Keep Calm and Dine Summer Italian
www.LoyalCoffee.co [.co, not .com]
(719) 235-5477
Hours: 6am-10pm daily
What you need to know: Loyal does Italian summers
If the Italians had a saying for the summer, it would inevitably speak to the necessity of seasonably appropriate gastronomics. As they say in the Old World: “Mangiare per vivere e non vivere per mangiare.” Eat to live, don’t live to eat.
Cafes, in particular, need not labor under the burden of a static menu, one sagging with the weight of hot beverages on hot days. Nor should “summer offerings” be limited to iced versions of the usuals—p.s. there is no such thing as an iced cappuccino.
Nonetheless, with its ever rotating menu, Loyal Coffee appears to imbibe this understanding, that the summer season ought to be met with summer eats, and drinks, preferably those of the housemade variety. Enter two original offerings of Sparkling Lemonade and Chocolate Fernet Tiramisu—each deviating from expected norms while demonstrating quintessential elements of summer.
Offered on tap, the lemonade ($5) begins as a brew of sugar and lemon peel. Steeping overnight, the filtered result is combined with citric acid (for a kick) and deposited into Loyal’s carbonated kegs. Such a process sidesteps potential pitfalls of sediment or separation within the system, and produces a bright and quenching beverage, perfectly balanced with sweet and tart. With its inexhaustibly dancing bubbles, refreshment is found even to the last sip, and harkens memories of European cafes under umbrella shade.
Not as evidently summer-esque, but of-the-season nonetheless, the Chocolate Fernet Tiramisu ($6), a creation of Loyal’s resident culinary artisan, Jacob Cheatham, is a formation of decadence. Loyal’s flagship “00” espresso (pronounced “double zero”), shaved chocolate, milk and the staff’s perennial favorite liqueur, Fernet-Branca, dredge the delicate lady fingers, which are then layer amongst mascarpone and honeyed whipped cream. This riff on the ubiquitous classic (of which, properly created versions are maddeningly difficult to find) is attention grabbing, not only for its uniqueness, but its addictive richness, of which any Italian pastry chef would be proud.
European summering may not be on your imminent agenda (although, it should be), nonetheless, in lieu of it, it’s heartening to know that tastes of the Italian summer, in all their glory, are available in our own backyard.
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