Category: food and drink

Home-made vanilla Frappuccino

I love Starbucks’ Frappuccinos. What I don’t love, however, is their price. Lately, I’ve been economizing by buying the bottled version from the grocery store. When I saw that you can buy Starbucks-brand instant coffee, I realized that it would be easy to make a home-made version of the bottled Frappuccinos since they’re really just a blend of coffee and milk. So here is my tried-and-true recipe for a vanilla Frappuccino analog:

Fill a mug with the milk of your choice (I prefer 2%).

Add Starbucks instant coffee to taste (I usually use less than half a packet per serving since I just want a subtle coffee flavor).

Add a dash of vanilla flavoring syrup (my favorite brand is Torani). Unlike ordinary vanilla extract, the flavoring syrup is made with cane sugar, so it does a nice job of sweetening things.

Stir until the coffee is dissolved and then enjoy!

Tea

When it comes to tea, I tend to be very traditional.  I love nothing more than a nice steaming mug of Earl Grey.  The Physicist, on the other hand, loves to drink teas with kinky names like Iron Goddess of Mercy.  Over the years, he has mocked me mercilessly for my allegedly staid tastes (no doubt this stems from deep-seated self loathing that arises from his own inability to appreciate the finer things in life).  But lately I’ve begun to ask myself, could The Physicist actually be right?  Could there be more to tea than Earl Grey?  So during my last trip to the grocery store, I decided to throw caution to the wind and purchase something more exotic.  I bought:

(1)  Revolution Tea’s Honeybush Caramel Tea.  I tried this first and was absolutely blown away.  As promised by the name, it has a definite hint of caramel that actually works quite well in a tea.  I didn’t feel the need to add anything to it, which is kind of unprecedented for me.  It’s a great tea to have as an after dinner treat.

(2)  Stash Tea’s Blueberry Superfruit Tea.  I had this with breakfast this morning and found it to be quite delicious.  The combination of berry flavors makes it a bit tart.  I didn’t mind, but I think I’ll add a bit of honey or sugar next time.  I think this would be especially good iced on a hot summer day.

The best thing about both of these teas is that they’re caffeine free, so you don’t have to worry about them keeping you up if you choose to enjoy them late at night.

Any recommendations for which tea(s) I should try next?