I ♥ coffee.  Just thinking about it lures me out of bed each morning.  I like coffee strong and black.  But it’s not about the caffeine, I truly love the taste of coffee.  Properly brewed coffee using good quality beans can have floral, citrus, chocolate, earthy/mushroomy, and/or sweet notes.

You can make a perfectly good cup of coffee in an inexpensive French press; in fact, this is the way I prefer, even though my parents insisted on buying me a Keurig (which I traded in for a pasta attachment for my KitchenAid mixer, shh, don’t tell).

Following a few trips to Italy, I developed a fondness for a rich, concentrated espresso.  I don’t order coffee out very often, since I can easily make it myself at home and save a few bucks.  I attempt to limit myself to one cup per day (okay, maybe two, but any more than that and I’m bouncing off the walls).

Until recently, didn’t realize that enjoying an espresso at home was even an option, that is, without one of those fancy (and very expensive) espresso machines — definitely not in the budget.  That’s where the Bialetti Moka Express stovetop Espresso Maker enters the picture.  What took me so long to discover this ingenious, inexpensive invention?  It’s fantastic.

As I was reading up on making espresso at home, I stumbled upon affogato — simply, vanilla gelato with a hot shot of espresso.  Or, you can make a boozy version with the addition of a shot of hazelnut liqueur (Frangelico).  Ingenious in its own right.

When the hot espresso meets the cold gelato and it all starts to melt — simply divine!  I added a few cocao nibs on top for a little crunch.

Am not much of a dessert person.  Would rather finish a meal with a glass of (dessert) wine than just about any other sweet treat you might tempt me with.  But, I have to say, affogato is my type of dessert.

Always in search of the perfect cup of coffee.  These are a few of my favorite roasters, though new ones are popping up every day:

Vigilante, Washington D.C.
Qualia, Washington D.C.
Dark Matter, Chicago, IL
Intelligentsia, Chicago, IL
Mad Cap, Grand Rapid, MI, and Washington D.C. (coming soon)
Stumptown, Portland, OR
Any others I should add to the list?

Boozy Affogato

Vanilla gelato
Espresso or strong coffee
Frangelico
Cocao nibs

Place a scoop of gelato into each glass.  Place the glasses in the freezers for a few minutes.  Meanwhile, brew the espresso.  When the espresso is ready, take the glasses out of the freezer.  Pour the hot espresso on top of the gelato.  Top with Frangelico and cocao nibs.