At first sight, they look like pearls and caviar. You immediately get curious and want to discover its taste and consistency. The result is a real surprise for the palate: small pralines with gelatinous shell, but filled with coffee. It’s the technique of spherification, which became famous through Ferran Adrià, inventor of molecular gastronomy, and afterwards used in alcoholic drinks. A process taking advantage of the reaction of liquids mixed with alginates immersed in calcium solutions to create small spheres that are solid outside and contain liquids inside. A technique that Giuseppe Porco, known as “The king of barmen” and multi-awarded in national and international events, knows well and who transferred it successfully also to the world of coffee products. And the bar chef had the brilliant idea to spherify coffee in Messina, in Via Garibaldi, in the historical pastry shop Doddis. Spherification is a new way of drinking coffee, seen as an innovative and fascinating technique you can propose your customers not only as decoration on drinks and small pastries, but also as attraction moment to win your customers. Find out how Giuseppe Porco spherified Moak espresso.

 

ingredients:

• for the mother liquid: 4 g powdered alginate; 250 g sugar syrup; 250 g water;
• 250 g espresso;
• For the calcium solution: calcium powder to be mixed with water (2,5 g for each ½ litre of water)

 

accessories

syringes, corers or tea spoons, bowls, pierced spoon, glasses to blend, measuring cup.

preparation

prepare the mother liquid in a mixer; blend it in equal parts with coffee in a glass. Suck the preparation with a syringe and pour the needed quantity in the corer or tea spoon and immerse into the calcium bath. Wait for 4/5 seconds and let the sphere slide into the liquid. Take the spheres with the pierced spoon and dunk them into the bowls full of still water. (it is recommended to use them within 2/3 hours).

Decoration examples

• Garnish small bowls of short crust pastry filled with cream with coffee spheres
• Lay milk and coffee spheres on cappuccino
• Milk mousse with a cascade of coffee caviar on top of it or just enjoy them in a tea spoon during your coffeebreak.

Watch the video about spherification