Tag: coffee

Coffee Shop Inspo

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When we were galavanting around town enjoying some delish coffee, I had two delish concoctions that I NEEDED to try at home. I decided to put a NuNaturals spin on this, though honestly both required syrup and I only have NuNaturals syrup, so my tastebuds decided for me. 🙂

Mint Julep- Houndstooth Coffee

As much as I love a coffee shot, I knew immediately whilst taking this that my version would not look as cute. First off, this Cerci Lannister goblet is EVERYTHING. Second, they clearly purchased mint in that level of Mario 3 where everything is gargantuan.

Now Houndstooth doesn’t make this recipe a mystery, they shared it online for the Kentucky Derby:

Combine:

  • Generous dash simple syrup (10 grams) (I used NuNaturals vanilla syrup)
  • 2.5 ounces cold brew concentrate
  • 1.5 ounce club soda (I used Topo)
  • Top with crushed ice (I did not have crushed ice. So I used geometric ice shapes)

Garnish with agitated fresh mint. 

Now I believe my mint was already agitated because it knew it was Joe Pesci compared to the mint at Houndstooth, but for those new on the agitate mint scene, Imbibe Magazine has you covered:

A mint garnish is all about adding aroma to the final cocktail, so it’s important to know about the oil on the underside of the leaf. Ever seen a bartender slap mint in their hands before adding it to the drink? This movement is the quickest and easiest way to express those oils. “We’re allowing the oils to release and make the general environment around the top of the drink great,” Voisey says.

I ordered this the last time I was living in Austin and I thought the barista was making this up when he slapped the mint in his hand. I was like “alright, bro. You do you.” Turns out he reads Imbibe Magazine, I guess…

Here’s my version:

I asked Jon to try it and he liked it so much that I made him one as well. I consider that a job well done. The only thing agitated in this house was the mint. Last agitation, joke. Promise.

Throwback Matcha Cooler- Manana

This drink was the special on the day we went to Manana (part of the South Congress Hotel). I took a picture of just the tea and it came out terribly. Luckily their Instagram had this picture and now I want that reusable straw.

The Throwback Matcha Cooler had:

  • Unsweetened matcha powder (in a water concentrate made in-house)
  • Lavender Syrup
  • Lemon Juice
  • Sparkling Water (they had their own on tap, pics below)

I asked for the ratios of this drink because it was freakin delightful. They said 3oz of the matcha concentrate, 1 oz of lemon juice, a splash of syrup, then the rest was sparkling water. I am not sure why it is a throwback. They had a version with Strawberry lemonade and I imagine some curmudgeonly hipster was all “boooo! play the classics!” so they included the throwback as an option.

Anyways, here is a picture of us enjoying this concoction:

Eerily, my nail polish is almost identical to the George Costanza, er hand model, for Manana.

I had a leg up on the drink lewk because they did not have the goblets and fresh mint like Houndstooth (but what they lacked in those areas they made up for with a TAP OF SPARKLING WATER THAT YOU COULD USE TO HAVE AS MUCH AS YOU WANTED). I want one in my house when I grow up. Here is my version of this tasty beverage:

I used the recipe above, but replaced the lavender syrup with NuNaturals vanilla syrup. Jon said this one was even better than the one we had at the coffee shop. This feels a bit unfair because I served it to him right after he worked out and any cold beverage post-workout tastes like heaven. Here’s a picture of my ingredients:

Since the baristas told me they put the water in last, so I poured the lemon juice and matcha over ice, then finished it with sparkling water. And I don’t know if you noticed, but I used a metal straw like their instagram account. Ballin.

Let me know if you try either of these! 🙂

XO,

Spiced & Shaken Espresso

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I am a HUUUUGE fan of coffee shops. I used to go to Starbucks a lot in Montana because they gave me lots of ways to earn stars (aka free drinks). Those opportunities have lessened recently so I have been branching out to other shops like Epoch and Merit. However, recently I noted a new drink making the rounds on social media called an “Iced Brown Sugar Oatmilk Shaken Espresso.”

Naturally, I promptly went to a local Starbucks for some beta testing… I am selfless. This is OBVIOUSLY for you, dear readers. Not because I love coffee. And sugar. And when they combine.

This picture below is me looking for an excuse to try a new drink offering at SBUX:

Found an excuse. You’re reading it.

I made one change whilst ordering- I do not like oat milk so I subbed coconut milk. I know oat milk is all the rage right now, but it makes my throat feel scratchy. Am I making this up? Maybe. But it seemed true twice so I have decided to avoid it as a milk sub. The drink was delicious, but really sweet. I wanted to make a lightened up version of my own using NuNaturals stevia products instead of sugar. I also decided that I was going to make a spiced version, which afforded me an opportunity to use NuNaturals Chai syrup.

Recipe

Some of the smaller details:

Cold Foam: When you are making cold foam you’re essentially just adding air with a frother. If you have a non-fat milk it will whip up nicely. If you use a milk substitute with 1% or 2% fat it will not stay aerated for quite as long. Both are tasty, but if you’re “doing this for the ‘gram” make sure you have your shot set up before hand. Pour the milk once you have the shot composed for quick photo turnaround. You can add the MCT powder before frothing (and/or add a packet of stevia to the milk when frothing if you wish). Want to learn more? Eater wants to help!

Making a Cold Espresso Drink: Yeah, espresso is warm. This drink is not. So we need to do a few things to make sure your drink is chilled but not watered down. First, I add the syrup to the bottom of my glass before pulling my double-shot of espresso. It looked cool because the espresso sat on top! I stirred the espresso and syrup together and filled the rest of the small glass with the milk I was using. This helps cool it to the point where you can add it to a cocktail shaker.

Mise en Place: The French use this term when talking about having everything out/measured when baking or cooking. Then you can methodically work through the process with everything (you guessed it) in its proper place. I suggest doing this because the cold foam is time-sensitive. Here was my set up:

  • I set up the milk with the MCT powder in a cup to froth (but did not actually froth it yet).
  • I had a cocktail glass ready with ice inside.
  • Then I put ice in a cocktail shaker. I did all of this while the espresso was cooling. Make your espresso first.
  • I poured the espresso mixture over the ice in the cocktail shaker. You’ll want to shake until your hand is cold- it is really neat how the shaker goes from warm to cold so quickly!
  • Using the strainer, pour the espresso over the ice. You’ll notice it does not melt the ice in the glass.
  • Then froth that milk up quick and pour it on top!
  • Garnish if you want. I put some cinnamon on top and added a cocktail skewer, which I explain below.

Presentation is Everything

I have really missed drinking out of cocktail glasses. I have been sober since mid-May 2019* and I did not move any cocktail items with me when we spent a year in Montana. So now that we are back home in Texas I have purchased some cocktail glasses and skewers for garnishes. I wanna feel fancy, too. 🙂

I decided that the ONE sugary item here would be the garnish (When NuNaturals makes chocolate spheres I will totally use those instead). You do not have to have a garnish… I think my husband was not amused (his fell in the glass because I was beta-testing two shapes of cocktail glasses. He lost).

Since Easter is coming up, I used Cadbury mini egg garnishes. This was not easy because they are a chocolate shell with a creamy filling. The trick was to place the skewer in a damp towel that was recently heated in the microwave (DO NOT PUT METAL SKEWERS IN THE MICROWAVE BECAUSE SCIENCE). This heated metal helped me pierce the egg without cracking it. In the name of science, I included a visual aid below:

If you want this drink “neat” (aka no ice in your glass)

Here’s a reel up on my Instagram account showing a lot of the tips and tricks discussed whist making a Dirty Chai Mocktail. The recipe is the same for the most part, however you are not poring this over ice when served. So you are going to have to, as Outkast once said, “shake it like a Polaroid picture.” This needs to be chilly so it is not warm halfway through. If it gets lukewarm, you can just shake it with ice again or put a cube in the glass. We aren’t on Downton Abbey, so no one will clutch their pearls if you do this.

This was garnished with a chocolate sphere and served in a coupe glass. There’s less room in these, so basically every cocktail or mocktail served in these bad boys follows the golden Polaroid rule here.

Shake it, shake, shake it…

P/S- An Angel appeared in my espresso shot and told you to try these techniques out.

Seriously.

Are you calling me a liar? Here s/he is:

*Sobriety Footnote: I do not have a story where one event or thought made me decide not to drink. I am on Zoloft for anxiety and depression and this does not mix well with booze. I miss the fancy glasses and offerings, but I was able to try some rad mocktails before Covid rained on that parade. There aren’t enough mocktails available IMO, so I’ll be making more on this blog. As Busta once said, “If I ain’t gonna be part of the greatest, I gotta be the greatest myself.”

Also, sticking with Busta vernacular- you can go “flipmode” and add booze to these. I am all about other people imbibing. It just doesn’t work for me. 🙂

XO,

You Shan’t Shame Yourself with Strangers Over Coffee (if I can help it).

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On weekends my husband and I like to go to downtown Austin for coffee. As people who do not drink, coffee has become our cocktails and coffee shops have become our bars. I enjoy going to Epoch near the Hike and Bike trail, as the barista is always so dang awesome and there are many-a-doggos to watch as we sip our cold brews.

The way Epoch’s brilliant contactless system works is as follows:

  1. You order your drinks (and food if you’re feeling so inclined) with a barista. S/he is on one side of a doorway which has a plastic covering over most of it. You order and then pay using a credit card on the touchless card reader. There are also masks and hand sanitizer for people who did not prepare to drink such delish coffee.
  2. Next, you wait for a different barista to call your name through a different door opening, where they drop off your order on a tray and walk away while you pick it up. Brilliant.

Generally, I order the coffees because my ordering is a bit higher maintenance (you should see my Taco Bell receipts). Jon scores a place to sit and watch the doggos as we drink our coffee. Sometimes we people watch- but that’s usually reserved for dog-free traffic times. I wait for the coffee near the second door, where I generally look at other dogs.

A wintery Epoch trip that may have warranted a hot coffee…

This morning I could not help but overhear two women talking. First, I am embarrassingly good at listening to the conversations of strangers. It is not generally my intent, but if I find something interesting I tend to commit to the listening experience. Today a woman (likely early 40s) was talking to another woman (I think mid-30s). They were clearly strangers but were talking about Barre classes and local gyms. This caught my attention, as I enjoy working out as well. However, this conversation took a TURN.

If you see this woman she’s listening to you talk to strangers.

These women bonded over how much they hated their bodies since Covid began- shaming themselves with the other in full agreement. It was the strangest thing. It took me a bit to process the conversation before I brought it up to Jon. What kind of world is this? We bond over loathing our bodies? I would like to add that these women were both legit hotties and if I knew either of them I would have promptly shut that crap down. Of course that made me start to wonder “I wonder what they think about how I look…”

This is a problem, y’all. I realize this is a blog dedicated to food. However, how can a woman write a blog about enjoying food when people are so ready to just crap on themselves because Covid made Barre harder to attend?! I miss Crossfit. I do not, however, miss eating tater tots. I had some today and they were delicious. I know that there’s a legit industry hoping women hate themselves. I’m not here for that kinda energy. If you need me, I’ll be ordering European Butter from Farmhouse Delivery to practice my lamination skills (or eating pumpkin pie from the pan as seen below):

XO,

The winter storm made me less motivated to write. I am back on my A-game and will get back to posting weekly. I am working on some Snail Mail treats and a new Pastry to finish March out strong. I hope everyone is safe and sound.

Coffee Cake

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I have some big news: coffee cake does NOT have coffee in it. But damn if it doesn’t taste delish with a cup of joe! Weird thing: The cinnamon swirl in coffee cake IS NOT LIQUID! I assumed it was a butter/sugar/cinnamon syrup blend. Nope. Check the pic below: sugar and cinnamon. No liquid. Whoa.

I have been doing mise en place for a while. This simply means having your ingredients out and measured (if possible) before you begin. It helps me make sure I do not miss an ingredient along the way. Mise en place really helps with baking recipes because it is super sciency! The measurement matters, y’all.

I also like to break eggs in a separate little bowl before adding them to the mixer. I’ve never had a “bad egg,” which is why most chefs do this. I do because I don’t want little eggshell bits sneaking in there. Not the texture I am looking for. You can see most of this below. I also have containers for all of my flours and sugars. Each has a measuring cup inside, so it is really easy to use.

Check out the streusel crumble below:

Below is the brunch where we were SUPPOSED to eat the coffee cake. My partner and I were SO full from the hash and eggs that we both ate the coffee cake later in the afternoon. Good thing I put it in these adorbs ramekins.

Thanks for reading!

XO,