Coffee

There have recently been a couple of changes to my coffee routine. First, after about 13 years, my faithful little Braun espresso maker died. I was sad! It was a nice shape on the counter and made good coffee. I could operate it with my eyes closed, as they often are first thing in the morning. I bought a new, very cheap espresso maker as similar to the old one as possible. I only need steam, not pumps, etc! So far, the new Delonghi is working well. Here it is steaming away and forming a nice crema on top of the espresso.

The second (disagreeable) change was that Starbuck's stopped selling their syrups in stores and made them only available online at a higher price, plus shipping! I've regularly purchased the vanilla syrup. Well, no more! Now, I'm making my own syrup instead. It's only simple syrup flavored with vanilla. I feel silly that I ever bought it, really. What was I thinking?! Peeking into my fridge: on the left is simple syrup I'll use to make fresh fruit sorbet, on the right is the vanilla flavored syrup for my lattes.

So, despite some hiccups, I am still enjoying my iced lattes. Believe me, they are the best thing after some exercise in the hot weather!

Well, I'm not growing my own coffee, so I've still got the Starbuck's monkey on my back! And, I'm quite partial to the double walled cup I bought this summer. It's great not having condensation dripping all over and the drink stays very cold.

Btw, I did give up coffee entirely for over 4 months starting in January this year, just to see how addicted I was. Turns out, I had no problem without it (no headaches, etc.). When summer came though, I missed iced coffee! When the weather cools again, I think I'll continue having one hot latte a day or so. I like the routine.