Ann (Anncruise) sent in a photo of a delicious looking cup of Italian iced coffee. I love iced coffee year round, which got me wondering about how many other types of summer Italian coffee drinks there may be out there. Here is but a few of the many tempting delights I found! Thank you Ann, for the wonderful idea to research yet one more thing we love about Italians…their specialty coffee drinks!
As the temperatures begin to rise, bars all over Italy start serving iced coffee, a beloved summer tradition many Italians enjoy. How do you like yours?
Italy’s Answer to Iced Coffee
It makes sense that the Italians would invent a most exquisite coffee drink for the summer. It’s a shaken-over-ice, slightly sweetened espresso called shakerato, served in a stemmed glass, prepared in bars all over the county.
The shaking process yields a thick crema that floats on the espresso. In Italy, ice is viewed with suspicion, and you’d never be served a tall glass of coffee over lots of ice, the way iced coffee is in the U.S. Too dangerous!
(From The Atlantic.)
Coffee granita
You have surely heard of granita, the Italian dessert consisting of sugar, ice and flavorings. The original recipe comes from the town of Messina, in the region of Sicily – that’s why it is also called “granitasiciliana” – and it derives from sherbet, an Arabic dessert. Today we teach you how to make a real granita siciliana al caffè (Sicilian coffee granita).
The original granita siciliana is made from three simple ingredients: coffee, sugar and ice.
Prepare 10 ounces coffee using a good Italian blend. A strong Arabica blend is the best choice. In a small pot, pour 16 ounces water, 9 ounces sugar and one vanilla bean. Cook over low heat until the sugar has completely melted and has turned into syrup. Take out the vanilla bean. In a steel pan combine coffee and syrup and stir using a wooden spoon. Let chill, then put the pan in the freezer.
Now comes the most important part. After one hour, take the pan out of the freezer and use a whisk to scrape the ice. Put the pan back in the freezer and do this every 30 minutes for three or four times. Serve the coffee granita in small glass cups and add some fresh whipped cream on top. Garnish with coffee beans or a dust of cinnamon powder.
Fun fact: granita siciliana was historically eaten along with fresh crisp bread. In today’s cafes it comes served with “brioscia”, a typical Sicilian pastry. Enjoy your granita al caffè!
Coffee frappe
In Italian it’s called “frappè al caffè” and it’s usually consumed during an afternoon break rather than as a dessert. A coffee frappè is a milkshake made with Italian espresso, milk, sugar, ice cubes and chocolate powder. Some recipes also feature two scoops of coffeegelato
Coffee soda
This coffee drink can’t be found everywhere in Italy: it’s a recipe from the southern region of Calabria, where it’s known by the name of Brasilena. It’s a sweet, cold drink made of Italian espresso, sparkly water, sugar, caramel and lemon juice
Coffee cocktail
How about an alcoholic drink with your favorite Italian beverage, to enjoy with your friends after a nice dinner? To make a high-quality coffee cocktail you will need an Italian coffee blend, vodka, coffee liquor and some ice cubes
I do not know what Piero and Max are drinking, but it sure looks like it could be some sort of coffee cocktail!! Looks good what ever it is!
(Credits to Filicori Zecchinis Usa…one of the most ancient coffee roasters in Italy, founded in Bologna in 1919.)
Well I don’t know about you,
but I am ready to settle down in a comfy lawn chair on the beach
gazing out over the Adriatic Sea,
while sipping on my coffee cocktail listening to Il Volo.
(Oh yes, and it would be perfectly alright with me if that nice young man in the blue shirt and glasses wanted to sit right next to me.)
Jane, very good, you made me feel very thirsty and I want to quench myself with a cool, even iced coffee.
Anncruise you had a nice suggestion on this hot day.
I suggest you another cool and very good drink, CAFFE’ SPUMONE, really good and easy to prepare.
Jane, I also wanted to tell you that the image of being lying on the seashore is beautiful, seeing a magnificent natural landscape and listening to IL VOLO (of course), but it must be very early in the morning, that is sunrise, so the 5/6 of morning. This is because on the Adriatic Sea you can see the dawn and sunset on the Tyrrhenian Sea.
Yes, Daniela, I could sit on that beautiful seashore for quite a long time! Thanks for the coffee suggestion. I’ll look that one up. I drink iced coffee year round even in the dead of winter. I just love it! 🙂
Thank you Zdena for the birthday greetings. I feel sad that there was so little response & uncaring handling of the IL Volo movie. I’m sure it must be a let down for the guys & definitely for us their fans.
Happy Belated Birthday, Loretta! Did you get my email I sent you regarding the movie theater issue? Penina contacted the fanclub at ilvolomusic.com and was told the country (Canada) must not have accepted the invitation to show the movie in their theaters. Sounds like the invite was put out there and certain theaters accepted it while others didn’t. Also sounds like smaller theaters accepted it. I know I was very surprised to see the areas, some being extremely small and out of the way places, where it is being shown. Have you tried calling your theater and asking if it’s too late to get the movie? I know some areas of the U.S. are not showing it until fall, so maybe it’s not too late to ask.
Please let me know of any othe states showing the movie in the fall. The advertising on this movie was nonexistent. There were 5 people in our theater. Fan clubs for Il Volo should have emailed all the devoted fans. Il Volo management spent a lot of money putting this movie out there for the public. They were very successful in producing a failure and annoying thousands of Il Volo fans especially when they heard about the movie after it was shown. I can plan a party with emails and a few phone calls and 125 people will show up. This was a monumental failure. in every theater that I called to check seating availability. I don’t know who is responsible for this failure and marketing was definitely missing. I hope the video we ordered from Amazon is the movie we saw. I will let you know when we get it. I’m so sorry Loretta. And Happy Birthday. Please get my email from someone and I’ll tell you about the movie and the songs sung. At least you will get some information. I also found some clips on YouTube from that concert.
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Loretta you must not be sad,I wonted to make you happy and on Sunday June 18 I sent you a greeting + song (pictures would certainly please you) – to your new mail adress that you posted in comments,but I think the e mail was lost during the trip,I´m sorry.
Thank you Zdena for the birthday greetings that I answered to you. I didn’t know anyone knew my birthday yours was greatly appreciated. Whatever else you sent THANK YOU. I had a wonderful day with my son & his friend. Please dont feel bad about anything that got lost. Usually I don’t get a response when I post something & that’s OK. I love readiing anything about the guys &
other comments from others here.
Hi Mary Ceminsky thank you for your birthday greetings also. Isn’t it appalling that any theatre is ignoring Il Volo movies. Yes I will phone some theatres to see if they are showing Il Volo movie. I don’t live in Toronto anymore which is a large city. So will phone a few theatres to see if it was shown. This blog with all Il Volo fans should take over looking after Il Volo promotions. Then for sure everyone wold know what & where Il Volo movies or concerts would be playing. We need to fill all theaters with Il Volo. They work so hard to give us the best they have & I for one would bend over backwards to promote them. I think we should contact Il Volo promoters to put a bomb under their feet to do a better job of sending out information of where & when they are going to be in a city or venue. This is just me exploding. Hope your day is wonderful & productive. I live in Canada do you?
Hi Victoria thank you also for your birthday greetings I had a great day with my son & his friend. As I stated to Mary Ceminsky I don’t think whoever is supposed to be looking after Il Volo promotions isn’t doing a very good job. This is my email address. iluvilvolo@gmail.com I hope this is right I don’t use my email very much.
So whatever Il Volo concerts etcetra you want to send me would be greatly appreciated. Hope ypur day is a wonderful one also.
I tried your email address and it didn’t get delivered. Try emailing me at vwils222@gmail.com and see if we can connect that way and I can reply to your email. Good luck.
Order me one of each and I’ll be right there…..save me a seat on the other side of Gorgeous!!
Mary, I think we will have a string of lawn chairs a mile long all waiting to sit next to “Gorgeous!” 🙂
I could skip the coffee but definitely would enjoy one order of the young man in the blue shirt. Oh yes!
I’m right there with you, Barbara!
And a a couple of side orders for the other two, sight unseen!
Jane, very good, you made me feel very thirsty and I want to quench myself with a cool, even iced coffee.
Anncruise you had a nice suggestion on this hot day.
I suggest you another cool and very good drink, CAFFE’ SPUMONE, really good and easy to prepare.
Jane, I also wanted to tell you that the image of being lying on the seashore is beautiful, seeing a magnificent natural landscape and listening to IL VOLO (of course), but it must be very early in the morning, that is sunrise, so the 5/6 of morning. This is because on the Adriatic Sea you can see the dawn and sunset on the Tyrrhenian Sea.
Yes, Daniela, I could sit on that beautiful seashore for quite a long time! Thanks for the coffee suggestion. I’ll look that one up. I drink iced coffee year round even in the dead of winter. I just love it! 🙂
We are having a heat wave here and iced coffee would be very good. Piero and Max look very good together. Joanie G
I feel for you Joanie. Have been reading about your heat wave in the newspaper. Stay hydrated and safe!
Happy summer solstice all you ancient Druids. Joanie G
Jane, you move over and sit next to Max. I’LL sit next to Piero! And any kind of iced coffee will do for me, thanks.
🙂 🙂 🙂
Thank you Zdena for the birthday greetings. I feel sad that there was so little response & uncaring handling of the IL Volo movie. I’m sure it must be a let down for the guys & definitely for us their fans.
Happy Belated Birthday, Loretta! Did you get my email I sent you regarding the movie theater issue? Penina contacted the fanclub at ilvolomusic.com and was told the country (Canada) must not have accepted the invitation to show the movie in their theaters. Sounds like the invite was put out there and certain theaters accepted it while others didn’t. Also sounds like smaller theaters accepted it. I know I was very surprised to see the areas, some being extremely small and out of the way places, where it is being shown. Have you tried calling your theater and asking if it’s too late to get the movie? I know some areas of the U.S. are not showing it until fall, so maybe it’s not too late to ask.
Please let me know of any othe states showing the movie in the fall. The advertising on this movie was nonexistent. There were 5 people in our theater. Fan clubs for Il Volo should have emailed all the devoted fans. Il Volo management spent a lot of money putting this movie out there for the public. They were very successful in producing a failure and annoying thousands of Il Volo fans especially when they heard about the movie after it was shown. I can plan a party with emails and a few phone calls and 125 people will show up. This was a monumental failure. in every theater that I called to check seating availability. I don’t know who is responsible for this failure and marketing was definitely missing. I hope the video we ordered from Amazon is the movie we saw. I will let you know when we get it. I’m so sorry Loretta. And Happy Birthday. Please get my email from someone and I’ll tell you about the movie and the songs sung. At least you will get some information. I also found some clips on YouTube from that concert.
Loretta you must not be sad,I wonted to make you happy and on Sunday June 18 I sent you a greeting + song (pictures would certainly please you) – to your new mail adress that you posted in comments,but I think the e mail was lost during the trip,I´m sorry.
Thank you Zdena for the birthday greetings that I answered to you. I didn’t know anyone knew my birthday yours was greatly appreciated. Whatever else you sent THANK YOU. I had a wonderful day with my son & his friend. Please dont feel bad about anything that got lost. Usually I don’t get a response when I post something & that’s OK. I love readiing anything about the guys &
other comments from others here.
Hi Mary Ceminsky thank you for your birthday greetings also. Isn’t it appalling that any theatre is ignoring Il Volo movies. Yes I will phone some theatres to see if they are showing Il Volo movie. I don’t live in Toronto anymore which is a large city. So will phone a few theatres to see if it was shown. This blog with all Il Volo fans should take over looking after Il Volo promotions. Then for sure everyone wold know what & where Il Volo movies or concerts would be playing. We need to fill all theaters with Il Volo. They work so hard to give us the best they have & I for one would bend over backwards to promote them. I think we should contact Il Volo promoters to put a bomb under their feet to do a better job of sending out information of where & when they are going to be in a city or venue. This is just me exploding. Hope your day is wonderful & productive. I live in Canada do you?
Hi Victoria thank you also for your birthday greetings I had a great day with my son & his friend. As I stated to Mary Ceminsky I don’t think whoever is supposed to be looking after Il Volo promotions isn’t doing a very good job. This is my email address. iluvilvolo@gmail.com I hope this is right I don’t use my email very much.
So whatever Il Volo concerts etcetra you want to send me would be greatly appreciated. Hope ypur day is a wonderful one also.
I tried your email address and it didn’t get delivered. Try emailing me at vwils222@gmail.com and see if we can connect that way and I can reply to your email. Good luck.