I love my coffee! Morning, noon and night. Whether sitting on the deck on a nice summer morning, walking along the beach on a crisp Fall day or after dinner with a cannoli sitting outside at a café. The right coffee at the right time can help kickstart your day or help you unwind and relax at the end of a busy one. And you don’t have to spend a lot of money at a high-end coffee house to get a great one. With very little effort you can make almost any specialty coffee drink in the comfort of your own home.
The base of most specialty coffee drinks is a shot (or two) of strong coffee, usually espresso. If you have an espresso machine you’re all set. If not you can always use espresso pods or k-cups in your Nespresso or Keurig machine. However you choose to make your coffee, most anything besides the base espresso will require steamed milk, which, if you don’t have a special maker, you can simply make in a sauce pan on the stove top. If you don’t have an all-in-one that can froth your milk you can buy a standalone frother very inexpensively on Amazon for only $10, like the one I link to below.
There’s an almost endless number of variations on the base drink such as an Americano, Flat White or Macchiato. You’re limited only by your imagination. You can change up the ratios, add flavors or toppings... whatever is your hearts desire.
For me, these are the four basics. Each successive coffee builds on the one before it.
Espresso
Café con Leche
Cappuccino
Latte
Espresso - the base, is a strong coffee served in small demitasse cups, which should hold 2 to 3 ounces. Add sugar if you like, to taste.
Cafe con leche means coffee with milk - a Spanish coffee, basically 50/50 strong coffee (espresso) with steamed milk (1:1) Add sugar if you like, to taste. (This is the same as a Café au lait - French for coffee with milk.)
Cappuccino is an Italian coffee drink. It’s espresso with steamed milk and frothed milk on top, generally 1/3 coffee (espresso), 1/3 steamed milk and 1/3 frothed milk. Add sugar if you like, to taste.
Latte, another Italian coffee drink, is espresso with steamed milk with frothed milk on top. Usually 1/3 coffee (espresso), 2/3 steamed milk and a thin layer of frothed milk on top. Add sugar if you like, to taste.
When I make my own at home I prefer to add just a little sugar in the cup before brewing the coffee so it mixes as the hot espresso enters my cup. When my last Keurig bit the dust and needed to be replaced I upgraded to the Keurig K-Café and couldn’t be happier (I may review that in the future). It makes the creation of specialty coffee drinks at home so simple that a five-year-old could do it. On a Keurig K-Café, if you can push a button you can make any of those specialty drinks. Cleanup? 30 seconds. (Note, the K-Café doesn’t make espresso under pressure, it makes an espresso style strong shot of coffee with a special setting.)
Looking for a quick and easy way to make steamed and frothed milk without any special tools? Try sealing fat free or skim milk in a microwave safe container and shake it hard until it’s foamed and almost doubled in volume. Then remove the lid and microwave for 30 seconds.
So what are you waiting for?
If you're enjoying my blog please subscribe so you'll receive notifications when new content is added. And please spread the word!
Basic hand-held milk frother
Keurig K-Café
Bustelo espresso pods
Comments