Serves one:
1 scoop of vanilla ice cream, well chilled
45 ml Rhum Café Fove, at room temperature
Method:
Place the scoop of ice cream in a glass. Pour the rum over it slowly, so it slides rather than plunges. Serve right away, with a small spoon.
Start with the spoon, finish with the glass.
A dessert that slows things down
The affogato is an Italian dessert: a scoop of ice cream with a hot espresso poured over it. The name comes from the verb affogare, to drown. Which is exactly what happens to the ice cream once the coffee covers it.
In Italy, a meal doesn't end with dessert. It ends with what comes after: the amaro, the grappa, the limoncello. What they call the digestivo. A small glass, neat or over ice, that closes the table.
The classic affogato belongs to coffee. You drink it in the afternoon, or as a quick finish to lunch. But there's a version that drifts toward evening, toward the digestif. You leave out the espresso and replace it with a spirit.
What we like about the digestivo isn't so much the alcohol as the moment. You don't drink it fast. You hold it in your hand, you talk, you wait.
The affogato with a digestif works the same way. The ice cream melts slowly, the alcohol dilutes, the texture turns creamy. You come back to it with the spoon, then with the glass. Ten minutes go by without your noticing.
It's the perfect dessert for the holidays. The one for long summer lunches, for afternoons when no one feels like leaving the table. You make it without fuss, and you take your time.
With Rhum Café, the affogato and the digestivo become one: the coffee and the alcohol are already in the glass, all that's missing is the ice cream.
