#136 What's your favorite coffee?
Affogato supremacy
Coffee is a deeply personal thing. You can tell a lot about a person from their coffee order. While no cup is the same, some cups truly stand above the rest. This is our (incredibly opinionated) coffee tier list.
In S tier, of course we have the affogato. It’s truly the epitome of the coffee experience. It’s not something to have every single day, but especially during this time of year, some afternoons an affogato is just magical. It’s incredibly easy to make as well. All you need is one scoop of ice cream (highly recommend vanilla bean) and a shot of espresso. The best way to enjoy it in my opinion is immediately or to have the espresso shot in a separate cup. This way you can slowly add the espresso in.
The only people who say they dislike affogatos are the ones who got served it a little too late. Affogatos need to be consumed IMMEDIATELY. Once you pour the espresso shot, the timer starts. You don’t want a melted milkshake. You want to slowly eat spoonfuls of decadent ice cream that’s beautifully caffeinated.
Americanos are probably the most controversial placement in this coffee tier list. I mean, why would you ever drink a diluted, watered down espresso? Honestly, good americanos are really hard to come by. If I wanted more liquid, I’d just get an espresso with some sparkling water and fresh orange juice. But hey, that’s just me.
Decaf belongs in the D tier. It’s the same thing with 0% beers. They shouldn't exist. Either you drink coffee or you don't.
Why café latte over cappuccino? Well, for years I was for the opposite but recently I have to say, the café latte is superior. Cappuccinos just have too much foam these days. I don't want a milk mustache. A café latte made with real milk is glorious. We have to protect real milk, it’s an endangered species.
All that being said, coffee is truly a PERSONAL experience. What’s your favorite cup of coffee?
P.S. If you ever find yourself becoming too dependent on coffee, refer to our 4 rules for coffee:
Never drink black coffee on an empty stomach
Drinking black coffee on an empty stomach is how you very quickly destroy your gut. It's okay once in a while, but never every day.Never go beyond two occasions of coffee
The law of diminishing returns prevail. You only want two "occasions" of coffee. It's all we’re prescribed in a 24 hour period. Perhaps an early morning cappuccino. And some espresso with friends in the afternoon. If you really need a subtle buzz, get tea or mate. Plus, the novelty and 'punch' of coffee really wears off after the second cup. You'll quickly find yourself on the slippery slope of dependency and at that point, coffee is using you.Stay hydrated
Drinking just coffee without anything else leads to dehydration. Make sure you consume real liquids before & after coffee consumption. This doesn't mean downing endless cups of water, it means hydrating yourself with liquids that move the needle. Tasteful drinks imbued with naturally occurring electrolytes. Think coconut water, sugarcane juice, spring water, milk, etc.Drink quality coffee
It truly makes a difference. Sipping coffee made from quality beans will drastically alter your coffee experience. Don't listen to the guys who want to skimp on every dollar. $1 coffee is quite CERTAINLY bad for you. You're drinking mold. The premium you pay for coffee at high end cafés is almost always justified. They take care of their grinders and machines every single day. Their beans are freshly roasted. Only thing is to make sure they're using good milk. Oat milk propaganda has spread too far.
The beehive
An integral part of a society in ascendency
Vanilla summer
The aristocratic choice, always
The best dessert
I love butter and I don’t think I will ever eliminate it from my diet but being Greek, olive oil is in our daily cooking, used when children are baptized and used in Greek-Orthodox funerals. It’s big thing for Greeks.
We used it in our daily cooking and when I saw my friend, Chef Manolis Papoutsakis make this olive oil spread, I knew this would be a hit!
There’s zero butter in this recipe, the name refers to the look. Allow me some leeway in calling this whipped olive oil butter: this is much better than the margarines out there purporting to be olive oil spreads.
❋ THE COMPLETE GUIDE TO ITALIAN CHEESES (AND THE 13 KINDS TO KNOW)
With over 400 different kinds, it’s very easy to get lost in the world of Italian cheeses. Not only does each region have its own varieties and production methods, but many different milks can be used as well, from buffalo and cow’s milk, to goat- and sheep’s milk.
We’re all familiar with mozzarella and Parmesan cheese, but it’s time to get to know some more classic Italian cheeses. Here’s our guide, sorted by texture (soft, semi-soft, or hard) and complete with ideas on how to cook up delicious, cheesy dishes. Buon appetito!Before we begin, a few diet notes: Many cheeses mentioned here contain the cow-sourced enzyme rennet and are therefore not vegetarian, though different brands may offer vegetarian friendly versions. For more on this, check out our article on how to figure out which cheeses are vegetarian.
If you are lactose intolerant, as a general rule of thumb you can check the sugar content of the packet of cheese as an indication of the lactose level: Cheese with low levels of lactose will have 5 g or less per 100g and anything with less than 1 g is considered to have ‘trace’ levels. Generally, the longer the aging process, the less lactose is present.
❋ BOUILLABAISSE (FRENCH FISH SOUP)
Soups were a big part of my first round of classes at culinary school in France. We started with simple broths like chicken stock, worked our way up to classic French onion soup, and ended with a soup from Marseille called bouillabaisse (pronounced “BOO-ya-bess”). While similar to cioppino, a San Francisco fish and shellfish stew, bouillabaisse is a celebration of fish, where various kinds of fish are cooked in an orange-hued broth flavored with saffron, fennel, and orange zest.
Because I’m never going to be able to source the same kinds of fish available in Marseille and France, I created this version that is a bit more streamlined when making the broth and uses whatever white fish is available to you. This bouillabaisse is all about the fish — no potatoes or shellfish or filler. It’s doable even on a weeknight, but can also be an impressive dinner party entrée too. Here’s all you need to know about making this classic French soup.
❋ Read our latest WARKITCHEN magazines:
❋ Get your copy of Optimal Fuel: Your Nutrition Playbook here. It's a cookbook and nutrition guide — all in one. All proceeds go towards an outrageous amount of hearty ribeyes and raw honey!
❋ If you’d like to contribute an article or sponsor a future issue, please send your pitch to rocky@warkitchen.net.
❋ Explore the full WARKITCHEN archive here.
❋ Adding us (rocky@warkitchen.net) to your contacts, or moving us to primary, will make sure you continue receiving these emails.
Another awesome post, about my most favorite thing in the world… coffee!