My newest hobby...

My newest hobby, thanks for Covid 19, is home barista. This wasn’t necessarily something I had planned on doing, but when I was at Target strolling the appliance aisles looking for an espresso maker or something better for frothing milk, I saw this:

It was apparently the last one they had (at least out on the floor), so that immediately says something - probably that there are lots of other desperate and cheap people out there who are missing their daily/weekly lattes, cappuccinos, or in my case, mochas. Also, as Mr. Coffee has been around as long as I have, I'll take that as a sign from the universe to go ahead and give it a try.

A couple weekends ago I did have a go at trying to make a mocha just using my regular coffee-making method, which is to do a pour-over, then add frothy milk (using the really cheap battery-operated frother, also from Target) and shaved chocolate bits. It was a major disappointment and for the exact reason listed on the instructions I found on the internet – it had a slightly burnt taste because the coffee crystals I used were far from being fresh, but it was the only plain coffee I had, so I used it.

Last weekend we had a go at making cappuccinos first. When I say we, I mean my husband Andrew set it up and read all the instructions and made the first three, but I finally made my own. Honestly, I was not that impressed, but I’m not really a huge fan of cappuccinos, that, and we used the same stale coffee. At least Andrew seemed satisfied enough with the two he made for himself.

Friday night I popped out to the grocery store and bought a bag of Starbucks brand espresso coffee. There wasn’t much selection in the way of espresso. It was that or the slightly more expensive Italian brand, LavAzza. Speaking of Italian coffee, by friend Lisa shared a story of visiting Italy and being invited into the kitchen at a restaurant so they could demonstrate to her how to make a good Italian coffee. She told me she understood very little of what they said, but the Italians definitely know how to make a good brew! When I was in Italy, almost 10 years ago now, I didn’t drink a single cup as that was long before I developed the caffeine habit, but I think my husband enjoyed the many coffees he had.

Anyway, Saturday morning I screwed up the courage to try my hand at making a mocha using my Mr. Coffee machine and a little advice from Mike Jones, of Third Rail Coffee near Washington Square in NYC (one of my favorite places on earth, but one place I would certainly avoid at all costs for the moment). His instructions are fairly simple and straightforward, which is that you either make your own homemade syrup using cocoa powder (if unsweetened, then add a little sugar) blended with a bit of hot water until it’s a syrup consistency, or just use chocolate syrup if you have any (I do, so I used that). Unfortunately he didn’t say how much syrup to use, so I just guessed and squeezed a dollop into the bottom of my mug. From there you pretty much follow the steps to make a cappuccino. Once you’re finished adding brew to your mug, you stir it so you combine the chocolate with the coffee. Then you simply pour the steamed milk in trying to be as artsy as possible (there are people who actually specialize in that if you can believe it). 

I was definitely impressed at the result. No burnt taste and it certainly bore some resemblance to the ones I’ve bought at various coffee shops around the city (which I definitely plan to still support, but now at least I have options). Andrew said it was a little sweet for his liking, but it was only my first try, so perhaps next time I’ll add a little less syrup.

Before I go, I'll leave you with this Fun Fact (copied from Coffee Gives Me Superpowers by Ryoko Iwata):