If you’re like me, you’re too cheap to buy Starbucks (or Moxie or Dutch Bros or whatever your poison is) very often.
Sometimes I splurge but since I used to work in a coffee house and drank my lifetime supply of mochas in three short years (because I am at times far too anti-social for those perky baristas, and also because my dream cup of coffee of choice is just plain ol’ French Roast) I typically make my own at home.
I’ll give you my very best recipes, proven to successfully caffeinate at least one starving artist.
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Homemade Coffee House Drinks for Your Starving Household Artist
Recipe Base
Start with this:
I got mine at Fred Meyer’s for about $4. You only need a teaspoon per cup, unless you have a mug the size of a bowl, then go wild and add another.
Add it to some hot milk. You can microwave but somehow it tastes better if you whisk it in a pot on the stove.
Use whatever type of milk that floats your boat: cow, goat, hemp, oat, plant, nut, yak. But the creamier the better!
Items Needed:
- Extremely high end instant coffee
- A mug
- A microwave
- Milk (use your favorite variety)
Recipe #1: Gingerbread Latte
Add to your hot mess a spoonful of molasses, an equal amount of brown sugar, and top with cinnamon and ginger.
Tastes like you spent $4, plus you get to sip out of your favorite mug at home, while reading a book or knitting or watching Worst Cooks in America. Or writing. I mean, writing.
Items Needed:
- Coffee starter base (see above)
- Molasses
- Brown Sugar
- Cinnamon
- Ginger
Recipe #2: White Chocolate Mocha
When your milk is nice and hot, toss in several (a small palmful) white chocolate chips. Stir until they melt and add your espresso powder. Voila!
You can also use these yummy instant coffee straw-like envelopes from Starbucks but evidently they are made from gold leaf and strands of angel’s hair, so as a starving artist, you won’t be able to afford them.
Walk on by, love. Walk on by.
Items Needed:
- Coffee starter base (see above)
- White chocolate chips
- Optional: Disposable income so you can use the little Starbucks packets instead
Recipe #3: Pumpkin Spice Latte
For your own pumpkin syrup, mix:
- 1/3 cup pumpkin puree
- 1 cup sugar, brown sugar, agave, Splenda, whatever floats your boat
- 1/2 t vanilla
- 1 cup water
- dashes of cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg
Boil together for about 10 minutes.
Whisk a couple spoonfuls into your hot milk (or use cream for extra decadence, Breve-style) and coffee powder.
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Enjoy your afternoon pick-me-up!
And go write that novel.
PIN IT
