotch flavors, or anything nutty, such as butter pecan, hazelnut, or gianduia. You could also spike it with some alcohol, such as rum or a flavored liqueur, or garnish it with toppings like whipped cream, shaved chocolate, or a dusting of cinnamon.

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