Cold Brew Coffee

中文：冷萃冰咖啡

Cold brew coffee has suddenly popular in my area.  For a couple times I stand in line in Starbucks to order a Grande cold brew coffee but only to be told they are sold out.  Really?  For the third time, I finally got one.  I was hooked as soon as I took a sip.

Cold brew coffee is milder than regular coffee due to its non heat process.  Also because of that, it has brighter, lighter, smoother, and a hint of citrus flavor.   What I love about it the most is that coffee has a strong chocolate note.  With lot of ice cubes to cool down in hot summer time, I now understand why they are always sold out. 

So I decide to make it at home.  It is easy and simple to make your own cold brew coffee.  It takes between 12 to 24 hours.  So you just got to be patient.  In the end, you will see the wait is worthy. 

Ingredients：

85 g coffee beans
2 1/2 cups cold water
ice cubes
whole milk (optional)
simple syrup, maple syrup, or caramel sauce(optional)

Directions：

Coarsely ground the coffee beans with coffee grinder.  Add to a large glass jar.

Add cold water while whisking.  Cover the jar with its lid.  Allow it to sit on countertop for 12 to 24 hours.  The longer it sits, the better flavor it will develop. 

Drain through coffee filter.  Now you have a bottle of coffee concentrate. 

Fill your glasses with ice cubes.

Add cold brew coffee

The smell is great.  

Now you have two cups of cold brew coffee O(∩_∩)O~

I love adding whole milk and syrup to my cold brew coffee.

The moment when milk hits coffee, it is so beautiful.

Sometimes I use simple syrup.  But caramel sauce is always my favorite.  BTW, I make my own caramel sauce too. O(∩_∩)O~

Now it is time to enjoy a cup of great cold brew coffee.

Grab a good book, you will have a nice relaxing afternoon. O(∩_∩)O~ 

Espresso Coffee Made with Moka pot

中文： 用摩卡壶煮一壶好咖啡

Both my husband and I are really into coffee recently.  Just simply enjoy a cup of freshly ground and brewed coffee and the lazy cozy Sunday afternoons in the street coffee shop with a good book. O(∩_∩)O~

I pick up the habit to make espresso coffee with moka pot http://amzn.to/1nzUBj5 from a couple Italian friends.  Whenever I hang out with them, there is always a pot of freshly brewed coffee on the stove.  It goes so well with cookies and other sweets!

Ingredients:

1 1/2 to 2 tablespoons coffee beans (use more if prefer stronger darker coffee)
1 /1/2 cups water

I use decaf coffee beans bought from starbucks store.

Add coffee beans to a coffee grinder.  Grind for a few seconds

Add water. There is a maximum water mark on the moka pot.  Be careful not to add too much water; otherwise you might end with a coffee mess on the stove. 

Mine is small.  One and a half cups are the maximum capacity.

Load the ground coffee.

Heat over medium high heat

Soon, the coffee will come out from the top.

More and more coffee comes out.  You will need to cover it now or it will splatter everywhere.

When it stops, remove the moka pot http://amzn.to/1nzUBj5 from heat.

Now enjoy it whatever way you like.  My favorite choice is macaroons!

Cappuccino Coffee

中文: 卡布奇诺咖啡

Since we bought the espresso machine (this one from Amazon) last year, I have becoming so obsessed with coffee and making espresso drinks at home.  Top three popular coffees in the house are Americano, latte and cappuccino.

Ingredients:

1 shot of espresso
6 oz whole milk (it will make your coffee taste much better than the one made with non-fat milk)
a pinch of coco powder (optional)

All above are all small/regular size cappuccino.  Sometimes I find it not strong enough.  So I would use double shots of espresso, plus 8 to 10 oz whole milk to make a large one.

Make the espresso with espresso machine. 

With the steam wand, froth the milk until it is creamy and full of micro bubbles. If you are using a thermometer, stop when it reaches 140F/60°C to 150F/ 66°C.  Or, with some practice, you can always tell whether the milk is ready by the touching the milk pitcher.  

Frothed milk for cappuccino should contain more micro bubbles because more air is introduced to the milk.  It is also stiffer.

Pour frothed milk into freshly made espresso.  Sprinkle with a pinch of coco powder. 

Look how creamy and smooth it is! O(∩_∩)O~ 

Latte Coffee 2

中文： 拿铁咖啡

Both my husband and I like to enjoy a cup of good coffee from time to time.  Sometimes we go to local coffee shops, and sometimes I make the coffee for us.  They may not be as good as the ones in store, but we have so much fun making and drinking them together. O(∩_∩)O~

Latte coffee is one portion of espresso, one portion of steamed milk plus another portion of frothed milk.  You can make them look good by pouring frothed milk into espresso or by creating artistic patterns with chocolate sauce or caramel sauce.  Both of them are available in store, but I like to make my own from scratch. 

For chocolate sauce:

1 single shot espresso
1 to 2 tablespoon sugar
coco powder

Make one single shot espresso (I use this machine from AMAZON); stir in sugar and coco powder when it is still hot.  Set aside to cool down.  I didn’t write down how much coco powder is needed here because espresso shots are different from machine to machine.  Just keep stirring in coco powder until the espresso thickens like syrup. 

My favorite coffee is latte with caramel sauce on top.

For caramel sauce：

1/2 cup of packed brown sugar
1 tablespoon water
1/4 cup heavy cream
2 teaspoons butter

Directions：

Combine brown sugar and water in a pot; heat over medium heat.  Stir from time to time.  I add water to make sugar melt fast and evenly.  After all the water evaporates, the syrup will turn amber color.  Add butter.  When butter hits hot syrup, it may splatter.  Be careful not to burn yourself.

After the butter melts into syrup, keep cooking for another couple minutes until the syrup becomes dark amber color.  Add heavy cream while stirring.  It is going to splatter more vigorously, so please be extra careful.

Cook caramel sauce for another 30 seconds to 1 minute.  Remove from heat.  When it cools down, you can bottle the syrup.  It is good to go onto coffee, ice cream, cake, cookies or any dessert of your choice.

As for me, I like to top my latte coffee with caramel sauce.  It is indeed heavenly.