Check out my Pinterest Board!

If any of you are into Pinterest, you should really follow my coffee Pinterest board! This board consists of recipes, pretty pictures of lattes, and really anything coffee related!
Pin my pins if you are in the coffee, just as much as I am! Share your Pinterest board if you have a coffee board!

The Story of Coffee

Today, I watched a short documentary from PBS called "Coffee From Bean to Cup." This video is from Feast TV showing coffee goes from the mountains to your cup.

The host, Cat Neville, heads to El Salvador to see how coffee is grown. The coffee is grown in the volcanic mountains.

The owner of the coffee farm discussed how the economic prosperity of the coffee farm has helped employees. The employees used to take the bus and now they can afford to get motorcycles.

Each day during harvest season, the farmers go up the mountain. There they will pick only the best cherries. Then the trucks carry the cherries down to the mill. The higher up the mountain, the higher quality the coffee is.

The coffee is processed and dried. Then it is bagged up and sent to where the roaster wants it. The roaster tastes the coffee every week to see how they are going to roast it.

Latte Art

Today, I picked a few of my favorite latte art images! Latte art has become very popular over the last few years. Customers love getting lattes that have pretty designs. 

Latte art has become more popular since the 1980s and 1990s when David Schomer, owner of Schomer's Espresso Vivace in Seattle, came up with the rosette design. 

Latte art is made from free pouring and etching. I have never been able to do this, but I think it cool to share some pretty designs. If you would like more designs, look at this Pinterest board!

How to Make a Latte

For two years, I have worked at a coffee shop on campus making lattes for students and faculty. At first, it was tough to learn all the drinks, but after awhile it was a lot of fun! Recently, I had to leave due to another job opportunity, but I still love to make coffee.

Today, I am going to teach you how to make a latte on your home espresso machine! Really simple, just a few easy steps!

1. Put your grounds into your little espresso container (don't know what it is called)

2. Compress the grounds with tamper.

3. Lock the espresso container into place and press the button to get the espresso. 

4. Fill up your steamer about half way or so with milk. 

5. Steam the milk until the steamer is hot where you can almost barely touch it. 

6. Take a spoon and pull back the foam, while letting the steamed milk come out.

7. Leave a little dollop of foam on top.

There you go, now you have a great latte!

Espresso Truffles!

Hey everyone I am back again! Today I made espresso truffles! This is a two-part recipe- I had to make espresso powder to put in the espresso truffles!

Espresso Powder-recipe from Bright Eyed Baker

1. Preheat the oven to 175°.
2. Take used grounds and spread them out on an unlined pan. (I also didn't spray the pan).
3. Put them in the oven until cooked a little bit, I set mine for an hour.
4. Then take the cooked grounds and grind them into a fine powder.
5. Finally, make sure to put them in an airtight container for later!

 Espresso Truffles-recipe from Real Simple

Ingredients

• 1 cup heavy cream
• 1 teaspoon espresso powder
• 1/2 pound of semisweet chocolate, chopped
• 1/2 pound of bittersweet chocolate, chopped
• 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
• 1 cup of unsweetened cocoa powder

 Directions

1.  In a saucepan, warm up the milk with the espresso powder, until just boiling. Stir occasionally. Remove from heat and add the chopped chocolate. Stir until there are no clumps and add the vanilla. 
2. Transfer the mixture into a shallow bowl with plastic wrap and put in the fridge for 4 hours. 
3. Once the four hours is over, take a melon baller or something to scoop the mixture into balls.(I used a tablespoon and rolled it quickly in my hands, a melon baller would have been helpful!)
4. Scoop the balls onto a cookie sheet, either lined with parchment paper or silicon sheets.
5. Put back in the fridge for 15 minutes. 
6. Then, roll the balls in cocoa powder and refrigerate until serving!

I hope you enjoyed my espresso truffle recipe! Until next time!

-Sarah