Category: Recipes, Drinks | Post by: Andrea Wong
I love this time of year. The days are usually long and hot (except for this weekend!) and if you are like me, by the middle of the afternoon I am dying for a refreshing drink that is also some kind of pick-me-up. By then, my morning coffee was well worn-off and I can feel my fingers twitching towards the coffee jar. I know that the best thing is to have a big glass of cold water and I do try and get my two litres a day but sometimes water just isn't satisfying enough.
While travelling around Italy a few years ago during summer, I was introduced to a popular Italian drink - the caffe shakerato. With its cute Italian-ised name, I had to try it. It was delicious! It's a delightfully cold, refreshing coffee that is perfect for a hot sunny day. And Italy being Italy, where it is not uncommon to see people having an alcoholic drink at 9am, the caffe shakerato is often served with a dash or two of liqueur like Amaretto or Baileys by default. The caffe shakeratos that I had - "senza Amaretto, per favore" - were of the non-alcoholic variety but were just as delicious!
I was happy to learn that caffe shakeratos are made by almost any place in Italy that serves coffee and when I saw how easy it is to make, I couldn't wait to try it at home.
Caffe Shakerato
Serves 1
What you need
- Something to make a strong coffee - preferably an espresso machine or stove top coffee maker (eg Bialetti). If you only have a plunger, put in 1 1/2 tbsp of coffee and pour in a small amount of boiling water to make a strong coffee
- Cocktail shaker
- Sugar syrup (melt equal parts white sugar and water - it's useful to make a batch and keep the rest in the fridge)
Ingredients
- 1 shot of freshly made espresso, watered down if necessary to make approx 70ml of coffee
- 8-10 ice cubes
- 1-2 tsp sugar syrup
- dash of Amaretto or your favourite coffee liqueur
Directions
- In a cocktail shaker, put in the sugar syrup, Amaretto and ice cubes
- Pour the hot coffee over the ice
- Put the top on the shaker and shake firmly for 8-10 seconds
- Immediately pour the shaken coffee in your glass, using a strainer
Sip and enjoy!