Today he is giving you internets a lesson on how to make lattes for less than 50 cents a serving. And I wouldn't believe how good they are for so cheap either - except lucky me gets to drink one of these amazing concoctions every morning hand made by him!
This also kicks off the first in what will be a sporadic series called "this is how we do it."
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It’s a distant memory now…February 10th, sunny skies, 62 glorious degrees, snow melting in waterfall down the driveway. I’m thinking Cuervo Margaritas, chips and salsa verde and that sweet smell of fake coco-nutty sun tan lotion. Not so fast Mr. I-wear-shorts-when-it-gets-above-60-degrees. Michigan smacked me in the face again last week and it’s still battering me about the neck, cheeks, ears and toes.
What better to do when the cold weather and crappy economy are tag teaming your sanity? Make cheap Lattes of course!
OK, I must admit, my wife always had me running to the local Starbucks on Saturday mornings to pick her up a $4.00 Grande Non-Fat Latte with Sugar-Free Vanilla and she always seemed so pleased and smug about drinking it slowly over the next 4 hours.
A couple weeks ago I was digging through one of our long forgotten top shelves in the kitchen and found this little gadget that looked like a teenie weenie coffee pot. It’s called a macchinetta and you can get one for around $30 (the
Bialetti 6-c. Moka Express Stovetop Espresso Maker, Silver
is a nice one from Starbucks that is a 6 cup model... ours is a single cup model). I did a little research and thought it was high time I take some personal credit for that Saturday smugness that Starbuck’s had previously laid claim to.
It turns out this little Italian invented wonder makes awesome espresso. I’ve found a way to put my wife on cloud 9 for less than 50 cents per serving. Husbands, listen up:
Step 1: Get familiar with the parts.
There’s a bottom reservoir with a removable section where the coffee grounds are placed, and an upper assembly that consists of a “filter”, gasket and a top chamber that the finished espresso eventually fills up.
Step 2: Add water to the lower chamber (up to the little steam release valve) and mound the coffee grounds in a nice plump hill. No tamping or packing needed.
Step 3: Pour 6-8 oz of low fat milk in a saucepan. Low fat milk froths better than the real good stuff. If you don’t have any toddlers, chances are you’re rockin' the watery stuff anyway.
Step 4: Apply high heat to both saucepan of milk and prepped Macchinetta. Whisk milk constantly and be careful not to boil. Froth as much or as little as desired. For my wife, the more froth, the better. Beware, more froth means more insulation for this lava like liquid. It will stay hot under that foam so drink with caution. This heating process will take 2-3 minutes depending on the volumes you’re dealing with.
Step 5: Listen for the hiss of the Macchinetta. Once it hisses, it running close to empty. Most of the water has rapidly boiled and escaped to the area of lowest pressure; the top chamber. In the process it’s made its way through the coffee grounds and extracted awesome flavor and more importantly, high doses of caffeine. If you like some sweetness in the drink, now’s the time to add some sugar, or flavored syrup to your mug.
Step 6: Pour the espresso in the mug, pour the frothed milk over the espresso and enjoy.
Cost Per Serving after purchase of Macchinetta: - $0.47
Coffee - $0.21
Milk - $0.24
Sugar – $0.02
Lip Smacking, Smug Faced Goodness – Priceless
Andrew
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This post is part of Hooked on Houses' "Hooked On..." Friday - check it out for more of what the internet is "hooked" on this week@
