If you haven’t already heard, Starbucks is bringing ice cream to the menu in select locations of its stores. While this might seem like an odd departure from the typical coffee shop offerings, it’s actually not.
The ice cream is coming in the form of affogato, a traditional Italian dessert. An affogato is when a shot of espresso is poured over a scoop of gelato, typically vanilla, but sometimes other flavors too. The resulting dessert is simultaneously sweet, bitter and almost excessively creamy. If you’re not sold yet, please check your pulse.
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The new Starbucks “Roastery Affogato menu,” as it’s called, will be available at 10 select locations in Los Angeles, Boston, and D.C. for now. A less-expensive form of the menu will also be available at 100 other Starbucks storefronts across Orange County, California.
The reserve menu will offer everything from a Classic Affogato ($6) to a Cold Brew Malt ($8.50) that will be made with small-batch cold brew coffee, vanilla ice cream and chocolate bitters. Yum. YUM. The limited menu will serve similar items, but the most expensive offering will be a cold brew malt made with Starbucks’ Narino 70 cold brew and chocolate bitters ($6.40).
Previously, the affogatos were only available at Starbucks’ Reserve Roastery and Tasting Room in Seattle, where the coffee giant was founded. The menu item debuted last June, and according to Business Insider, it has consistently been a top-5 menu item since the release—even during colder months.
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Though the affogatos served at the Roastery are both expensive and complex (think espresso, vanilla syrups and mint sprigs in one case), the offering was so popular that it seemed only logical to simplify and expand the affogato trend. As a test, Starbucks debuted three affogato-style Frappuccino flavors last summer—vanilla bean, caramel and mocha.
All we can say is, if the new affogato options are anything like the affogato-style Frappuccinos, we are ordering each and every one.
Coffee and ice cream, happily married. What could be better? Trick question: The answer is nothing.