But first… coffee: How to add a drop of homemade flavor and sweetness
Seth Atkins, Editor in Chief
Half of the day is gone; you just finished your last class of the day, and all you want is to indulge yourself in a cup of energizing yet sweet coffee goodness.
The problem is that you would rather not go out to spend a hefty amount of money just for one cup. In fact, you find it a great opportunity to make your own coffee beverage today.
You have your coffee base ready and even some milk, but what about the flavorings? In reality, you would like to add some different flavors to your coffee. You can do that by flavored syrups.
The thought crosses your mind to just go buy a premade flavored syrup, but you are in the mood to try something new. So, you decide to try making your own syrups.
Emma Bradford, Leopard Forest barista, described making flavored coffee syrups as simpler than you might think. You can have your coffee bursting with cool flavors in just five easy steps.
Step One: Gather Your Ingredients
To start this process, you must decide what kinds of flavorings you want to use in your coffee. When asked about choosing to make you own syrups, Bradford said, “A lot of this process can do to preference, it’s based on what you like.”
In this instance, you land on making vanilla and mocha syrup favors.
The ingredients that will be needed to make these syrups are just water, sugar, vanilla extract, cocoa powder and your adventurous spirit. All of these ingredients listed can be found at a local grocery store or a close by Dollar General.
There is no force to spent great amounts of money making these syrups. Find the ingredient prices that work best for you. Making coffee syrups can cost about $20 to $25. The price depends on what kind of products and ingredients you buy. Rest assured that the money goes a long way because you will not use all your syrup with just one cup.
Step Two: Make your base
After you gather your ingredients, the fun can begin. You will need to make your syrup base. This base is ironically simple.
Take two cups of water and bring it to a hot temperature. Isabelle Western, freshman, works at the local coffee shop, Scandi Tiny. She said, “You can just microwave the water to make it hot. You don’t necessarily have to have it boiling.”
Next you will want to pour the two cups of sugar in that hot water. You want to put the sugar into hot water so that the sugar can dissolve easily. Make sure that the sugar has dissolved into the water.
Step Three: Add in flavoring to base
Now that your simple syrup base is complete, the flavor comes next.
For your vanilla syrup, add a tablespoon of vanilla extract to your sugar base. Mix the extract into the base until fully incorporated throughout. This is up to preference, but you can add more if you want a stronger vanilla flavor.
As far as your mocha flavored syrup goes, add five tablespoons of coca powder to your simple sugar base. Then use a utensil like a fork or whisk to mix in the powder. You will want to use a whisk or fork with the cocoa powder to my sure there are not large clumps of powder. You also want to make sure the powder is evenly incorporated.
It is important to make sure that the coca powder is not clumpy. The powder should be evenly distributed in the simple sugar so that you end up with a smooth syrup.
Back to preferences, you are not limited to just these two flavors. In fact, Western said, “Find any extract that has a flavor you like at the store and use it for your very own coffee syrup.” Types of other extracts that can be used are almond, lemon, maple and even coconut.
In fact, coffee shops in the Upstate play around with their coffee flavors and combinations. For example, a Landrum coffee shop, Buck N Brew, has their special “Cattle Crunch” latte. This drink is infused with English toffee and dark chocolate syrups. Barista Alley, a coffee shop located in Greer, has an agave lavender latte on their menu.
Monin, a popular syrup making company, has many flavors to choose from. Some syrups that turn heads are hickory smoke and even cucumber.
Homegrounds.com reports, “The rose latte is another Instagram famous drink, often colored pink and topped with rose petals for full effect.” The rose flavored syrup in this drink is one that makes coffee taste like a field full of your favorite rose peddles.
From hickory smoke to rose peddles, this is all to say that your coffee flavoring possibilities are endless.
Step Four: Add flavored syrup to the coffee
The time has finally come. You now have two flavoring options to put into your coffee. So, add
enough flavor to your liking and enjoy the final product.
Even though you just finished adding your flavorings to your simple syrup base, your flavor is ready to be added whenever your heart desires it. There really is no need to leave the syrup to cool, it can be enjoyed right away.
Step Five: Store your product
But not so fast. Before this process can be claimed complete, your simple syrups need to be stored for next time. Take a moment before the cleanup to enjoy every last drop of your coffee beverage.
One way to store your syrups is to pour them in jars or containers and place it in the fridge. You want to store your syrups cold because of the high sugar content.
The syrups can be stored in the fridge for about two weeks before getting old and a new batch is to be made.
One helpful tip in storing your product is to pour it in condiment bottles, such as the ones used for ketchup, ranch or mustard. Western said, “Condiment bottles work really well for storing and portioning syrup. They generally hold about 12 to 16 ounces of liquid. This means around two cups of syrup. You can find the bottles at a grocery store or Walmart.”
If you were to buy the condiment bottles, it would end up being cheaper in the long run. The bottles are also more environmentally friendly since you are not buying multiple plastic bottles of premade syrups.
One advantage of making your own coffee syrup is that you can use the syrup in multiple cups of coffee beverages. It is not just a one and done.
Now that you know how to flavor your coffee, you are ready for your next homemade coffee pick me up.
