Saying yes to Second Best’s affogato

When enjoying especially delicious ice cream, I tend to swear. I don’t mean a simple “damn, that’s good.” No, I’m talking about a string of happy obscenities audible from the other side of the café, spewed forth with zero regard for my fellow patrons.

My first bite of Second Best Coffee’s affogato? Definitely a four-fucking-alarm foulmouth experience.

Only after I noticed the two people at the nearest table staring at me did I realize just how much of what I’d uttered would’ve been bleeped on broadcast television. I savored another holy-shit spoonful and tried to keep quiet.

Shutting up was hard work because both parts of this classic Italian treat demanded spoken gratitude. Served in a lowball glass, the affogato blissfully weds ice cream with espresso. It’s almost hard to do one badly. But Second Best does it exceptionally well, and its twist on both ingredients makes the Waldo coffeehouse a serious summer destination.

The espresso is made with the year-old
café’s Slayer, a custom-made machine from Seattle that’s the only one of its kind in Kansas City (and which helped Second Best pick up a best-of citation from The Pitch last fall). By allowing the water flow to be adjusted, the Slayer is designed to tease out every layer of flavor from the grind. Mission accomplished: The rich, nutty espresso in the affogato I tasted was a beautiful shade of burnt sienna, with a frothy layer of crema on top.

You won’t find the ice cream anywhere else in town, either. Made in-house, it’s flavored with maple, brown sugar and almonds, creating the cool, sweet centerpiece of this miniature coffee float. (As a bonus, it’ll amp you up for the rest of the day.)

Second Best also offers an array of specialty iced coffees to help offset the sweatiest of summer’s dog days. These are brewed with the café’s Kyoto-style coffeemaker, an intricate network of glass tubes and
beakers fused into what looks like a science-fair runner-up but delivers an intensely flavorful cold brew.

I tried the Mexican-spiced Kyoto, which features chili- and cocoa-infused coffee, dusted with Mexican chocolate. It was smooth, with a subtle hint of spice, and the chocolate shavings smelled like the earth before it rains. You won’t want to drink this coffee on the run. It’s best enjoyed slowly, while staring out at the scorched parking lot from a table inside the air-conditioned café.

Two other very good drinks round out the limited-edition menu. Served with a lemon wedge and a mint garnish, Arnold Palmer’s Summer Kyoto shakes up lemon-mint syrup with cold-brew coffee. And the espresso-based Dreamsicle contains milk, lime, orange and ginger simple syrup.

Even if you’re less foulmouthed than I, one of Second Best’s summer drinks is likely to make you exclaim involuntarily.