Simple Italy

Celebrating Your Inner Italian

  • Home
  • Contact us
  • Links

Pocket Coffee

Posted December 18, 2012 by Sharon 5 Comments

An ad from the ’70s says “drink real coffee even when there isn’t any.”

Last evening, our Italian language conversation group convened at a local restaurant to celebrate the season. At the head of the table was our native-born speaker Daniele with his wife Fanny and daughter Giuilana. Walter and I, along with Patrizia, Elena, and Davide laughed and conversed over an antipasto platter and a trio of pizzas, supported with a Placido Chianti.

As our waitress cleared the table, Daniele’s eyes started dancing, as they do when he’s poised to launch into suoi scherzi (his jokes) or hilarious imitations of i dialetti (regional Italian dialects.) But no kidding around this time. Daniele cued the waitress to serve una sorpresa (a surprise) from his hometown of Siena in Tuscany, a panforte newly arrived from Italy.

The confection, which dates from medieval days, is a dense bar of toasted almonds, candied fruit, and spices glued together with caramelized sugar, or more traditionally, honey. It was moister and tastier than any I’ve eaten.

Daniele’s eyes continued their merry movement so I knew that more was on the way. Out came the box of Pocket Coffee espresso, a candy made by the Ferrero. Daniele adores Pocket Coffee but claims he can’t find here in the States. This treat had also come in the mail from Italy. As we bit through the dark chocolate praline shell into an oozing center of sweet liquid espresso, we finally understood Daniele’s infatuation.

This morning I searched the Web and found that amazon and several other internet suppliers, sell Pocket Coffee. So Daniele, here’s to un’anno nuovo filled with Pocket Coffee at the click of a button.

Filed Under: Culture, Food, Language, Lifestyle Tagged With: Italian candy, Italian confections, Italian sweets, panforte, Pocket Coffee

« Italian Bounty in Brooklyn
Chicken Breasts Marsala »

Comments

  1. Helene Parnell says

    January 3, 2013 at 6:47 PM

    Cara Sharona, una descrizione perfetta della nostra serata deliziosa! -Elena

    Reply
  2. Ed Iannuccilli says

    December 21, 2012 at 7:21 AM

    I never heard of Pocket Coffee. It is time to give it a try. Thanks for sharing.

    Reply
    • Sharon says

      December 21, 2012 at 1:52 PM

      Ed, I think you’ll love Pocket Coffee!

      Reply
  3. Carol says

    December 19, 2012 at 5:37 AM

    Wowzers…..where have I been all my life!!!!
    Chocolate…liquid espresso………I’m in heaven.

    Merry Christmas, warmly, Carol from Chicago

    Reply
  4. Tess says

    December 18, 2012 at 1:31 PM

    Oh hell yes!!!

    I hope to find some of this in my stocking, courtesy of my Italian loving mother!

    Reply

Join the Discussion! Cancel reply

Please submit your comment with a real name.

Thanks for your feedback!

Follow Simple Italy on FacebookFollow Simple Italy on RSS
Lasagne_19 Simple Italy's Greatest Hits at a click!
Lasagne alla Bolognese and more

Recent posts

  • The Hill Towns of Molise
  • Fior di Latte Cheese
  • In the Mood for Molise, Italy
  • Silk from the Sea in Sardinia
  • Driving a Ferrari Spider

Posts by Category

  • Abruzzo (12)
  • AirBnB (1)
  • Amalfi (8)
  • Archeology (3)
  • Architecture (21)
  • Art (19)
  • Artisans (4)
  • Automobiles (1)
  • Bakery (1)
  • Basilicata (3)
  • Bologna (4)
  • Books (21)
  • Calabria (4)
  • Campania (17)
  • Cooking Classes (5)
  • Cremona (2)
  • Culture (174)
  • dreamofitaly (1)
  • Driving in Italy (2)
  • Emilia Romagna (2)
  • Ferrari (1)
  • Ferrari Museum (1)
  • Film (22)
  • Florence (30)
  • Food (134)
  • Fred Plotkin (1)
  • Friuli-Venezia Giulia (2)
  • Gardening (25)
  • Genoa (2)
  • Golf in Italy (1)
  • Guides (1)
  • History (8)
  • Hotels (14)
  • Inner Italian Q & A (11)
  • Italian seafood (7)
  • Italy Artisans (3)
  • Italy restaurants (17)
  • Language (86)
  • Le Marche (4)
  • Lifestyle (113)
  • Liguria (2)
  • Lombardy cooking (5)
  • Lucca (3)
  • Mantua (1)
  • Markets (26)
  • Mediterranean diet (55)
  • Milan (1)
  • Miscellany (86)
  • Modena (1)
  • Molise (3)
  • Mt. Etna (1)
  • Music (9)
  • Naples (2)
  • New Orleans (2)
  • Opera (1)
  • Palermo (3)
  • People (3)
  • Photography (4)
  • Piedmont cooking (1)
  • Puglia (9)
  • Quotes (4)
  • Recipes (64)
  • Rome (8)
  • Salerno (3)
  • Sardinia (4)
  • Sicily (15)
  • Test Drive (1)
  • Testimonials (2)
  • Travel (110)
  • Trentino Alto-Adige (1)
  • Tuscan cooking (17)
  • Tuscany (30)
  • Venice (2)
  • Videos (2)
  • Wine (23)

Inside SimpleItaly

  • American Couple Marries Italian-Style
  • Appearances
  • Contact us
  • Cooking Up an Italian Life
  • Le Marche Tour with Luisa
  • Links
  • Palazzo Donati Sample Itinerary
  • Palazzo Donati Tours
  • Privacy and Site Policies
  • Publications and TV
  • Sharon’s Inner Italian
  • SimpleItaly Adventure in Tuscany Tour
  • Thank You
  • Walter’s Inner Italian

Tags

Abruzzo bucket list Ferragosto Florence Gardening gelato Genoa Inner Italian Italian cooking italian culture italian food Italian food stores italian language italian lifestyle Italian music italian recipes Italian tourism italian travel italian wine Italy Italy travel Lago di Como Lake Como Mediterranean diet mozzarella di bufala Naples tourism Paestum Paolo Conte pasta polenta porcini Puglia Rome Santa Croce Sardegna Sardinia Sicily Southern Italy Stile Mediterraneo Sulmona Tuscan cooking Tuscany Uffizi Gallery Villa Pipistrelli women and travel