A hot, shared drink of Valle d'Aosta: strong coffee laced with grappa, alpine genepy liqueur and sugar, scented with lemon and orange peel and cinnamon, warmed, lit so it flames blue, then smothered under a lid. It is drunk from the coppa dell'amicizia, the many-spouted 'friendship cup', passed from hand to hand around the fire.
In Valle d'Aosta the caffe alla valdostana is less a recipe than a winter rite of conviviality, drunk on cold evenings around the fire, in patois cafe a la cognentse. It is served in the coppa dell'amicizia, a squat lidded bowl of walnut or ashwood ringed with anything from two to a dozen or more spouts, one per drinker; it is frequently, and wrongly, called a grolla, which is properly the taller, narrower chalice of the Canavese. Lit so the spirits flame, then covered, the cup is passed hand to hand and, by custom, must never be set on the table between sips; legend traces its lore as far as Burgundy and the Holy Grail.
Hot and heady: bitter coffee softened with sugar, the sharp warmth of grappa, a resinous herbal note from the genepy, and bright citrus and cinnamon rising off the top. Sipped in turn from a wooden spout, it is as much warmth in the hand as flavour on the tongue.
Gentle warming dissolves the sugar and drives the aromatic oils of the citrus peel and cinnamon into the liquid, where the alcohol acts as a solvent for both the water-soluble and oil-soluble compounds. Setting it alight burns ethanol vapour at the surface—the blue flame is its clean combustion—taking off some of the raw spirit and lightly caramelising the sugar rubbed on the rim; capping the cup starves the flame of oxygen and puts it out before too much alcohol is lost.
Variations
Recipes shift from valley to valley: some pour in a little red wine, adjust the genepy, or vary the sugar and peel; the number of spouts on the cup runs from two to well over a dozen. Whether the cup should travel clockwise or anticlockwise is a genuine local dispute, and the same vessel is often filled instead with vin brule, mulled wine.
On the Palate
Where Caffè alla Valdostana sits in the Italian flavor cloud
Ingredients
Serves 6How it's made
7 steps · 5 min
- 18 min
Brew a good quantity of strong coffee, such as several cups from a moka pot or an espresso machine.
- 23 min
Peel strips of zest from the lemon and the orange, taking little of the white pith.
- 32 min
In the coppa dell'amicizia or a small pan, combine the hot coffee with sugar, grappa, genepy, the citrus peels and a stick of cinnamon.
- 45 min
Warm gently without letting it boil, stirring until the sugar has dissolved and the aromas have married.
Watch outWarm it gently and never let it boil — you want the sugar dissolved and the aromas married, but a boil blows off the spirit's perfume.
- 52 min
Rub a little sugar around the rim and spouts, then set the surface alight and let it flame blue for a few moments.
Watch outLight the surface and let it flame blue only a few moments — the blue flame is clean-burning alcohol; too long and you burn off all the grappa.
- 61 min
Cover with the lid to smother the flame, leaving the drink hot and just-mellowed.
- 79 min
Pass the cup from hand to hand around the circle, each drinker sipping from a spout, and never setting it down on the table.
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