During the height of the pandemic and quarantine, I picked up a hobby of trying to recreate some of my favorite lattes and create my own coffee recipes. During that time we weren’t able to go to coffee shops, so we had to get creative and learn how to make some of our own drinks from home. It was such a cool experience getting to experiment in the kitchen and try to replicate some of my favorite flavors without a recipe and sometimes using only some of the limited ingredients we had in our pantry that day.
Then we both returned back to the office and it became a little more challenging to spend the same amount of time I’d spend in the morning (when I had no commute and used that non-commuting time to make the lattes) to make specialty drinks.
However, purchasing a coffee for the both of us during the work week, even if just for a couple of days, can easily add up, but I’ve been desiring to make drinks that would rival some of the coffee shops we love. So today, I’m going to be sharing some of the things I’m thinking about purchasing to try to up my coffee game even more.
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Coffee-Related Items We’re Considering Purchasing
☕ MOKA COFFEE POT: I heard about this item from someone from work when I was sharing how I’ve been highly considering getting an espresso machine, but most of the ones I’ve seen were over $200. While we’d be okay making that investment on that since we drink it a lot, it always felt like it wasn’t a good idea to put that much out for one given that we also love our Ninja coffee brewer and use that a lot. However, in hopes of getting something with a stronger brew to it, I’ve been looking particularly at espresso machines. When I heard about the Moka, I thought it would be a nice, cheaper alternative to a shinier espresso machine that will hopefully give us the stronger, more potent roast we’re hoping for.
If you don’t already own an espresso machine or a coffee brewer like this, this seems to be a great, affordable option and is something that a lot of shops used to use back in the day before the creation of Brevilles.
☕ COFFEE SYRUPS: I personally love making my own coffee syrups, but realistically speaking, during the week it gets a little tedious doing so, so I don’t make specialty drinks at all. I’ve been looking for some coffee syrups that I can use to potentially spruce my lattes during the week, if I just want something in a hurry. Eventually, I’ll try to make my syrups in bulk, but these are also a lot of the syrups that many of the coffee shops we frequent use, so in some ways it’ll bring us closer to the familiar flavor we know and love.
☕ SYRUP DISPENSERS: Speaking of making my own coffee syrups, when I do get in the habit of making them ahead of time, I’ll need some dispensers to put them in. I love these because they’re aesthetically pleasing, but also functional, which is always a plus for me.
☕ REUSABLE ICED COFFEE TO-GO CUPS: I’ve been looking for glass to-go cups to add to my coffee cup collection and found a couple of them that caught my eye. The ones with the wooden lids are trending, but I love the ones that you can sip from and the ones with the straws.
☕ ICED COFFEE ICED CUBE MOLDS: I’ve seen some pretty cute iced coffee cube molds that I’ve been thinking of purchasing. While having ice cubes that are certain shapes isn’t necessary, it makes my coffee look cuter, so I’ve definitely been thinking of adding that just for a little extra “oomph.” These ones are super cute.
