Friday, April 24, 2009

My At-Home Cafe

It's amazing to me how much joy I get out of an espresso beverage. For about $2 (I always bring my registered Starbucks card for free flavor syrup and soy...!) at Starbucks I might order a:

- soy cafe au lait
- americano with sugar free vanilla and steamed soy
- nonfat mocha with two pumps of mocha
- or whatever other concoction I'm in the food for that day

Or, I'll head to a local North Beach coffee shop to order a huge bowl of cafe au lait, chai latte, etc.

So, basically, I know that I love espresso. There is something much more satisfying/pleasurable to me about it than coffee. Don't get me wrong, I love coffee too but just not in the same "special" way.

The natural next step in my espresso exploration was learning to make traditional espresso beverages and design my own in my at-home cafe. I started with the most basic and least expensive of espresso machines. Next, I purchased espresso grounds from the supermarket and Starbucks. I bet that regular grounds would work fine too... I also picked up soy milk and nonfat milk since those are my favorites with espresso. For extra excitement, I also grabbed some mocha powder.

The drink that I usually make at home takes about 1 minute and 30 seconds. For me, this is much more instant gratification than waiting for a not-as-special pot of coffee... I start with about 1/3 inch of espresso in my mug and then add about 1 inch of soy milk. I then warm up the steamer attached to the machine and foam up my espresso and soy concoction. Sometimes I'll put a little mocha powder on top... sometimes I'll re-steam the milk once the foam starts to go away... In any case, I'll thoroughly enjoy my special beverage. I haven't yet named it but I love that I make it in my at-home cafe!

2 comments:

  1. My fave espresso based drink is called a nutty irishman with a twist. It is 1 1/2 shots of espresso, irish cream syrup, hazelnut syrup and steamed milk. I like my milk steamed a little hotter and the foam amount to be a little more than for a late but not as foamy as a cap. Then I add whipped cream and caramel tot he top.

    Yes, I used to work in a coffee shop. LOL

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  2. Wow, that drinks sounds AMAZING! P.S. Is it "okay" for me to respond to posts on my blog or am I supposed to respond elsewhere?

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