Shakerato: The Iced Coffee from Italy That's Shaken, Not Stirred

Summer isn't complete without iced coffee. Every year when the weather gets even remotely warm, I get a hankering to make cold brew. I love to make a big batch the night before to drink throughout the next day. But when I don't plan ahead, I don't have any cold brew to enjoy. That's when making a Shakerato is my fastest fix for iced coffee. This classic Italian caffè drink is made by shaking a shot of espresso with a copious amount of ice to achieve a frothy, chilled cocktail-like iced coffee that's perfect on a sweltering afternoon. Just imagine enjoying it on a terrace in Rome. It's perfetto!



What's really interesting about the Shakerato, is it's made with just coffee and ice, and either a spoonful of sugar or simple syrup. I also add a pinch of salt to help tone down the bitterness of the espresso. It's proven to work! Now once you shake up these ingredients together, you'll be amazed at how frothy it all becomes. Poured into a chilled cocktail glass, it resembles a real cocktail, except it's just coffee. I guarantee once you try this caffeinated concoction, you'll be drinking it all summer long.

Normally, this drink is made using a shot of espresso. Since I don't have an espresso machine, I use my Aeropress with the Fellow Prismo attachment. This setup produces extra pressure in extracting the coffee, resulting in an espresso-like shot that works just fine for the Shakerato. You could also prepare the coffee in a Moka pot. In lieu of a cocktail shaker, I use a glass jar with a tight-fitting lid, but a plastic protein shaker also works mighty well.

Shakerato

Ingredients
15 grams finely ground coffee
50 grams (milliliters) boiling water
1 large pinch sugar
1 small pinch salt
6 to 8 ice cubes

Apparati
Aeropress
Fellow Prismo
Cocktail shaker (or jar with tight-fiting lid or protein shaker)
Cocktail glass, chilled

Using your Aeropress, push the plunger into the brewing sleeve, until about the 2-mark. Place it upside-down over an accurate coffee scale. Add 15 grams coffee. Pour over with 50 grams boiling water, stirring very well. Remove the Aeropress from the scale.

Pull the brewing sleeve downward so the level of the coffee meets the bottom of the brewing sleeve. Screw on the Fellow Prismo attachment. Turn the Aeropress over a cocktail shaker. Press firmly to extract the espresso shot.

Add the sugar and salt to the shaker. Swirl to dissolve. Add the ice cubes to the shaker, screw on the top tighlty, and shake for 30 seconds. Strain the coffee into a chilled cocktail glass. Serve immediately. Yield: 1 drink.