The finished texture of this very light and refreshing dessert should be like large flakes of sea salt. Once in your mouth, close your eyes and capture the taste of the Caribbean.
Serves 6–8
600 ml (1 pint) water
100 g (4 oz) granulated sugar
50 g (2 oz) Blue Mountain coffee beans or ready-ground Continental Roast coffee
150 ml (5 fl oz) double cream
1 teaspoon drinking chocolate powder
12–16 coffee beans to decorate
Put the water and sugar into a pan and leave over a low heat until the sugar has dissolved.
If you are using whole coffee beans, grind them to a powder in a coffee grinder. Stir the ground coffee into the sugar syrup and leave to infuse for 5 minutes.
Strain the coffee through a filter paper or a fine sieve lined with a piece of muslin into a shallow plastic container. Leave until cool and then cover and put into the freezer until the mixture begins to freeze around the edges.
Scrape all the frozen ice away from the sides and break it up into smaller crystals with a fork. Return it to the freezer and continue to do this, every 30 minutes or so, until you have a frozen but still grainy mixture.
To serve, whip the cream into soft peaks. Spoon the granita into glasses, top with a spoonful of cream and decorate with a sprinkling of drinking chocolate powder and a couple of coffee beans.