An A+ Borgia from The Divine Cupcake
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4 CHOW! Spring 2011
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BORGIALAND
In search of Eugene’s perfect espresso drink
T
he Borgia is an espresso drink that is somewhat difficult
to find but remarkable for its sublime tastes and symbolic
evocations. The drink is a mixture of espresso, dark
chocolate, steamed milk and orange zest — the perfect
blend of comfort and edge, simplicity and depth. All too often
coffee is poured like water, drunk without thought and then
forgotten. Not so the Borgia, which, though twice as expensive as
the common cappuccino or lowly latte, requires careful preparation
using high-quality ingredients. Hershey’s chocolate stirred into
orange syrup does not cut it.
The Borgia can evoke the promise of coming summer romance
with a touch of citrus blossoms, or offer refuge from winter’s cold
with the dark hot chocolate.
Given the preeminence of the coffee culture in our area, we
sought to find the best Borgia. The literature does not name the
inventor of the modern Borgia. The term “The cup of Borgia”
refers to a deadly poison that Lucretia Borgia gave to the enemies
of the Vatican in the mid-1500s. The poison was painful and took
hours to kill. In contrast, centuries later, the Borgia drink is an
ambrosia, a nectar, an epitome of a transformation. How a poison
of the Middle Ages evolved to a modern drink is unclear.
As we began to sample Borgias, we learned several lessons. First,
the Borgia is barista dependent, not coffee shop dependent. Next, if
any one of the drink’s ingredients becomes dominant, the Borgia loses
its magic. A drink that is too sweet becomes juvenile and monotonously
self-indulgent; one that isn’t sweet enough allows the bitterness of
chocolate and orange zest to dominate. To balance bitter and sweet is
the challenge of life, and so it goes with the Borgia.
As for ingredients, orange zest is not merely a topping or an
afterthought; it’s an essential ingredient of a good Borgia. Navel
oranges have minimal aroma and flavor. Orange syrup is no
different than a teaspoon of Tang in the morning. The best zest
comes from Valencia oranges or, even better, blood oranges.
Commercial bulk chocolate and chocolate-flavored syrups are
problematic. A good Borgia needs real chocolate — definitely dark
and with very little fatty aftertaste. In some Eugene coffee houses,
a ganache is used, which is dissolved first in the espresso shot
before mixing in any steamed milk or soy. The dissolving of the
chocolate is essential. Having chocolate syrup left on the bottom
with coffee in the middle and orange zest on top may be a fine way
to eat a sundae, but it’s not the way to appreciate a Borgia.
THE BEST BORGIA
Vero makes a very good Borgia. It is served in a large bowl-
shaped mug and the presentation was lovely. There was zest spread
over the top as well as infused into the drink and chocolate powder
sprinkled on the whipped cream, which looked pretty. The coffee
was excellent, though the whipped cream made the overall drink a
bit too sweet. It’s more like something from an ice-cream parlor than
a coffeehouse. Without the whipped cream, however, the drink was
at least a B+. Vero’s barista also had the virtue of consistent quality.
Wandering Goat is not your father’s coffeehouse, but it has a
BY VERN KATZ & PAUL QUALTERE-BURCHER
great Borgia. At the Goat, it was awarded an A-. The presentation
is a bit problematic, but Wandering Goat coffee is superb and the
sweetness is exactly what it should be. Its Borgia is served in a
mug with foam topping. The zest was fresh and mixed into the
drink, which is good.
Full City on Pearl makes an excellent Borgia. It uses ganache,
and its zest is only from Valencia oranges, as the barista explained
to us as well as an apprentice barista she was instructing. She
carefully dissolved the ganache and showed her apprentice the
consistency needed before the rest of the drink was developed. The
taste was excellent and the Full City blend went well with the
orange zest. The drink emphasized flavor over style, which is not
bad, but we could only give them an A, not an A+. (Full City did
ask me whether to use whipped cream, and when we said “no
whip,” the barista knowingly said “of course.” She understood that
that was the aficionado’s preference.)
Interestingly, we found the very best Borgia in town at Crema,
a small coffee shop at RiverBend hospital. It is an inauspicious
coffeehouse at the junction of the hospital and the office buildings.
The head barista has studied coffee for several years and taught us
much. Crema uses an excellent coffee — a blend from Stumptown
— and it keeps Valencia oranges just for making Borgias. Crema
uses syrup, but it’s a special dark chocolate syrup created just for
the drink. We gave Crema an A+.
One of the best Borgias in town was at Metropol on Willamette,
and it was awarded an A as well. The chocolate was dissolved
perfectly into the coffee, followed by the rest of the espresso and
foam. The zest was fresh and from Valencias.
Sweet Life received mixed reviews, and this was due to barista
skills. One of our writers felt that the Sweet Life Borgia was too
sweet — hot chocolate with an orange aftertaste. To be fair, the drink
was not made by their head barista, and received a B. The
presentation was disappointing and the flavor lacking. Because
Sweet Life has such a good reputation for other gifts to the
community we decided to try it again. We were lucky enough to
have the head barista make us a Borgia, and she achieved perfection.
The zest, the chocolate, the coffee: All were mixed to perfection.
The bakery received an A+ for this presentation, although it was a
tiny bit on the sweet side. Overall, Sweet Life is worth trying.
At the Divine Cupcake the difference a barista makes became
clear. Our first Borgia was lackluster, too sweet with no orange taste
or zest. But in speaking to the owners we discovered that it had been
made by a fill-in for the head barista. We returned to give the Cupcake
another chance to redeem the shop and were served one of the best
Borgias in town. It had a whip cream top, which usually is pedestrian
— it makes the drink too sweet. But the head barista made a perfect
whip Borgia: balanced flavors, not too sweet, light yet flavorful.
The coffee culture in the Northwest has grown to be emblematic
of our region, and the Borgia is one of the best coffee beverages.
After all, if one works in a coffeehouse, then one should try to
make the perfect drink. What better drink to achieve perfection
than the Borgia, the Mt. Everest of coffee drinks? ■
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