Be your own barista
By making specialty coffee drinks at home, you control the type of beans to use, brew strength and sweetness
People often stop to comment on how pretty my furbaby is whenever I’m out and about with her. They ask her name, and I say, “Starbuck.”
They repeat it, “Starbucks.”
“No,” I say, “not Starbucks. Starbuck. I didn’t name her after the coffee chain,” I explain. “I named her after the lead female character on the ‘Battlestar Galactica’ reboot. Captain Kara Thrace is a fighter pilot whose call sign is Starbuck.” The series is among my top 10 favorite TV shows.
“Ah! I see.” Followed by nervous laughter. And once in a while, happily, I get an “Oh! I loved that show!”
The funny thing is that these strangers assume what most of my friends did when I first introduced them to my little American cocker spaniel. Why? Because everyone who knows me personally knows how much of a coffee fanatic I am.
Even with weekly visits to that big coffee chain for my grande quad-shot extra hot nonfat latte, I have been making daily lattes at home for years. I burnt out four $80 espresso machines before finally dropping nearly $700 for a dualthermometer double boiler machine in 2007 (that still makes a great cuppa). I’ve lost count of how many regular drip machines I’ve gone through since college. Embarrassingly, I currently own three French presses (single serve, 4-cup and 8-cup) and two Moka pots (9 cups and 3 cups). My uncle gifted my aunt and me an AeroPress a few years ago, which sits primarily unused after the first few bungled attempts. Our everyday workhorse is a Keurig with a water reserve so that we can make several cups without having to refill after each one. I’ve also recently bought a stovetop percolator and contemplated investing in a pour-over cone. Why? All in search of a great cup of coffee.
Before the commercial cold brew industry exploded a couple of years ago, many of my blogging friends were raving about cold brew coffee. Once I finally got around to making it, I fell in love with it. I’ve especially welcomed it these last two years of working from home.
Without getting too bogged down in the science, there are two vital differences between making a cold brew concentrate and pouring hot brewed coffee over ice: bitterness and concentration.
Cold brew is a gentle extraction method, bypassing the compounds that can make coffee bitter. Hot brewed coffee is tricky to do well: Too-hot water creates bitterness and higher acidity.
A hot brewed pot of coffee is full strength as is. As the ice in an iced coffee melts, the coffee becomes weaker. Cold brewing creates a coffee concentrate, so you have the opposite effect. You start with a strong but not bitter or pungent sip, and as the ice melts, each sip gets better and mellower. To rival a chain shop’s cold brew, I fill a glass with ice, coffee, cream and a hint of sweetness. It’s perfect for summer when you want a caffeine fix, but it’s too warm for a hot beverage.
However, I always like to start my day with a hot cup of coffee regardless of the weather. You can also use the cold brew concentrate for a hot cup that is sweeter and more flavorful than hot-brewed. Just add two parts of hot water to one part concentrate (or to taste).
Not just a mocha latte, but a Mexican mocha latte
Come evenings, as the weather cools down, I start jonesing for a hot beverage again, especially after dinner. My warm drink of choice is a Mexican mocha latte. A latte is espresso plus steamed milk. A mocha latte is espresso, chocolate and steamed milk. A Mexican mocha latte uses Mexican drinking chocolate (our family prefers Ibarra, which has a pronounced cinnamon flavor profile).
Mexican mochas were my Aunt Sally’s favorite drink. She passed suddenly in 2011. When I lived alone, I would invite both of my aunts over for dinner and would make the drink after our meal.
I now live in what used to be her bedroom, and I often feel her in the space. Sometimes I hear an odd knock, something fairly secure will fall, or the bathroom door will open on its own, and even sometimes, I swear I hear my name spoken with so much love softly near my ear. Starbuck hears it, too. Her head will follow the sound, her nubby tail wagging, and in my head, I hear my auntie say, “Hi, dog” because she was not a dog person, and that’s how she would greet Starbuck. Maybe Starbuck sees what I can only feel.
What a comforting thought, though, that maybe she comes to visit sometimes, watching over me as I brew another Mexican mocha latte, thinking of her as I do.
Whipped cream
Homemade whipped cream is super easy to make and much more flavorful, since you control the sweetness.
Makes 2 generous servings
Ice
cup very cold heavy whipping cream
1 teaspoon sugar 1⁄2 (ultrafine baking sugar works best)
Place several ice cubes in a mediumsize mixing bowl, then nestle a smaller bowl inside the ice-filled one. Place in the refrigerator for 5 minutes for the bowls to chill. Add heavy whipping cream and sugar to the smaller bowl. Whisk until stiff peaks hold their shape. Use immediately.