As you may have guessed from the name of my blog, I have an ongoing love affair with coffee.

It wasn’t always so, though! It used to be that when me and the hubs would stop to get his morning coffee, I’d be getting a hot chocolate. Until one fateful day he ordered a mocha which I mistook for my drink. I had a few sips, thinking “gee – this is the most delicious hot chocolate I’ve ever had!!”. We quickly realized the mix up but I was already a goner. Since then I’ve moved through mocha lattes, caramel macchiatos, vanilla lattes, and even gained a taste for regular coffees (with milk and sugar of course!) and cold brew.

Now that I have my very own espresso machine, my favorite drink to make at home is an iced vanilla latte. Cold and refreshing with just the right amount of sweetness!

If you are a regular espresso drinker I would highly suggest investing in a home machine. It’ll save you money that would normally go to $tarbucks, and you can make your drink just the way you like! I own a Mr. Coffee espresso maker, it usually retails between $40-$60, but I got mine as a gift purchased at a store that was selling them refurbished for only $30.

I buy Starbucks espresso at the grocery store, and Da Vinci vanilla syrup either at Amazon or a local coffee shop.

The only down side I’ve found to making espresso at home is that the Mr. Coffee seems to make it weaker than it would be a coffee shop. I’m not an expert barista so I’m not exactly sure why, but in order to compensate I brew some extra espresso for the drink.