04/04/2020
I remember the first espresso drink I tasted. We lived in Canada for three years from 1981 to 1984 and while it was socially traumatic the first two years the town had some upside, like the Granville Island public market. This was before public markets or farmers' markets were that common. Granville Island was loaded with vendors selling produce, meats, fish, cheese and other goodies. There was some strange stuff, like chicken feet, but it was very spacious and clean (nothing like the troubling photos of the Wuhan wet markets).
I was probably about 14 or 15 and the family was spending a Sunday afternoon shopping and just checking everything out at the market. At the far edge near the water was a guy operating an espresso machine on a little cart. My dad had traveled through Europe and knew about espresso drinks so he ordered a Cafe Borgia, which was basically an orange mocha. It seemed very fancy, topped with whipped cream and orange zest, and when I had a sip I understood the relatively high price tag.
I cannot recall the last time I've seen this drink on a cafe menu, except Seaside Cafe in Shell Beach. Starbucks used to have essentially the same drink and called it a Mocha Valencia, (which I believe is what Tim Begovich called his version). It's befuddling why this has become as rare as the mock turtelneck because chocolate and orange are a time-honored combination. So today I took a trip down memory lane and whipped one up in the lab. Here is what I used:
Double Shot Art of Darkness Espresso
20 grams of Mocafe Dominican organic sweet ground chocolate
7 oz Straus Family Creamery Extra Rich Milk
2 pumps/1/2 oz MONIN Orange syrup
Orange peel for garnish
Optional: whipped cream (real, please, not aersol)
Conclusion: good level of sweetness, which is always a challenge with a flavored mocha. It was tilted a touch too far in the orange direction so perhaps more chocolate and less orange syrup would correct that. Sadly I didn't have any whipped cream here.
