The 1-Ingredient Coffee Upgrade I Learned While Traveling in Italy (Now I Do It Every Morning)
Fact: I’d follow Stanley Tucci truly anywhere. Why is that? Well, he convinced many of us that Italy is so much more than just a nation of pasta and pizza, and I’ve taken that seriously every single time I’ve been lucky enough to visit.
On my last trip, in Bologna, I found yet another way to enjoy Italian coffee (beyond ordering a doppio). One memorable café topped its coffees with fruit powder-infused whipped cream. They were listed under a section on the menu appropriately named “caffe della gioia” (yes, “joy coffee”). These joyful mugs are topped with a generous mountain of whipped cream that can be folded with fruit- or nut powders, like pomegranate, pistachio, orange, wild berries, and aniseed.
Is this drink truly Italian? Likely not. Was it a memorable part of my trip to Italy? You betcha. Regardless of its origins, once joy coffee enters your life, you have to figure out how to keep joy coffee flowing, which is exactly what I did next. After testing a few batches, I realized one of the Trader Joe’s standbys already in my pantry was the key to re-creating this drink: freeze-dried strawberries.
What’s So Great About Trader Joe’s Freeze-Dried Strawberries?
Perky, tart, and crunchy in all the right ways, I love the affordability and versatility of pretty much all of Trader Joe’s freeze-dried fruits. They’re not additionally sweetened nor are they sulfured, which allows them to taste like their non-freeze-dried companions and keep their crispy integrity no matter if you’re throwing them into cereal or grinding into a powder (which is what I most often use them for).
Here, I opted for freeze-dried strawberries as they most closely mimicked the flavor of the pomegranate powder that was whipped into my OG joy coffee. Freeze-dried raspberries, I found, were a bit too tart, while the strawberries still lent a good bit of sweetness.
How to Make My “Joy Coffee” with Freeze-Dried Strawberries
To really achieve the best texture (and flavor), crushing the freeze-dried strawberries to the finest of powders you can make is key. A minute or two of big, hearty scrunches of the bag (or rolling it a few times with a rolling pin) should do the trick. You just want to avoid any large chunks; they’ll get a bit spongy as you fold them into the whipped cream (or sprinkle on top).
The most spot-on way, as I found, is hand-whipping heavy cream, sweetening it with sugar, and then folding in the strawberry powder. Half a bag of Trader Joe’s freeze-dried berries, ¼ cup of sugar, and a 16-ounce carton of heavy cream will set you on an excellent course. Topped on a shot or two of espresso or drip coffee makes for an excellent start to a regular ol’ Wednesday morning or weekend brunch.
By all means, feel free to take the quicker route and simply add a pinch of sugar and a hearty sprinkle of the strawberry powder to canned whipped cream to top your coffee. I (and possibly even “The Tooch” himself) would 100% approve.
Buy: Freeze Dried Strawberries, $2.99 for at Trader Joe’s
Got a cool coffee-making tip? Tell us about it in the comments below.
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