How to Make Flavored Coffee Drinks at Home
Your homemade drinks won’t be exactly the same as you get at the coffee bar. You’d need an espresso machine and maybe some other equipment for that. However, you can make some reasonable facsimiles without too much trouble. With a little experimentation, they’ll taste just as good as what you buy out. Best of all, they won’t cost nearly as much because you probably have most of what you need right in your kitchen.
To imitate a latte, you need about four ounces of strong coffee, the same amount of milk, and a teaspoon of sugar. Brew the coffee using twice as much coffee in proportion to the water as you usually do. Place it in a liquid measuring cup for easy pouring and set it in a place it will stay warm. Heat the milk in the saucepan or microwaveable bowl until it’s hot but not boiling. Stir in a teaspoon of sugar to sweeten it and add body to the milk. Whip the milk with the wire whisk or mixer until the foam is so fine you can barely see the bubbles.
If you have one of those cups the size of a soup bowl you can whip the milk to foam in the cup. However, if you have an ordinary cup or mug, you need to scoop the foam gently into it. If you move too quickly, you’ll flatten the air out of the foam, ruining the whole point of whipping it. Next, tip the cup slightly towards you and slowly pour the coffee down the side of the cup. This is the hardest part because if you pour too fast you will deflate the foam. You can top it with cinnamon, nutmeg, or a little instant cocoa mix.
To make flavored drinks you can add flavoring to the coffee before you pour it. For a mocha, mix instant cocoa into the coffee before you pour it into the foam. For cafe Borgia, add a drop or two of orange extract to the mocha. After the coffee is poured, dust the foam with nutmeg. You can buy special coffee flavoring syrups at some stores, but using extracts is cheaper and without sugar. You can also stir spices such as cinnamon into the grounds before brewing. When it’s done, you’ll have a tasty drink with fewer calories that you didn’t pay five bucks for.
brewed on Feb 13th, 2010
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