Affogato
Section: Hot · espresso · dairy
Applies to: a scoop of vanilla ice cream with a fresh double espresso poured over it at the pass; served immediately.
Target: espresso poured and served within 10 seconds of the shot finishing.
Operating procedure
- Hold the vanilla ice cream at scooping temperature and portion with a sized scoop, not by eye.
- Chill the serving cup or coupe so the ice cream holds its shape longer.
- Have the guest ready to receive it — affogato is a to-order, serve-at-once drink, not a hold item.
- Be ready to pull the espresso fresh per the espresso-extraction SOP only once the ice cream is scooped.
- Place one measured scoop of vanilla ice cream into the chilled serving cup.
- Portion with a sized scoop so the ice-cream-to-espresso balance is the same every time.
- Scoop first, then pull — never let the shot wait for the ice cream.
- A shot left idle beyond about 10 seconds is dead; scoop before you start the pull.
- Pull a fresh double espresso directly at the pass.
- About 18 g in / ~36 g out / 25–30 s; hazelnut-gold crema.
- Pour the hot espresso over the ice cream immediately, in front of the guest where possible.
- Serve at once with a spoon — the drink is meant to be eaten and drunk as the ice cream melts.
- The espresso hits the ice cream within about 10 seconds of the shot finishing — never a rested or reheated shot.
- Ice cream is a clean, measured scoop and still holding its shape when it reaches the guest.
- Fresh crema visible on the surface where the hot shot meets the cold ice cream.
Affogato lives or dies on timing and contrast — a fresh hot shot on cold ice cream, served the instant it is poured; there is no holding this drink.
No caffeine figure is published for this drink: its record carries no tokenised ingredient list to derive from.