I've never been the biggest coffee fan. Sure, I like the taste of coffee ice cream well enough - who doesn't? - but the drink itself always left me jittery and unfocused. Not to mention it tended to set off my acid reflux disease, an altogether unpleasant experience.
Then I went to Italy. And my sweet lord, is the coffee there something to write home about.
My girlfriend and I went there with her folks for a week, and we made a driving tour of the northern part of the country. Our favorite spot - one that was want to return to - was a little village called Tremezzo, which overlooks Lake Como. It is one of the most popular resort spots in all of Europe, and when you go you get treated like royalty. Including getting the best cup of coffee you'll ever have in your life.
Since then, I've become a fan of coffee and have scoured the world and the web for the best coffee drink recipes. Some are better coffee drink recipes than others, but if you look hard enough, use quality ingredients and are willing to experiment a bit, you'll find coffee drink recipes that are made for your tastebuds.
One of my personal favorites is the Cafe Don Juan. It's a blend of different coffee drink recipes, and a blend of flavors, that are designed to stimulate all the taste buds in your mouth. The recipe itself calls for a number of different ingredients, but there's nothing too complex about it.
First, you'll need three quarters of an ounce of dark rum. You'll also want an ounce of Kahlua - which is coffee flavored liquor - and 5 ounces of hot coffee. Take a coffee cup, and rim it with lemon juice and sugar. Then fill the cup with the coffee and the two liquors. Finally float some whipped cream on top, sprinkle with a bit of grated dark chocolate, and serve. It's a wonderful blend of the sweet (sugar, Kahlua, whipped cream), the bitter taste of the coffee itself along with that of the dark chocolate, and the nice citrus bite of the lemon juiced rim.
It is, admittedly, a little more complex than other coffee drink recipes (most of which call for dumping a shot of bailey's into whatever swill you just got from dunkin' donuts), but it's worth the time and effort if you really want to enjoy a top-notch drink.