Coffee Talk

Most of you know that I am addicted to coffee.  I especially love this time of year when all the fall and winter flavors are offered at the coffee shops.  Really, who doesn't love a delicious Peppermint Mocha?  Unfortunately, I can't necessarily afford to spend $4 on a flavored latte. 

Luckily, my dear friend Laura bought me an espresso maker and milk steamer for Christmas last year so I can make all the lattes at home that I want.  This is a lot cheaper than the local coffee shop and I can personalize my drinks in any way I choose.

The seasonal drink craze got me thinking.  What flavors represent fall and winter the best?  For me, winter always smells like my mother's cinnamon rolls.  I don't actually like to eat these cinnamon rolls; however, they smell amazing and it's not Christmas without them.  These particular rolls are a Finnish family recipe called Nisua.  Not only do they have cinnamon sugar in them, but they have cardamom and a drizzle of vanilla icing.  The cardamom is what gives them that particular "Christmas-y" smell for me.  I decided to try to create a coffee drink that embodies all the qualities of Nisua. 

Cardamom is hard to find.  I bought mine at Central Market

Nisua Latte Ingredients

Simple Syrup:
1 cup white sugar
1 cup water
1 T. vanilla extract
1 tsp. cardamom

Latte:
espresso (dark coffee would work too)
1 cup milk
cinnamon

Making your own coffee flavoring is really easy and super cheap.  A basic simple syrup is 1 part water and 1 part white suger.  For my Nisua simple syrup I poured one cup of water and one cup of white sugar in a saucepan.  I stirred the mixture continuously and brought it to a boil.  At this point, I took it off the burner and added 1 tablespoon of vanilla extract and 1 teaspoon of cardamom.  The syrup was a golden brown color in the end.  I let the syrup cool then transferred it to a glass bottle using a funnel.

Store in the refrigerator for up to 1 month

Now it's time to put together the latte.  I brewed about 3 oz. of espresso (if you don't have an espresso maker, you can use whatever coffee you choose.)  I poured a small amount of my syrup into the bottom of a mug.

I put a wine pourer into my bottle to facilitate pouring, it also acts as a lid for storage

I then sprinkled a little bit of cinnamon in the mug and swirled it around to mix the syrup and cinammon together.  I then poured my shot of espresson over the syrup and swirled the mug to mix again.  Next, I steamed about 3/4 cup of milk until it was the correct temperature and poured it over the syrup/espresso mixture. 

If you pour your milk so it hits the side of the mug it will mix the drink for you.

Dee-lish!  You can make any variation of this latte, now that you have the basic steps.  Try adding peppermint extract to the syrup instead of vanilla.  You can also add a little chocolate syrup before adding the espresso to make it a mocha instead of a latte.  All in all, this latte probably cost me about $1.  Plus, I could hang out in my jammies to drink it!