Author: Anthea » Sat Mar 26, 2016 9:47 am
15 brilliant ways to pimp your cup of coffee
So many of us love our coffee- but why not try one of these fab, fun or frankly odd ways to pimp your normal cup?
People who say they don’t like coffee are like people who say they don’t like puppies or rubies or beaches or Christmas or chocolate: not to be trusted.
How do they get up in the morning? How do they STAY up come mid-morning? How do they perk up after mid-afternoon? And how are they still entertaining at a dinner party after pudding has been served? Answers: Grumpily, floppily, whingingly, and they ain’t.
So, in homage to the glorious, wondrous, spectacular, heavenly saviour that is the coffee bean, here are 15 ways to pimp your average cuppa Joe...
1. Baileys Coffee (or The Irish Americano)
The perfect post dinner party drink, a cup of black coffee mixed with 25ml of Baileys Original Irish Cream is a smooth, indulgent drink, and a great way to round off a good meal.
An intense deeply flavoured coffee works best with the creaminess of Baileys.
2. 'Bullet' Coffee
Also known as Paleo Coffee, bullet is coffee made with a knob of butter and a spoonful of coconut oil.
It’s a heady, frothy, creamy, acquired taste of a drink believed (by some fitness fans) to accelerate fat loss, promote muscle gain, boost brain power, increase mental clarity and leave you feeling energised for hours.
The perfect postprandial pick-me-up , a cup of black coffee mixed with half a cup of Baileys Original Irish Cream is every coffee lovers dream
Adding butter (yes, really) and coconut oil to your coffee is a real trend at the moment - as many health conscious people claim it has all sorts of benefits
To make your own SuperCoff™, whizz two cups of hot, freshly brewed organic coffee in a blender with 2tbsp of unsalted, grass-fed butter and 2tbsp of coconut oil. Add a dash of vanilla essence or sweetener if you fancy. Then hit the gym.
3. Swedish Egg Coffee
Apparently raw egg purifies coffee, adding a creaminess and removing bitterness... if you're brave enough to give it a go
Those Swedes tend to know what they’re doing when it comes to most things: murder mysteries, meatballs, Christmas markets, flat-pack furniture, Alexander Skarsgård.
Which is why we’re going to go ahead and trust them when they tell us we should all be putting raw egg in our coffee.
This truly scrumptious cold drink is made by pouring half a cup of Baileys Original Irish Cream and a cup of black coffee over ice
Yup: RAW EGG. Apparently raw egg purifies coffee in the same way that it purifies consommé, adding a deep creaminess to the drink and removing any acidic bitterness.
Simply add one beaten raw egg (along with its broken shell) to coffee grounds and brew as usual in a cafetiere. Serve black or with milk.
4. Baileys Iced Coffee
The sun is poking his head out from behind the clouds. The barbeque is being brought out of hibernation.
The neighbours are shaking their picnic blanket dust all over your lawn. This can only mean one thing: time to start drinking iced coffee.
This year, celebrate the glorious turn of the seasons with an extra special iced treat: a Baileys Iced Coffee, made super-simply by pouring 25ml of Baileys Original Irish Cream and a cup of black coffee over ice. Blend and you’ve got yourself a Baileys Frappe.
5. Guillermo
Add some extra tang to your morning espresso by pouring two shots of the black stuff over a couple of slices of lime. Particularly good if you use a fruity coffee bean. Surprisingly, this sharp, refreshing drink works really well both with milk and without, and becomes an Espresso Romano when you swap the lime for lemon.
Try adding a dash of lime or lemon to your morning brew (left) or turning your coffee into dessert with scoop of ice cream (right)
6. Affogato
Translated from Italian simply as ‘drowned’, an Affogato is a scoop of vanilla ice cream drizzled with a shot of espresso: a decadently creamy, dreamy pudding/drink hybrid. For a caffeine kick that’s similarly indulgent but sugar-free, opt for a Con Panna – that’s a shot of espresso topped with a great big dollop of whipped cream...mmm.
7. Flat White Martini
These super elegant cocktails are easy to make and are the perfect way to kick off a dinner party
The new flat white Martini... just shake and pour
Kick off your dinner party in style with a round of Flat White Martinis. Shake 50ml of Baileys Original Irish Cream, 25ml of Smirnoff vodka and 25ml of espresso over ice in a cocktail shaker, strain into a chilled martini glass and garnish poetically with three coffee beans.
8. Cold Brew Coffee
Not to be confused with iced coffee, cold brew coffee (also known as cold water extract) is coffee whose grounds have been brewed in cold water over a long period. To make, soak coarse-ground coffee beans in cold water for at least 12 hours, then strain through a filter. The resulting brew can be served as it is, with milk or even – ironically – heated up. The idea is to leach flavour from the coffee beans rather than dragging it out by scalding them. This gentler process produces a drink with a different chemical profile, less acidity and lower caffeine content.
9. Vietnamese Iced Coffee
Vietnamese Iced Coffee is a delciously rich drink made using very strong coffee and creamy condensed milk
When a French Catholic priest introduced coffee to Vietnam in 1857, fresh milk was in short supply. Instead, the local populace used sweetened condensed milk to creamify their dark roast brew, and grew fond of pouring it over ice as a way of cooling down in South-East Asia’s intensely humid heat. Vietnamese Iced Coffee (also known as cà phê sữa đá) is now enjoyed all over the world.
A deliciously rich, sweet drink, make it yourself by brewing strong coffee in a special, slow-drip Vietnamese filter pot, pouring over two tablespoons of condensed milk, then adding a handful of ice. For extra authenticity, serve inside a plastic sandwich bag with an elastic band holding a protruding straw in place, just like they do in Hanoi.
10. Dirty Chai Latte
A Dirty Chai Latte is a masala chai that’s been given a slap round the ears with a shot of espresso. First, make the masala chai. Crush four cloves, 2 cardamom pods, one cinnamon stick in a pestle and mortar. Boil in three cups of water, a pinch of ginger and a pinch of black pepper.
Add milk to taste, and a couple of tablespoons of sugar or honey. Add two tablespoons of black tea, remove from the heat and let it infuse for three minutes. Pour into mugs, and to each add a shot of espresso. KAPOW!
11. Baileys Freakshake
If you haven't heard of the Freakshake yet you should probably sit down before reading any further.
A Freakshake is essentially a milkshake gone crazy
A Freakshake is essentially a milkshake gone crazy. Call it a 'shake on steroids', 'pimped' or simply heaven in an over sized glass, the Freakshake can contain pretty much anything your little heart desires.
Popular incarnations involve an ice-cream, coffee, milk and cream base whizzed up with chocolate bars and biscuits and then topped with yet more cream, sauces, chucks of brownie, honey comb, salted caramel, pretzels, chocolate chunks, sweets.....
Having already taken Australia by storm these beasts of milkshakes (which have had people queuing for nearly an hour at some venues) are hitting the UK.
If that image isn't enough to have you salivating, imagine adding Baileys into one of these bad boys.
One version is salted caramel ice-cream, cold coffee and Baileys whizzed up with a bit of peanut brittle. Top with lashings of whipped cream, chocolate covered peanuts, a drizzle of caramel sauce and chocolate sprinkles.
Utterly devilish and a sublime way to combine dessert and coffee at the end of a meal.
12. Coconut Coffee
The definitive solution for lactose-intolerant coffee fans is to swap milk for coconut milk – or thicker coconut cream, if you’re feeling really indulgent. Whizzing hot brewed coffee in a blender with coconut cream will help the two merge better than if you use a spoon, and create a deliciously frothy, creamy drink. In fact, coconut coffee is so ruddy delicious that the lactose-loving among you might even swap sides.
13.Chicory Coffee (With Added Maca)
If you’re trying to reduce your caffeine intake, chicory root is a good place to start. Thanks to its woody, coffee-ish flavour, roasted chicory root became a popular coffee bean substitute in France in 1808 during Napoleon’s Continental Blockade when coffee was in short supply.
If you’re trying to reduce your caffeine intake, chicory root is a good place to start as the roasted woody flavour is a good (well, ish) substitute for coffee
But when the blockade was lifted France’s taste stuck, and ‘chicory coffee’ travelled with them to the French colonies – particularly in the States. In nutritional terms, chicory root is packed with antioxidants, improves digestive function, reduces cholesterol, manages anxiety and can even promote weight loss. Add a spoonful of naturally energising caffeine-free maca root powder to your cup and you’ll be bouncing off the walls for hours.
14. Thai Coffee
Adding a touch of salt can, some believe, add a depth of flavour to your cup of joe
For delicately spiced coffee that recalls lazy Thai beach holidays, just add a few ground cardamom pods and a small amount of ground coriander to your coffee granules in the cafetiere. Brew with water as usual, then stir in a couple of teaspoons of sugar and a dollop of whipped cream. For an iced version on a hot day, just tumble the whole lot over several cubes of ice.
15. Salt
We all know that salt is the world’s finest flavour enhancer – but can it work its magic on coffee, making your daily grind even more delicious than it already is?
Some say so, believing that a pinch of salt added to the grounds either before or after the brewing process can mellow acidity, remove bitterness caused by over-brewing, and reduce the need to add milk or sugar. Are you brave enough?
And One Last Tip...
However you enjoy your morning mug of perky, murky mud, keep the grounds once you’ve finished brewing. Used coffee grounds can be recycled as a garden fertiliser, a pest repellent, an odour neutraliser, an exfoliating body scrub and a shampoo for both humans and dogs. Which is just another reason why our love affair with coffee will never die. Swoon.
My Name Is KURDISTAN And I Will Be FREE
