Coffee Drinks You Can Make At Home

 Most people would say Starbucks is a preferred choice to get your daily caffeine dosage. However, it can be quite expensive to pay for all of those drinks throughout the course of a month. More and more people are going to the grocery store to buy their own plain Jane coffee. Where is the fun in that? What about your tastebuds? Some people, like myself, enjoy drinking a regular cup of coffee. Okay, I like specialty coffee drinks as well. So I am writing this hub to educate you that these drinks found on the menu can be made by you from home.

All that you need is a espresso machine with a steamer. You can buy one for under fifty dollars or a bit more fancy one for a hundred dollars. The beauty to getting the cheaper one is that it will get the job done resulting in the same taste and consistentcy of a higher dollar espresso machine.

Okay lets get started. I worked in a coffee shop for 5 years and have these recipes memorized.

Cafe Mocha (mocha with coffee)

Ingredients: milk, coffee, Hersheys chocolate syrup, whip cream, dark chocolate shavings

1. Make a pot of coffee for the desired servings (lets say 2 people)

2. Steam 1 1/2 cups of milk to where the temperature of the milk is hot

3. Pour 1/4 cup of Hershey's syrup in coffee cup

4. Pour 1/2 of the coffee cup with coffee and stir with chocolate for 30 seconds

5. Pour 1/2 of the coffee cup with the steam milk and stir for 30 seconds

6. Add whip cream on top then sprinkle chocolate shavings or sprinkles on top of the whip cream

Optional: You can substitute the coffee with 2 shots of espresso which would be renamed to espresso mocha. 

Okay this is rather similar to the hot version but easier to make.

Ingredients: warm or cold fresh brewed coffee, ice, Hershey's syrup, half and half or milk, whip cream, chocolate topping like shavings or sprinkles

1. Fill half of your cup with ice

2. Pour to half way fill line of cup with your fresh brewed coffee

3. Add 1/4 cup of Hershey's syrup

4. Pour half and half or milk to fill cup

5. Stir well

6. Adding whip cream and chocolate topping

Optional: You can substitute the coffee with 2 shots of espresso which would be renamed to espresso moch

Ingredients: Espresso of your choice (can buy this at your local coffee shop or at a grocery store), milk and optional toppings such as cinnamon, chocolate or nutmeg

1. 1 1/2 oz. espresso (refer to user manual for expresso machine to make espresso) This requires packing in the dry espresso, adding water to you maker and properly operating the espresso function

2. Pour your freshlt made espresso in a regular sized cup leaving room for the steamed milk

3. Steam 3 oz of cold mik in a stainless-steel container (aka carafe) until the milk is hot and there's enough foam for your preference

4. Add the freshly made steamed milk to the cup of espresso filling the cup to about 80% of the cup

5. Spoon some foamed milk onto the top of the cup

6. Sprinkle with cinnamon, chocolate or nutmeg

Another favorite is the latte. This is an coffee/espresso drink similar to a cappuccino but with more milk. This can be also made substituting espresso with coffee.

Cafe Latte - Hot

Ingredients: milk, espresso or coffee, half and half

1. Make 1/2 cups of espresso or coffee

2. Steam 1/4 cup of milk to where the temperature of the milk is hot with little foam and warm up 1/2 cup of half and half in the microwave or steamer for 20 seconds

3. Pour the espresso or coffee in a cup

4. Pour 1/4 cup of steamed milk and stir for 30 seconds

5. Fill to 3/4 full of the cup with the heated half and half and stir for 30 seconds

6. Add steamed milk foam on top

Cafe Latte - Iced

1. Make 1 - 2 cups of coffee or 1 cup expresso (more coffee/espresso is needed to fill a glass compared to a coffee cup)

2. Add ice to glass of choice

3. Pour the espresso or coffee in the glass

4. Fill to ice level with half and half

5. Fill the rest of the glass

6. Stir for 30 seconds

For the serious coffee drinker which packs quite a punch.

Ingredients: expresso and coffee

1. Mix espresso and coffee together in a cup and add creamer if needed

Enough said

This coffee drinks is sweet packing a punch to help you through your day.

Ingredients: condensed milk, ice, espresso, half and half

1. Prepare 1/4 cup of espresso (about 2 shots) and mix with 3 tablespoons of condensed milk for 1 minute and pour into glass with half filled with ice

2. Pour half and half till the glass is full

3. Stir for 1 minute

4. Optional - Add whip cream on top