Gourmet Coffee Drinks at Home - Easy Tips For Making Cafe Latte and Cappuccino at Home

By DJ Toman

Gourmet coffee drinks at home are easy to make with a few simple tips listed in this article.

Cappuccino and cafe latte are favorites that many coffee lovers order at the coffee shop. If you would like to make these coffee drinks at home, here are some simple instructions, to save money and avoid a trip to the coffee house. At home you can experiment with making your favorites, for pennies per drink instead of paying coffee house prices.

This article gives simple, plain language to brew and serve great coffee drinks.

Both the cappuccino and cafe latte are based on espresso. Let's assume that you have a standard espresso machine capable of foaming (frothing) milk. In addition, you'll need to have gourmet coffee beans finely ground for espresso, milk (I prefer skim milk) , and the flavoring you want (optional but lots of people like chocolate).

Making espresso at home

Cappuccino and latte drinks both begin with espresso. To make espresso shots, you place your ground espresso into the portafilter, press to compact the ground coffee, leaving the coffee's top surface smooth. Then place the filter into the machine and start steaming the milk to at least 140 degrees or slightly hotter if you prefer. By heating the milk without waiting for the espresso, you can start mixing your specialty drink immediately after the espresso is brewed.

Once you've brewed two ounces of espresso for one drink, you can follow the instructions for cappuccino and latte shown below.

Cappuccino recipe prepared at home

• Steam your milk with extra foam - cappuccino requires extra foam in the milk. Tip the pitcher holding the heated milk and bring the steaming apparatus (wand) just under the top surface, raising the steam wand as the foam is created but keeping the wand just below the surface. Make foam enough to fill one third of your coffee mug. When the foam is ready, turn off the steam wand. Follow the rest of the instructions in the order listed.

• Brew - pour your espresso shots into the cup first.

• Add milk - add hot milk to fill your cup two thirds full.

• Add foam - finish filling your cup with foam you spoon into the cup, and your cappuccino is ready to enjoy!

For flavored cappuccino, place flavoring into your cup before you add the espresso shots. Stir the flavoring with the espresso and milk, then add the foam topping.

Cafe latte home recipe

Cafe latte is prepared the same way, except you use less foam. So, you'll use the steam wand to warm the milk and create a little foam, and brew the espresso shots. Add the espresso shots to your cup, fill the cup nearly full with heated milk, and leave room for a short layer of foam. Some people add whipped cream, but that is optional.

As with cappuccino, for a flavored latte you add syrup or other flavor into the cup first, and stir it into the shots and heated milk.

Cappuccino and cafe latte are both much easier now, right?

Once you're comfortable preparing basic latte and cappuccino drinks, you can start experimenting with different flavors of espresso beverages.

DJ Toman is a lawyer and coffee enthusiast living in Greensboro, North Carolina. He is the author of http://www.CoffeeDaydreams.com, a site dedicated to gourmet coffee and choosing the best coffee makers. Even beginners get helpful tips about how to brew and enjoy the coffee of their dreams.

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