Shaken Espresso Is The Easy Way To Improve Taste (Without Sacrificing Quality)

For a drink with essentially only one ingredient, there's a lot you can do to improve the taste of your espresso. The potent punch of espresso, famously enjoyed by Italians after dinner, contains a heap of caffeine and even more robust flavor — but the typical shot of espresso is only scratching the surface of what your tiny cup of pep could be.

Sure, you can improve the flavor of your espresso even before grinding the beans, but shaking your espresso with ice might just be the key to unlocking your espresso's true potential. The shaken espresso — founded in Italy as a caffè shakerato in the '90s — is a frothy and refreshing way to enjoy your espresso. The change in texture from shaking the beverage with ice and simple syrup or sugar is a result of aeration (adding air to the beverage by vigorously shaking it in a cocktail shaker for about 20 seconds). And the addition of a little sugar or simple syrup ups the viscosity of the shot (so it'll hold more air), contributing to its velvety texture and a rich, foamy head.

Without overly diluting your espresso, the ice chills and mellows it, making it less bitter and smoother. Just be sure to shake it with whole ice cubes rather than crushed ice, as the latter will melt off too much during the shaking process and excessively dilute your shakerato.

It's one thing to say that you need to buy the best espresso beans to improve your espresso's quality — it's another thing entirely to say that shaking your espresso is just as much of an improvement. In Italy, a caffè shakerato is served straight up, poured into a cocktail glass directly from the shaker with no added ice or milk. In the United States, Starbucks took the caffè shakerato and added it to the menu with the addition of ice and milk in the glass. The creamy texture of the original shakerato is compounded even more if you add milk, creating a velvety drink that goes down dangerously fast. 

As well, if you like your coffee drinks on the sweeter side, you can adjust the simple syrup or sugar levels (even brown sugar), to give it more of a dessert feel. You can even give it a grown up twist and add a liqueur like Baileys Irish Cream or Kahlua — or the popular Italian liqueurs Amaretto (made with steeped almonds) or Frangelico Hazelnut Liqueur, both have distinctly nutty flavor profiles that blend perfectly in an espresso cocktail. However you personalize it, when you're in the throes of summer, a shaken espresso is the way to get a cold espresso that still tastes rich with flavor.