Quarantine Drinks (and Food!) V.16: Avocados. Yes, really.

Hello Random Stranger (can you be a non-random stranger?),

Today I broke out a few drinks in my secret arsenal of "one day I'll sell this in my shop" drinks. Let's be honest - this is California. Our state motto/bird/flag/everything should be the avocado. I've always wanted to find a way of bringing it into the cafe without resorting to an avocado toast. Years and years ago I had an avocado milkshake and my mind was blown, so I knew it was possible. After a lot of failures (trust me,don't try making an avocado syrup and then turning that into a latte), here's what I've got for you: a twist on an avo shake and our take on espresso con panna. 

Espresso Con Coconut Avo-Panna:

Espresso con panna is a very traditional Italian espresso drink. It's just a shot of espresso with whipped cream on it. This is the home-brew, Cali spin. Take a can of coconut cream (this is the stuff you want - build for whipped cream). Add an avocado and 40g of honey (more or less is fine. It's really up to you and how sweet you want it. Also feel free to jazz this up with other kinds of sweetener or fun flavored syrups). I'd blend this down first just to make sure the avocado is really incorporated into the cream before you whip it, but if you have a super ripe avocado and a really good standing mixer, just go for it. You can also blend it down and then drop it in a whipped cream charger. 

Once you've gotten this all ready to go, make yourself an Aeropress espresso and spoon (or if you have the fancy charger, spray) the whipped cream on top. I like to top it off with some fennel and cardamom powder for some nice aromatics. Stir the whipped cream into the espresso and drink it or use a spoon and eat it like an affogato. You can't go wrong. (as an aside, yes, I have made an avocado ice cream and have indeed made an avocado affogato.)

Avocado Black Tea Shake:

Does it get more Cali summer than this? 

First you need some black tea syrup (did this a few blogs back.)

Then drop 80g of black tea syrup into a blender along with an avocado, 150g of ice and the juice of 1/2 lime (if you have a Vitamix, use it.)

Throw it in a fancy margarita glass if you've got one. Dust with a little bit of cinnamon. 

So good.