If you like spending $6 on a drink from Starbucks, raise your hand. No one? Didn’t think so. We all love a good handcrafted beverage, but without the price tag. Good thing we can establish a delicious coffee bar right at home with everything you need to duplicate those drinks.
Tips to Making Good Coffee Drinks at Home
- Take advantage of the timer function on your coffee maker. Is the number 1 reason we buy fancy drinks not because we’re running late or too tired to make it at home? It is for me! Setting up the coffee pot the night before and having it set to brew my coffee as I’m getting ready saves so much time (and I can’t forget). Then I have extra time to take my drink to the next level.
- Fancy drinks come in fancy cups. Unless you collect coffee mugs, invest in some fun travel mugs or showy glass mugs. We drink with our eyes first, and we want transparent pretty cups. There’s a whole mindset shift when you have a fancy cup.
- Take the extra steps to add flavor. Add flavored syrup to the coffee, but also to the milk before you froth it. Bonus points if you use two separate flavors. Flavor explosions in your mouth are delicious.
- Syrup on the cup makes sure you get sweetness in every sip. If you’re not a big fan of black coffee, swirling caramel or chocolate on the inside of your cup will sweeten your drink without actually adding sugar packets. Plus it’s appealing to the eye.
Do you know how to make a good cold foam? Make sure you’re subscribed so you don’t miss the next blog post where I share my favorite milk frothing recipes and tips.
What to Buy for your At-Home Coffee Bar
Are you ready to get shopping? Don’t buy everything at once- a good coffee bar is well stocked, and gets refilled often. Focus on one or to items at a time, and add more as you develop your at-home coffee recipes.
Good Coffee
Here’s the deal. Even the best brew techniques, fancy creamers, and flavored syrups won’t fix bad coffee. You can mask the taste, but then what is the point of elevating it at all. A good coffee starts with good coffee.
Not everyone can buy their coffee green, in bulk , and roast it at home. That’s the best way to make sure it’s the complex flavor you are looking for. But since most people don’t have a coffee roaster in their garage, settle for mid-grade coffee. The top shelf coffee should not be doctored, if it’s delicious black, then you should drink it black. Mid-grade will still have a rich flavor, but adding creamer and syrups will kick it up a notch. The cheap coffee is probably trash anyway you make it.
When we use store bought coffee (usually when I’m in a hurry and don’t want to grind it, or Jonathan hasn’t roasted a fresh batch), we really enjoy this coffee. We also don’t feel bad using it in the drop pot, instead of the French press.
Milk Frother x2
The quickest way to take your coffee from blah to oh yeah is by frothing the milk. Originally, milk foam was exclusively for lattes and cappuccinos, and since at-home espresso machines were not budget friendly, we weren’t frothing our milk. But, now we can experience the delicious texture of frothed milk right in our coffee!
We love this frother because it’s easy to clean. That is my number 1 priority, especially with dairy products. It comes with an extra whisk, which is great for longevity. An added bonus, we can use it for hot chocolate for Sassy at night (mom hack: use chocolate almond milk and warm it up, she’ll never know it’s not actually sugary hot chocolate from a pouch.) You can actually warm up anything, even hot cider for winter hot toddys.
Just remember that the fat in daily milk is what makes the froth, so while it works great for warming almond milk, low fat milks will have less froth.
Grab a Milk Frother HERE or a white one HERE
You can also snag a handheld mixer. This is great for mixing all drinks, not just frothing up milk. I use my handheld for adding collagen to my lemonaid- yummo. Clumps are not so yum.
Grab a handheld Milk Frother HERE
“Skinny” Syrups
I usually snag these at TJ Maxx (or Marshalls, whichever TJX store you have) whenever there is a new seasonal flavor, and stock up when they are off season. They can be used in baking, too, so don’t be afraid of the price tag.
Grab as many as possible. You might try to save some cash by only keeping one on hand at a time, but you will regret it. A well stocked bar has options. Make sure you have an assortment of flavors- both traditional flavors (vanilla, caramel, hazelnut, mocha, etc) and seasonal (pumpkin, peppermint, etc). I actually only keep 4-5 out at a time and rotate them up onto my coffee bar every few weeks.
Grab a 6 pack HERE
Pro-Tip: The syrups do not usually come with a pump, but you can grab those online as well. I had to cut the bottoms to make them fit, but its such a gamechanger.
Grab some Syrup Pumps HERE
More Syrups
The sugar free flavor syrups go in your coffee directly, or in your milk for flavored cold foam. But what about the syrup that goes on the cup before you add ice. Yeah, you need those too.
Miscellaneous Flavor Enhancers
Sometimes when I’m building my perfect cup of ‘joe, I will break into my baking cupboard for some sweet flavor enhancers. Stevia is a great sugar-free sweetener. Cinnamon adds a warm bite (especially in the cooler months). Vanilla or almond extract, or whichever extra y’all have on hand, will completely change the flavor as well. Some folks even add food-grade essential oils to double tap the flavor and medicinal properties. You can put the cinnamon, nutmeg, or other dried spices directly into the coffee basket before you brew.
Cookies
This is totally optional, but coffee cookies are fricken delicious. Definitely not a breakfast of champions, but occasionally its ok to add a cookie with your drink. Or a donut, or muffin. Whichever.
These are my favorite coffee cookies HERE
Mini Ice Cubes
Does the size of ice make a difference in the flavor? Maybe not. But it definitely enhances the flavor experience as you’re drinking your fancy from home iced coffee drink.
Grab a 3 pack of mini ice cube trays HERE
Next Level Coffee Maker
You can use any coffee maker and make delicious coffee. This is last on the list because everything else will make a bigger impact than the coffee pot itself. But if you’re looking for a new coffee maker, these are my two favorites right now. If you’re surprised I have multiple coffee makers, whereas I have favorites… you must be new here. Coffee is very important to me.
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PS, now that youre drinking more coffee at home, let’s stop getting fast food too. Are you looking for to add some healthy habits into your daily eating habits? Check out Five Ways to Eat Healthier Today