Ciao Caffé Recap
the dolci, pasta e espresso were a hit! grazie mille a tutti!
Just dropping in to say grazie mille a tutti! Thank you all for the love, support, and kind thoughts towards my little business endeavors. It’s fun to take some risks and invest in yourself. I learn so much about business, the market, and people’s interests while doing it. And how much I can make my own head spin off my neck while in the weeds of Excel spreadsheets. Maybe I actually like math after all…
Yesterday, I offered items in my mini pastry case, extruded pasta, espresso drinks, and ciao boxes. I’m excited to dream up the next Ciao Caffé for you!
PASTRY
Baking was maybe the easiest!? I had no issues arise with my little sweeties, which I was shocked by. Usually, I over-bake something, cookies break, something! I served an apricot and seeded-raspberry crostata (which I’m now referring to as an Italian snacking tart). I put her right on display with a little powdered sugar, and people seemed to love it! I made northern Italian occhio di bue (bull’s eye) cookies with mixed berry jam and Nutella. The cookie is made with pasta frolla, which is a buttery Italian shortcrust pastry dough that was also used in the crostata!
I served my chocolate-chunk espresso blondie bars, which my mom always raves about—so, yay! And, finally, an olive oil cake, a classic, and a chocolate cherry version, which people were very into.
PASTA
Extruding pasta is a lesson in patience. It’s thrilling and “less laborious” than hand cut, but there’s so much to understand about machines, shapes, brass “bronze” vs POM dies, semola rimacinata not semolina, the extruded textures of each pasta shape, hydration, and drying. I’ll dry the pasta over 3-4 days, and even when they look perfect on day 2, a third of the batch may crack by day 4. Very much looking forward to exploring this further!
I decided to get a little extruder with a Christmas gift I received (you know who you are! thank you!), and it has been one of the best purchases ever.
I sold:
Mafalda Corta: “Reginette (little queens)” from Napoli, Campania, Italy (mafaldine was Grandma Chetti’s favorite)
Canestri Rigate: “little baskets” from central & south Italy
Bucati e Rigati: “pens” from Puglia, Italy
Cavatelli: “little hollow” from Molise & Puglia, Italy. These were handmade!
Occhio Di Lupo & Occhio Di Lupo Mezze: “Wolves Eyes” da Napoli, Campania, Italy. I realize I had a lot of eyes on this menu, ha ha.
ESPRESSO
The hits: iced latte & caffé leccese (pugliese iced coffee with sweet almond milk)
Much of my energy for this pop-up was consumed by espresso education. It’s a fascinating and cumbersome art. The science! If I can nail the basics at least to me, I’ve won. For now latte art is a distant goal. I’m currently learning about the weight of beans in vs liquid out, types of beans (caffeine VS decaf and older vs fresh), what to look for in crema, timing the amount of liquid on the machine for a perfect 2 oz ratio— the grind size matters, tamping the coffee, ect. I had one decaf order using a different variety/ brand of bean, and the shot was completely different than my caffeine ones.
My little win for the day was noticing how dry every puck was when removing from the machine. If they look like dried brownie cups, it’s a good sign. Woo!
My Breville go- to expert Jaxon, is always there to answer every single silly question I have about espresso drink ratios, grind size, and milk foaming temps. For the pop up He recommended a South American bean variety grown in Colombia and Guatemala with notes of dark chocolate, cherry, and marzipan. It was the perfect profile for the menu. Grazie, amico!
Sorry for the sap: have to shout out my close family, dear friends, and my sweetie guy, Dillon, and his family for always showing up to support me in every way. It’s what gives me the drive to keep creating and sharing.
