Friday, July 8, 2016

Giulia's Cafe Borgia



The Borgias, alcohol, and nuns all factor into this week's Drinks with Reads from author Alice Loweecey. Everything is here to make your day complete. 


Giulia’s Café Borgia

4 oz espresso
4 oz hot chocolate
Tullahome Dew
Solerno blood orange liqueur
Whipped cream (optional)

A mystery writer and a drink named after the Borgias. What could possibly go wrong?

Don’t think about that. Just drink. Really. It’s delicious. Trust me.

My Giulia Driscoll mystery series features an ex-nun private eye. She’s Italian and her husband is Irish. Right now she’s staring at this recipe with longing because she’s expecting their first child and is a teetotaler for the duration. 

This drink is the antidote to the crazies in my new book, Nun but the Brave (July 12, Henery Press). The crazies here are Doomsday Preppers with a side of cult. They’re waiting for the Big One to destroy Civilization As We Know It. Bombs, electromagentic pulse, plague: Whichever turns out to be the Big One, they’re ready. They even grow their own coffee and serve it with honey from their beehives and milk from their goats.

Um… no, thank you. You can have my Seattle’s Best No. 5 when you pry it from my cold, dead hands. 

Giulia is all about the coffee, especially coffee with shots of flavored syrup. (I don’t understand her at all. I take my coffee black and strong enough to grow hair on your chest.) Another cross she has to bear—hey, ex-nun; it never really goes away—is the caffeine limit during pregnancy. Current advice is no more than two cups per day. 

It’s killing her. 

When she goes undercover in the Prepper cult to look for her client’s missing twin sister, she drinks that coffee-honey-goat mixture. It’s as appalling as it sounds. At least I presume it is. I’ll do a lot for research but I draw the line at goat milk and honey in my coffee. 

The nice thing about this version of Café Borgia is it works hot or iced or even as a smoothie. I do love coffee smoothies. To make the smoothie version of this, make the espresso the night before and set it in the fridge. Then substitute vanilla ice cream and two tablespoons of hot cocoa mix for the hot chocolate. Add a sunny day, a lawn chair, and a good book—a book called NUN BUT THE BRAVE would be ideal—for a relaxing afternoon.


Ah, summer.

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Alice is here with Great Escapes Book Tours. Here are the rest of the stops on the tour:

Tour Participants
July 8 – Mystery Playground
July 8 – Mysteristas
July 9 – Shelley’s Book Case – REVIEW
July 10 – My Funny View of Life – REVIEW
July 10 – Author Annette Drake’s blog – SPOTLIGHT
Week of July 11: Jungle Red Writers
Week of July 11: Dru’s Book Musings
July 11 – deal sharing aunt – INTERVIEW
July 11 – Celticlady’s Reviews – SPOTLIGHT
July 12 – Back Porchervations – REVIEW
July 12 – Cozy Up With Kathy – GUEST POST
July 13 – Christa Reads and Writes – REVIEW

July 14 – Island Confidential – INTERVIEW

1 comment:

  1. This book sounds terrific, what a great main character an ex-nun. I love it. The drink sounds beyond delicious.

    ReplyDelete