Affogato is a coffee lover’s delight. It’s a scoop (or more) of vanilla gelato, topped with a shot of hot espresso. In Italian, the word means “drowned.” You can drown the gelato further with a flavored syrup or a shot of liqueur.

Depending on how you make it, affogato can be a beverage—think iced espresso with a scoop of gelato—or a dessert.

In this cooking video, Giada Di Laurentiis makes the dessert version. She tops vanilla gelato with homemade sugar syrup flavored with gingerbread spices and hazelnut liqueur, then adds the hot espresso.

 
What’s the difference between gelato and ice cream? Find out!

[1] Turning a common pudding into an elegant dish with bing cherries, chewy tapioca boba, and white lilac blossoms (photos #2 and #4 © Shaun Hergatt | Vestry Restaurant).

[2] Tapioca pudding as it’s usually served—a bit humdrum (photo © J. Java | Fotolia).

[3] While tapioca is gluten-free, this recipe is also dairy free and vegan, made with coconut milk (photo © Honest Cooking).

[4] A simpler yet still elegant presentation tops the tapioca with strawberry purée or jelly‡‡. Here’s the recipe (photo © Add Joi).

[5] Another elevated presentation of tapioca pudding by Chef Shaun Hergatt.

[6] Tapioca pearls in Earl Grey bubble tea (photo © Twinings).

[7] Cassava root, the source of tapioca, and the gluten-free flour ground from it. It’s poisonous when raw. The starchy, tuberous root of a woody shrub, it’s also called manioc or yuca [not related to yucca, the dessert shrub] (photo: Magnific).

Updated June 2026

July 15th is National Tapioca Pudding Day, honoring a dessert so creamy, it was once known as tapioca cream.

There’s also a National Tapioca Day on June 28th, which can honor other tapioca recipes, from bubble tea to flatbread††. Tapioca flour is gluten free.

Tapioca pudding used to be as popular as rice pudding and was served in school lunchrooms. While its popularity began to wane some 50 years ago, it’s still popular with people who like creamy puddings.

Modern processing of tapioca began in the second half of the 19th century. As an easily digestible starch, tapioca pudding was often prescribed for children, the elderly, and the infirm.

But you be the judge.

And by the way: the bubble tea with chewy “pearls?” Tapioca!

Below:

> What is tapioca?

> Recipe: tapioca pudding.

> The year’s 24 pudding holidays.

Elsewhere on The Nibble:

> How American pudding is different from British pudding.**

> Have a pudding party! Here’s how to set up a pudding buffet.

> Bubble tea and bubble coffee recipes.

> Gluten-free tapioca crêpes.

> Cocktail recipe with tapioca pearls (boba).
 
 
WHAT IS TAPIOCA?

Tapioca is a starch derived from the root of the cassava (pronounced kuh-SAH-vuh, also called manioc, arrowroot, and yuca—not yucca), a woody shrub native to South America that is cultivated for its starchy, tuberous root (a major food source, cooked like potatoes).

Tapioca is also a thickener. Add a tablespoon of arrowroot (dried ground cassava) or two tablespoons of quick-cooking tapioca pearls to berry pies or other pie recipes known to be runny. The arrowroot or tapioca will “thicken the sauce” as the pie bakes.

Raw tapioca is poisonous because it contains naturally occurring forms of cyanide. The milky, bitter liquid (yare) squeezed out of the pulp was used to make poisonous darts.

In the Tupi-Guarani* language, the processed cassava is called tipioca. Tipi means residue and ok (not O.K.) means to squeeze out. This describes how the starch is produced—by steeping the crushed root fibers in water and squeezing out the liquid.

Spanish and Portuguese traders inadvertently transposed the word to tapioca.
 
 
RECIPE: TAPIOCA PUDDING

This recipe couldn’t be easier. Just bring the ingredients to a boil and let stand for 15 minutes. The recipe, made by our mom, is adapted from The Fanny Farmer Cookbook.

Ingredients

 
Preparation

1. BREAK the egg into a medium saucepan and beat with a fork (just enough to blend the white and yolk).

2. ADD the tapioca, sugar, salt, and milk. Stir over moderate heat until the pudding boils.

3. REMOVE from heat; let stand for 15 minutes. The pudding stiffens as it cools.

4. STIR IN the vanilla and pour the pudding into a serving bowl or individual ramekins or goblets. Refrigerate for several hours or until ready to serve.
 
Variations

 

[6] Just a few items made from the cassava root: flour, chips, crepes, tapioca pearls (for cooking) and boba for bubble tea (photo: The Nibble).
 
 
THE YEAR’S 24 PUDDING HOLIDAYS

Custard holidays are also included here. Custard is a specific type of pudding that is thickened with eggs. Puddings can be thickened with starches like cornstarch or flour, in addition to eggs. So, while all custards can be considered puddings, not all puddings are custards.

Mousse, on the other hand, is not a pudding. While both are creamy and served chilled, they are made differently and have different textures. Mousse is light and airy due to the incorporation of whipped ingredients like egg whites or cream, while pudding is denser, typically thickened with cornstarch or eggs, and cooked.

> Here’s how American pudding is different from British pudding. Both types are listed (also check the **footnote below).

> Have a pudding party! Here’s how to set up a pudding buffet.

*The Tupi-Guarani are one of the main indigenous ethnic groups of Brazil. It is believed that they first settled in the Amazon rainforest, but spread southward beginning about 2,900 years ago to gradually occupy the Atlantic coast of what is now Brazil.

**A British pudding is a steamed cake or other dessert.

†The Yorkshire pudding holiday is celebrated twice a year: the first Sunday of February in the U.K., and October 13 in the U.S. and everywhere else.

††Other uses for tapioca: Tapioca is a popular gluten-free flour substitute used in baking, creating chewy textures in bread. It helps to bind ingredients as a thickening agent for gravies, sauces, and soups. Cassava flatbreads and crackers are dietary staples in many Caribbean and South American countries. Brazilian is known for its savory and sweet tapioca crêpes, beiju de tapioca. Various Asian noodles and crispy snacks are made from tapioca starch. The cassava root vegetable can be boiled, fried, or roasted as a potato substitute. These culinary uses, along with industrial uses, make tapioca one of the most versatile plants.

‡Why two tapioca holidays? June 28th is a broader National Tapioca Day celebration, July 15th celebrates tapioca pudding specifically. Tapioca is also used as a gluten-free flour, as a thickener, and in different cultures for noodles, crepês, and crispy snacks. There’s no clear explanation for why there are two similar days so close to each other.

‡‡For a jelly topping, chill the pudding in the dishes and top with melted, cooled jelly. Refrigerate until ready to serve.
 

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Matcha is the Japanese ceremonial tea. It’s shade-grown green tea. The leaf is deveined and then stone ground into a fine powder. The bright green powder is whipped into water that is heated to just before boiling. The result: a smooth, vegetal sweetness with no astringency.

Matcha is the type of green tea used to make the popular green tea latte. You can purchase it at most tea shops and tea departments of fine food stores, or online.

You can enjoy your matcha latte hot or iced. Given the weather, let’s start with the iced. Thanks to The Republic of Tea for this recipe. You’ll find a link to a hot green tea latte recipe at the end of this post.

If you hold the whipped cream, you’ve got a healthy drink: antioxidants from the tea, protein and calcium from the milk and sweetness from agave nectar, a low-glycemic yet delicious sweetener (our favorite).
 
 
FROZEN MATCHA (GREEN TEA) LATTE RECIPE

Ingredients For One Drink