A friend of mine has a rule: If affogato is on the menu, she’s absolutely ordering it. That came to mind on a recent afternoon when, amid a maze of moving boxes and in need of a caffeine jolt, I sought out one of the coffee and ice cream treats. I landed at Smith+Canon, an award-winning ice cream shop that serves fresh roasted coffee, too, for an afternoon affogato.
In its simplest form, the Italian dessert consists of espresso poured over ice cream or gelato. The word “afogatto” translates to “drowned.” But in Denver, dessert aficionados and coffee connoisseurs put their own spin on the treat.
Your portal to la dolce vita is through Door 5 at Colorado Mills mall in Lakewood where you’ll find the Smith+Canon counter. Here, owner Curt Peterson, a self-professed “coffee nerd,” has curated his small-batch ice cream menu so that a half dozen flavors are perfect for drowning in coffee.
The beauty of affogato is it’s not tied to a single season. Smith+Canon (14500 W. Colfax Drive, Lakewood; smithcanon.com) offers a menu of popular pairings, like a salty, toffee butterbrickle served hot with espresso or cold with Whiskey Barrel coffee.
I order a house favorite: The Foxy Brown, a cinnamon cheesecake ice cream paired with a cinnamon nitro cold brew. It gets better, richer and more nuanced with each sip as the sweetness of the ice cream and the bitterness of coffee meld together, neither overpowering the other.
Here are three more Colorado spots where affogato is on the menu (and you should definitely order it).
High Point Creamery
When High Point Creamery opened in the Denver Central Market in 2016, the ice cream parlor collaborated with Crema, the market’s coffee shop, to serve an affogato. Outfitted with espresso machines, affogato is a staple at High Point’s three other shops, located in the Hilltop and Berkeley neighborhoods, plus a newly opened Central Park parlor.
Vanilla is a popular flavor, but salted caramel pairs wonderfully with espresso, too, said Erika Thomas, owner of High Point Creamery.
High Point also serves a non-caffeinated “choffogato,” topped with whipped cream and sprinkles, an idea that came courtesy of Thomas’ 11-year-old daughter Ruby.
“We were at dinner one night and she said she wanted a hot chocolate, but with a scoop of ice cream in it,” Thomas said. “I said, ‘like an affogato with hot chocolate?’” The choffogato was born.
Multiple locations. highpointcreamery.com
Dry Land Distillers
Move over, espresso martini. Dry Land Distillers dreamed up an affogato martini as an alternative coffee cocktail.
“I am a complete sucker for an affogato, so when the opportunity arose for us to incorporate it into our cocktail menu, I leaped at the chance,” said Kelly Dressman, Dry Land’s brand manager.
Nels Wroe, owner of Dry Land, has experience in the coffee world, so his discerning palate helped dial in the right local roast for the espresso. The cocktail is rounded out with the distillery’s Heirloom Wheat Whiskey, a house-made coffee liqueur, and an organic vanilla bean ice cream.
519 Main St., Longmont; drylanddistillers.com
Jovanina’s Broken Italian
Jake Linzinmeir, co-owner and head chef at Jovanina’s Broken Italian, learned the art of affogato while he was working at Le Calandre, a restaurant near Venice, Italy, two decades ago. The chef would often whip truffles or even lard into the base for a decadent affogato.
Jovanina’s has an affogato station with a La Marzocco espresso machine next to the restaurant’s ice cream. Diners can add on Fernet-Branca, an Italian amaro, for a boozy affogato.
The restaurant changes its affogato offerings with the seasons, and one that’s currently on the menu is made using a soft-serve machine that has the restaurant’s own ice cream base for a lighter texture. The gelato version works great with hazelnut or pecan, and Meyer lemon is a nice summer twist, Linzinmeir says.
1520 Blake St., Denver; jovanina.com