My wife was just recalling coffee granitas, sort of coffee slushies. I may try something along those lines with a couple of shots of espresso, a little simple sugar, some milk, a few ice cubs, and the blender. Recommended changes or improvements welcome.
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There’s also a crema di caffe / crema al caffe/ Caffe crema some Italian coffee shops serve, which is a creamy coffee granita.
I like both coffee granita and crema di caffe.
Some versions of Espresso Fredo are also more of a slushie.
That sounds superb. Thanks.
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I think Crema al Caffe is the correct phrase, Eataly in Toronto calls it a Crema di Caffe.
I’ll post this recipe as a reference, to compare to what you are making at home.
Any fluency I ever had in Italian has been atrophying since I left Venice in 1962. However, thank you for the correction. BTW, I love your avatar. I have long admired Sophia. I encountered her on the beach at Livorno. Unforgettable.
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The Greek Freddo
Lucky you! 
(I wasn’t correcting your granite! I was correcting my crema di caffe vs crema al caffe)
Some coffee shops and bars have a slushie machine with coffee granita, with sugar but no dairy, churning all day, and others have a slushie machine with the creamier caffe al crema.
The caffe al crema is often a smaller serving than a regular coffee granita or a fruit granita, at least in Toronto. It’s pretty rich.
I became enamored with the description of a cocktail @PerdoPero had in CDMX called Reina Yara. I made my own version, 1-1/2 oz reposado tequila, 3/4 oz Galliano, filled the glass with ice and then added passion fruit soda and a splash of tonic. I even had a butterfly. It is luscious.
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How do you make yours?
A classic! Thank you!
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A PITA to make but lovely to nurse: pack tightly a julep cup or tall glass with alternating layers of crushed ice and powdered sugar with mint crushed in it. Pour in a jigger of Cognac and fill to the top with bourbon. Garnish with mint sprigs.
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Recently our martini nights shifted to Tanq and Noilly. Noilly lasted for the first round of one night. We knocked off the handle of Tanq, eventually. Tonight I am nursing Bombay red cap and Dolin, 3:1, and it has warmed a bit. It is so smooth and elegant while possessing proper assertiveness. For me, probably not for anyone else, Bombay and Dolin, 3:1, stirred 47 turns, garnished with one Mezzetta queen sized Spanish olive, served in a frozen Nick and Nora, is perfection, and I am ready to stop experimenting. It’s that good.
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2:1 Manhattan with Rittenhouse BiB rye, Carpano Antica Formula, and a dash of Angostura bitters, with a Luxardo cherry.
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I discovered that a local spice shop, Oaktown Spice, has tonic water kits: a set of herbs, spices, and citric acid to make a concentrate.
I got one and prepared it today. You simmer the kit’s contents with orange, lemon, and lime zest and juice. Then you add citric acid and strain it through a sieve and then cheesecloth (I used a paper towel). The recipe calls for a lot of sugar, and the main reason I was interested was that I don’t want all the sugar in commercial tonic waters (more than in Coca Cola, and sugar free tonics are sweetened with saccharine). So I used Splenda.
It’s delicious! More complex spice notes than the one-dimensional Schweppes. The tint is from the juices and zest. I made half the kit, which came to about a cup and a half of concentrate. Two tablespoons go into the drink, mixed with sparkling water.
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Just curious - why is splenda OK but not saccharine. Both are artificial sweeteners with the “typical” potential “side effects”
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Saccharine has a worse aftertaste for me.
As far as I know, saccharine hasn’t been sold in Canada for over 30 years.
I’ve been using Splenda since it became available, with no side effects and no aftertaste. No side effects from saccharine either, but it tastes awful. I think the tonic water producers think that its taste would be masked by the quinine, but it isn’t.
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