La Cimbali team discuss surprising ingredients that taste good with espresso

Try something new with your Espresso!

A couple of months ago we produced a list of our five favourite foods that go really well with espresso, inspired by our love of chocolate Easter eggs. So last week we thought about things you can drink with, or add to your espressos, that may be a bit unusual, but will still taste great!

We all know that coffee tastes good with milk, cream and sugar, and of course plenty of us are advocates for black, with nothing added. But here are a few suggestions that you may not have thought of that are definitely worth a try, which our team at our headquarters in Elstree came up with.

Butter

Adding butter to your espresso is a bit crazy… but wellness experts swear by it! Particularly in the morning, this buttery drink is said to provide energy to keep you going for the rest of the day, and some people even drink buttery coffee to replace their breakfast! But adding butter to hot drinks is not a new health craze – as in Tibet the locals have been adding butter, salt and black pepper to their tea for years, and in Singapore, low quality coffee beans are often stir fried in butter in a wok before being strained through a filter.

Coconut Milk

For those of you who crave a non-dairy latte, why not try making your espressos with a dash of coconut milk. It provides an interesting alternative to regular milk or cream, with a strong flavour that comes through from the very first sip!

Egg

Mixing raw egg with your coffee in the morning may not be top of your ‘to do’ list, but in the Nordic countries of Scandinavia, many coffee drinkers add an egg to their coffee to clarify and colour it without leaving any sediment. 

Salt

Salt is known to be a good addition to coffee as it softens the bitterness. Some people even add salt directly to their grounds before brewing, but good coffee beans shouldn’t need it. If you let your coffee go cold…. adding a pinch of salt can perk up the flavour again.

Alcohol

We all know how great coffee tastes with Whisky, Kahlua and Tia Maria, but have you ever considered adding Vodka! In Sweden there is a traditional drink that involves adding strong distilled liquor to coffee, which is similar to Vodka. This certainly puts a kick into a regular espresso!

Try something new with your espressos today!