The combination of coffee and biscuits is as popular as tea and cookies, and coffee biscuits are a great way to take a mouth-watering break that is full of flavour and energy. All this provided you choose the right biscuits, the one that enhances the cup of espresso. Let us look here at some useful tips.
Coffee with biscuits – Why
Together with coffee, there are two types of sweetness: chocolate candies and biscuits. Only rarely cakes come with the cup and this happens for holiday lunches or special occasions. There are also many different types of coffee biscuits, which include shortbread, sable and stuffed or filled cookies of different degrees of sweetness.
In any case, none contrasts with the aroma of coffee, regardless of whether one chooses the floral notes of honey and citrus or the roasted notes of nuts such as almonds, walnuts and hazelnuts that characterize some biscuits such as “cantucci” and “amaretti”. The choice of the best coffee biscuits should be made on taste: those who like to drink bitter coffee may opt for a dark chocolate biscuit with an intense taste, those who like sweetness will prefer vanilla notes and fruity flavours.
In no case is wrong, and choosing a coffee biscuit is important to find the one that allows you to carve out a wellness break.
What kind of biscuits to pair with coffee?
Many different types of biscuits go best with coffee, and among them are:
– Butter biscuits: This traditional, crumbly, buttery biscuit goes wonderfully with espresso with a delicate, enveloping taste, reminding to cream
– Chocolate chip or fondant iced biscuits: chocolate pairs perfectly with coffee, and Portioli advice is to prefer a 70% fondant to be served with a cup of 100% Arabica espresso
– Dried fruit biscuits: almonds, hazelnuts and walnuts together with coffee for a moment of undisputed pleasure even to lovers of traditional Neapolitan espresso
Chocolate candies or biscuits for coffee
“Dolcetto” with coffee, whether chocolate candies or biscuits, is an Italian tradition to balance sweet and coffee. Centro Studi Assaggiatori dictates the rules of the perfect pairing. It emphasizes “the importance of ‘potency’ (the intensity and persistence of aromas), ‘depth’ (the pairing is more pleasing if there is a richness of aromas that are different from each other, but that blend into a chord) and ‘perfection’ (it is necessary not to make any distortions in combining flavours and aromas).”
When it comes to espresso, it is great to pair a shortbread with a floral aroma, such as citrus-scented or honey biscuits. Also excellent are biscuits and sweets with dried fruit, such as hazelnut, found for example in Piedmont’s “Baci di Dama”, or almond, found in “Cantucci”, or “Amaretti”.
No less appreciated is chocolate, which can be from time to time a sweet or dark praline, depending on the aromatic characteristics of the cup of espresso. Espresso itself arouses in the drinker that special craving for something sweet and good that no one can resist.
Craving for dessert triggered by coffee
Coffee and biscuits or chocolate candies are a proven pairing since, as we just mentioned, caffeine ignites the craving for sweet. This is a mechanism that temporarily alters taste by reducing sensitivity to sweet flavours, which are immediately craved by the person as shown by a group of scientists from the American Cornell University, authors of a study published in the ‘Journal of Food Science’.
In this study, researchers show how caffeine is a potent antagonist of adenosine receptors, which are associated with feelings of relaxation and drowsiness. By inhibiting these cellular switches, the stimulant substance produces the classic ‘wake-up effect,’ but at the same time makes people experience sweet tastes less. Paradoxically inducing the drinker to crave them.
That is why the cup should always be served with something sweet, and Portioli offers baristas a choice of sweet treats to pamper customers. These are chocolate dragées with whole hazelnuts wrapped in fine milk chocolate perfect for coffee and shortbread, the pastry cookie with cinnamon aftertaste together with Portioli best espresso.
