Welcome to Secret Breakfast / An exclusive newsletter, the best place to start your day with a lot of coffee ideas before fighting for a romance over some churros

Hi there!

A few days ago a geomagnetic storm hit planet Earth and I decided it was time to order a pizza and to invest more resources in this humble newsletter.

Allow me a super-quick State of the Union speech.

↓↓↓

Secret Breakfast has never been a side hustle for me, but the more subscribers you have the more you have to chip in. The more you want to start new projects, the more you have to invest. And I just did.

I’ve been keeping this slow and low, but in the coming months, I hope to shake things up by serving you more - while keeping the newsletter free.

That said, for the first time in four years you’ll find one - self-evident - affiliated link. It’s not going to make me rich, but it’s a test to see if this kind of support could be a non-zero-sum game.

You’ll also find a quick poll every week, I’d love your feedback: it will help me craft future projects I can’t wait to show you.

That was me asking things from you. Don’t worry it won’t happen often.

Piero

PS: Are you not a Secret Breakfast subscriber yet? How’s that technically possible? Well, you can do it by clicking here.

Photo by Meritt Thomas, Chinese fortune cookie factory in San Francisco.

✦ Emanuele Coccia, philosopher, and Alessandro Michele, creative director of Valentino, in 🇮🇹 La vita delle forme.

WANNA COME OVER FOR A COFFEE OR SOMETHING?

Have you recently scrolled through TikTok and seen those dreamy home cafe videos? You know, the ones with the perfectly frothed milk, the aesthetic latte art, and the cozy ambiance? Well, this trend is all about recreating that coffee shop experience at home, complete with pastries, menus, and even branding for some.

If you love playing barista at home and entertaining friends, then this could be a fun way to do both. But if the idea of extra work on top of being a host stresses you out, this might not be for you.

My opinion: there's nothing worse than someone asking you, "Um, would you like to come over for a coffee or something?" and then actually having him or her make you a Chemex and rambling about the specific woods where the blueberries for the blueberry tart were harvested, or the time they nearly opened a bakery in Copenhagen.

Steve McCurry. High speed service on the railway from Peshawar to Rawalpindi, Pakistan, 1983.

Bake before the summer starts

★★★★☆

How can a person write a meaningful book about baking? I mean, there are thousands of them. And yet we google the recipe we want to put in the oven a couple of hours before we need the finished product. Sift is slightly different: the book is divided into sections by how long it takes to bake something. That’s a start. And Nicola Lamb (do you remember Kitchen Projects?) is friendly, honest, and thorough.

SIFT. The Elements of Great Baking by Nicola Lamb
→ Shortplot: 🍞 🥧 🥐 🥯

pullandpourcoffee

View more on Instagram

⏲️54 Fast Dinner Ideas You Can Make in 20 Minutes or Less (★recipe) ☕️ 10 Big Ideas in Coffee Right Now (from Taste’s Coffee Issue) 🤤Shanghainese Sheng Jian Bao (★recipe) 🐞Meet the Bug You Didn’t Know You Were Eating 🧞How to turn tough asparagus ends and herb stalks into a vibrant salad dressing 🍷What LVMH sales results tell us about the state of the fine wine market (via Sara Danese) 🍝Pasta actually does make you happier 👶🏼Eat a Duch Baby for Breakfast (★recipe) 🎧The sound of an ultrasonic cold brew coffee ready in under three minutes 🎾When the World looks at Mike Faist and Josh O’Connor Sparing Over Churros in ‘Challengers’, Secret Breakfast looks at the churro (★recipe) 🥮A Flobby Yogurt Cake (★recipe) 📖How Fiction Became Edible

🎙️POP-QUIZ!

The hot business of cold storage 
Patrick Sisson / Sherwood

In the world of business, things are heating up in the cold storage industry. Apparently, people are going bananas for frozen food these days, and groceries are traveling farther than ever before (think Usain Bolt with a suitcase full of avocados). But building these giant refrigerators isn't exactly a walk in the park.

Insatiable: A Life Without Eating 
Andrew Chapman / Longreads

The author battles Crohn's disease, facing its complications. Andrew relies on IV nutrition, a challenging adjustment. Food, once a cherished social activity, now takes a different form. Despite receiving nutrients, Andrew struggles mentally and emotionally with being unable to eat.

➤ Last week's most clicked link was 100 Tips For A Better Life. And that's all for today.