Sunday, October 2, 2011
Thursday, September 22, 2011
Getting Bored
I've made a decision. This weekend, I am going on a mission to find a non-Starbucks coffee shop in DC. And a good one. I'm bored of not having the coffee and atmosphere that I want. There are at least 50 Starbucks in DC. It's no wonder I can't find anything else near my flat. I understand that there are definitely parts of the city with real coffee shops, just not in my part of the city. That is why I am on a mission. I will report back after I've done my research. Just keepin you guys updated.
DRINK OF THE DAY: Thai iced coffee. Sweet and refreshing. Just what I need on a rainy Thursday.
DRINK OF THE DAY: Thai iced coffee. Sweet and refreshing. Just what I need on a rainy Thursday.
Sunday, September 11, 2011
Coffee on a Tight Budget
I apologize for the brief hiatus here. I forgot how expensive DC can be, which means I'm not going out for coffee much. I'm also not doing a whole lot of money spending anyway since my job situation is currently up in the air. We all know that I need my coffee fix, so even if I don't have much money, like every other college student really, I'm gonna find ways that I get my fill. Here's my advice- if you don't already have a coffee maker, frickin get one! Even one of those Keurig or whatever things will do, though I don't like them and wouldn't have one of my own-- too much waste for the amount of coffee you get. But I digress, if you drink coffee on a fairly regular basis, it is far more economical to buy a $8 10 oz bag of coffee, which will probably last anywhere from a week to a month, depending on how many people are drinking it/if you're making a full pot/how often you drink it, than to spend $8 on three or four coffees in a shop. That would maybe last me 2 days. Maybe even only one day, if it's a particularly rough one. Do you see what I'm saying though? In the long run, even though you have to buy the coffee maker and the filters (oh wow, that $3 really took a toll on my bank account), I'm sure it will save you money in the long run, ESPECIALLY if you buy your coffee at the S-word. So get yourself a travel mug and shut up.
Now, if you don't own a coffee maker and are at AU- oh even if you're in the dorms, that's no excuse to not have a coffee maker. I know I did. Probably not legal but I don't let laws get in the way of my coffee.
But if you don't have one and want just regular coffee, my suggestion is actually to go to the Davenport Coffee Lounge. They have 50 cent small Americanos (espresso and hot water), and if you bring your own mug or use one of their ceramic mugs rather than a paper cup, it's only 40 cents. You honestly cannot beat that. It's an extra 25 cents for a shot of flavor in there too. But since an Americano is basically a coffee, I have found that it is the cheapest way to get my coffee on campus. It's way better than paying $1+ for substandard Starbucks brand coffee everywhere else on campus. Also, the Dav just has really cute mugs there, which you can take anywhere on campus. Just make sure to bring it back. If you're not at AU, look around your campus for the cheapest deals and see if you can get money off for using your own mug. It's also environmentally friendly! Ok so that's my advice for the day. Stay tuned for more thrifty ways to get your caffeine fix!
DRINK OF THE DAY: Hazelnut soy lattes. While a regular hazelnut latte is also good, the soy milk really adds a whole other flavor to the drink. It's pretty freaking delicious. I generally either ask for half as much hazelnut as usual or make sure there's two shots of espresso because I don't like mine super sweet.
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| or a sweet thermos like this |
Now, if you don't own a coffee maker and are at AU- oh even if you're in the dorms, that's no excuse to not have a coffee maker. I know I did. Probably not legal but I don't let laws get in the way of my coffee.
But if you don't have one and want just regular coffee, my suggestion is actually to go to the Davenport Coffee Lounge. They have 50 cent small Americanos (espresso and hot water), and if you bring your own mug or use one of their ceramic mugs rather than a paper cup, it's only 40 cents. You honestly cannot beat that. It's an extra 25 cents for a shot of flavor in there too. But since an Americano is basically a coffee, I have found that it is the cheapest way to get my coffee on campus. It's way better than paying $1+ for substandard Starbucks brand coffee everywhere else on campus. Also, the Dav just has really cute mugs there, which you can take anywhere on campus. Just make sure to bring it back. If you're not at AU, look around your campus for the cheapest deals and see if you can get money off for using your own mug. It's also environmentally friendly! Ok so that's my advice for the day. Stay tuned for more thrifty ways to get your caffeine fix!
DRINK OF THE DAY: Hazelnut soy lattes. While a regular hazelnut latte is also good, the soy milk really adds a whole other flavor to the drink. It's pretty freaking delicious. I generally either ask for half as much hazelnut as usual or make sure there's two shots of espresso because I don't like mine super sweet.
Sunday, August 28, 2011
There's Still Hope for Local Coffee
I am now completely situated in my lovely apartment down in DC. The only bad thing is that it's on the top floor so right now the hurricane is kind of pummeling our windows. It's fine. I just am not too fond of the leaking windows in my room. The location, however is great- I've got the National Cathedral down the street, which is actually missing a couple spires from the earthquake earlier this week (DC is just not doing so great this week), and there's a Mexican place down the block! Oh and it's not too far from campus. Not important though.
So one of my flatmates is from Milwaukee, which apparently is a cool city, even if it is in Wisconsin (old Midwest rivalries never die). He brought some coffee from over there for us to make in the apartment. And it's REALLY good. I asked the back story, and it was actually very interesting. This place, Alterra Coffee, was started in 1993 (I did some more research. I'm a historian, what do you expect?), roasting and brewing their own coffee. The following year they opened a cafe, and it built up such a base of regulars and people who loved their good coffee that they now have around ten different cafes throughout the city, as well as at the airport. They have successfully kicked out the Milwaukee Starbuckses, and other cafes and restaurants who don't brew their own coffee often use Alterra's coffee. I looked up the extensive list of coffees available through Alterra and it included a whopping 36 different coffees, 16 of which are Fair Trade. The hope is that this will expand and the whole county will be using Alterra coffee rather than nasty Starbucks. I thought this was great. This meant that there was still hope for small-town coffee and that Starbucks won't take over the world. No one's going to monopolize my coffee, dammit!
I just hope that more cities follow lead and use their local resources rather than big mega-chains. In Pittsburgh, I've found that La Prima Espresso Company, in the Strip District, is phenomenal, and both of the small cafes that I've worked at in the city use them. And the great thing about these types of roasters and cafes is that people who work their really love what they're doing and love talking with people who feel the same. That's generally what Starbucks is lacking, I feel. It no longer is about the people and the coffee, the simplest thing it could be. If you're interested in Alterra Coffee, just check out the website, http://www.alterracoffee.com/Home.aspx, or if you're interested in La Prima, their website is here.
I just hope that more cities follow lead and use their local resources rather than big mega-chains. In Pittsburgh, I've found that La Prima Espresso Company, in the Strip District, is phenomenal, and both of the small cafes that I've worked at in the city use them. And the great thing about these types of roasters and cafes is that people who work their really love what they're doing and love talking with people who feel the same. That's generally what Starbucks is lacking, I feel. It no longer is about the people and the coffee, the simplest thing it could be. If you're interested in Alterra Coffee, just check out the website, http://www.alterracoffee.com/Home.aspx, or if you're interested in La Prima, their website is here.
Saturday, August 20, 2011
I Would Like S'more Cupcakes Please...
Did you see what I did there? S'more.... some more. Cupcakes. Yeah ok, lame joke, but that doesn't mean that I didn't make fantastic cupcakes this week.
Now, for those of you who would like to make your own S'more Cupcakes (or maybe the more alliteration filled name- Campfire Cupcakes), it's quite simple.
Start with a simple yellow cake recipe, which you obviously have to bake and let cool. If your recipe calls for "self-rising flour" don't make the mistake we made and think "well that's probably just normal flour". It's not. If you don't have self-rising flour, look up how much baking soda/powder you need and make sure it's in the batter. Otherwise, like us, you might end up with some fairly dense cupcakes. Luckily we realized this before making ALL of them and about 1/3 of the cupcakes turned out fine. While dense cupcakes aren't nearly as bad as dense people, they still were much better with the baking soda.
For the toppings, the icing is simply Nutella, confectioners sugar, and milk- the last two in equal parts, carefully mixed together until it turns to an icing thickness. If you don't know what that is, just buy your own frosting, you probably shouldn't be baking anyway. Now you could buy just regular graham crackers, but cinnamon ones are far superior, so we went with that. Also, because I'm a horrible person and like to see things suffer (kidding, Mom) I decided to buy Teddy Grahams. Of course, you have to pulverize whatever graham crackers you have for the topping. You could be all fancy and use a food processor, but I'm in college, so a makeshift mortar and pestle aka a cup and bowl were used to grind these teddies into tiny bits. Don't worry PETA, they weren't real bears.
So hopefully by this time your cupcakes are cooled by now. If you're lucky enough to have a cupcake corer like the one to the left, then once they're sufficiently cool, take out the middle and stuff that baby with some marshmallow fluff. Be careful, it gets EVERYWHERE. Just pipe on the icing (again, if you're lucky, you can use a pastry bag and all that stuff, OR if you're a cheap college student, a ziploc with a cut off corner works just fine too). Sprinkle with the dead Teddy Grahams and voila!! Delicious cupcakes. Stay tuned for more adventures of the baking barista
DRINK OF THE WEEK: Bubble tea. Get whatever flavor you like the best (if you're in Pittsburgh, Orient Express in Oakland has like a million flavors. I suggest Mango though). While the tapioca bubbles seem strange to many people, they're actually pretty fun to eat. And the tea itself is refreshing in this August weather.
Got questions about baking or coffee? Just leave a comment, and I'll get back to you ASAP
 |
| You know you want them |
Start with a simple yellow cake recipe, which you obviously have to bake and let cool. If your recipe calls for "self-rising flour" don't make the mistake we made and think "well that's probably just normal flour". It's not. If you don't have self-rising flour, look up how much baking soda/powder you need and make sure it's in the batter. Otherwise, like us, you might end up with some fairly dense cupcakes. Luckily we realized this before making ALL of them and about 1/3 of the cupcakes turned out fine. While dense cupcakes aren't nearly as bad as dense people, they still were much better with the baking soda.
For the toppings, the icing is simply Nutella, confectioners sugar, and milk- the last two in equal parts, carefully mixed together until it turns to an icing thickness. If you don't know what that is, just buy your own frosting, you probably shouldn't be baking anyway. Now you could buy just regular graham crackers, but cinnamon ones are far superior, so we went with that. Also, because I'm a horrible person and like to see things suffer (kidding, Mom) I decided to buy Teddy Grahams. Of course, you have to pulverize whatever graham crackers you have for the topping. You could be all fancy and use a food processor, but I'm in college, so a makeshift mortar and pestle aka a cup and bowl were used to grind these teddies into tiny bits. Don't worry PETA, they weren't real bears.
DRINK OF THE WEEK: Bubble tea. Get whatever flavor you like the best (if you're in Pittsburgh, Orient Express in Oakland has like a million flavors. I suggest Mango though). While the tapioca bubbles seem strange to many people, they're actually pretty fun to eat. And the tea itself is refreshing in this August weather.
Got questions about baking or coffee? Just leave a comment, and I'll get back to you ASAP
Sunday, August 7, 2011
Milkshakes Will Be the Death of Me
There are two different reasons why I might die from milkshakes- 1) they are one of the only foods/drinks that I cannot turn down when offered to me and 2) I have made so many of them at work that I might just cry a little bit. Let's discuss this in two parts:
I am usually a well-balanced eater, making sure I don't indulge myself TOO often (I mean, Thanksgiving, my birthday, Christmas, and the 4th of July are all times when I'm definitely going to pig out). I've always been fairly good about rationing my dessert intake. Milkshakes cross the line and have become one of my two food weaknesses though. The problem is that I drink them so quickly that I inevitably have a huge stomach ache afterwards. Like a "why did I drink that??" sort of stomach ache. Kind of like when I eat an entire bag of Sour Patch Kids, but we're not going to get into that right now. Back to the matter at hand. If you're ever in DC, beware of ZBurger- they have 75+ milkshake flavors, which you can mix and match (though they don't advertise that). Making milkshakes, however, is not what I like about them. So if the diabetes/lactose intolerance doesn't kill me first, making ten in a row will.
The coffee shop where I work is a hotspot for the under-17 crowd for two major reasons-- our delicious milkshakes and our sprinkle cookies. I can handle making anywhere between one and five milkshakes during a shift. When my town decides to have a giant street party and we have 20, if not more, kids wanting milkshakes during my shift, then I want to die. It's not just the struggle of scooping the ice cream and blending it with whatever stuff they want in it, but I inevitably end up with something sticky all over my arm (ice cream, chocolate sauce, whipped cream, etc) or milk will go flying if the ice cream gets stuck on the blender, or all of the above. And for some reason middle-schoolers think that they deserve stuff NOW, so if it takes longer than 2 minutes to make their 4 milkshakes, then they will let you know. My other favorite thing is when I ask a group of kids who is all getting milkshakes (it's easier to make multiple than one at a time), and no one responds or they say "we're not getting anything," only to tell me when I hand their friend a shake that they all want that too.
Moral of the story: don't piss off your barista/milkshake maker. They will just be grumpy forever and hate you.
DRINK OF THE DAY: NOT MILKSHAKES. But seriously, try a fresh-squeezed lemonade. People have become to dependent on powdered lemonade crap. Nothing's better than real lemon juice and sugar water. For a nice change, put some sparkling water in for yummy bubbles!
I am usually a well-balanced eater, making sure I don't indulge myself TOO often (I mean, Thanksgiving, my birthday, Christmas, and the 4th of July are all times when I'm definitely going to pig out). I've always been fairly good about rationing my dessert intake. Milkshakes cross the line and have become one of my two food weaknesses though. The problem is that I drink them so quickly that I inevitably have a huge stomach ache afterwards. Like a "why did I drink that??" sort of stomach ache. Kind of like when I eat an entire bag of Sour Patch Kids, but we're not going to get into that right now. Back to the matter at hand. If you're ever in DC, beware of ZBurger- they have 75+ milkshake flavors, which you can mix and match (though they don't advertise that). Making milkshakes, however, is not what I like about them. So if the diabetes/lactose intolerance doesn't kill me first, making ten in a row will.
The coffee shop where I work is a hotspot for the under-17 crowd for two major reasons-- our delicious milkshakes and our sprinkle cookies. I can handle making anywhere between one and five milkshakes during a shift. When my town decides to have a giant street party and we have 20, if not more, kids wanting milkshakes during my shift, then I want to die. It's not just the struggle of scooping the ice cream and blending it with whatever stuff they want in it, but I inevitably end up with something sticky all over my arm (ice cream, chocolate sauce, whipped cream, etc) or milk will go flying if the ice cream gets stuck on the blender, or all of the above. And for some reason middle-schoolers think that they deserve stuff NOW, so if it takes longer than 2 minutes to make their 4 milkshakes, then they will let you know. My other favorite thing is when I ask a group of kids who is all getting milkshakes (it's easier to make multiple than one at a time), and no one responds or they say "we're not getting anything," only to tell me when I hand their friend a shake that they all want that too.
 |
| It's probably best to just pull my hair out now |
DRINK OF THE DAY: NOT MILKSHAKES. But seriously, try a fresh-squeezed lemonade. People have become to dependent on powdered lemonade crap. Nothing's better than real lemon juice and sugar water. For a nice change, put some sparkling water in for yummy bubbles!
Wednesday, July 27, 2011
Picky People Shouldn't Be Allowed in Public
I wasn't going to write tonight but given tonight's shift, I feel inclined to. This is something I've needed to get off my chest for a while: picky people drive me absolutely nuts. It's not really the ones with a lot of requests (ie: the skinny mocha, light on the mocha, lots of foam) kind of people, but rather the ones who have simple requests (ie: a chocolate chip cookie or iced coffee) and then find fault in such a simple thing. The former group of people make me feel like I'm actually doing my job, they are my little bit of a challenge in a fairly easy job. So let me enlighten you on what happened tonight:
My coworker, Mike, and I are serving this couple, both of whom order small iced coffees. Five minutes later, the boyfriend/husband comes in and says his iced coffee just isn't right. Well of course, we accommodate him with an iced americano (for the non-coffee intelligent that's shots of espresso + water). It's the closest thing we can do without just pouring hot coffee over ice. So everything's hunky dory until he comes back and says that his wife noticed that her's was a bit off as well. Ok that made sense seeing as they both got iced coffee. Here's the weird part- I tasted the iced coffee later to see what was wrong. ABSOLUTELY FREAKING NOTHING. The coffee tasted exactly as it always did; it tasted as it should. Mike tried it and also found there was nothing wrong with it. Another customer even had some and couldn't understand what was wrong- he thought it was delicious! So I guess they were hoping for something else when they asked for iced coffee. I'm not really sure.
Believe me, this is not a one-time sort of picky either. Living in the part of Pittsburgh that I do, we have a lot of wealthier people who believe they should get EXACTLY what they want, even if that's just not possible every hour of every day. Sorry, if we bake in the morning, you probably just won't have fresh chocolate chip cookies at 8 pm. Nor do we bake the same things everyday, but rather when they get low/run out. So maybe we have brownies in the case for a day or two. The thing is, how long do people let home-made cookies and brownies stay around at home? If it's been three or four days since you made cookies at home, you would still eat them, right? This isn't crazy, right? Of course, I can't say that to a customer, which is why, I guess, I'm saying it to you guys. But seriously- we have one lady (we'll call her Alpaca based on her camildae-esque manners) who not only turns her nose up at cookies which weren't made on the day she comes in, but also expects a refund if she deems them insufficient. ARE YOU KIDDING?
I tell ya what. Picky people. They need a reality check. Anyone who has similar situations, feel free to comment.
DRINK OF THE DAY:
Iced Green Tea. It's just so delicious!!
My coworker, Mike, and I are serving this couple, both of whom order small iced coffees. Five minutes later, the boyfriend/husband comes in and says his iced coffee just isn't right. Well of course, we accommodate him with an iced americano (for the non-coffee intelligent that's shots of espresso + water). It's the closest thing we can do without just pouring hot coffee over ice. So everything's hunky dory until he comes back and says that his wife noticed that her's was a bit off as well. Ok that made sense seeing as they both got iced coffee. Here's the weird part- I tasted the iced coffee later to see what was wrong. ABSOLUTELY FREAKING NOTHING. The coffee tasted exactly as it always did; it tasted as it should. Mike tried it and also found there was nothing wrong with it. Another customer even had some and couldn't understand what was wrong- he thought it was delicious! So I guess they were hoping for something else when they asked for iced coffee. I'm not really sure.
Believe me, this is not a one-time sort of picky either. Living in the part of Pittsburgh that I do, we have a lot of wealthier people who believe they should get EXACTLY what they want, even if that's just not possible every hour of every day. Sorry, if we bake in the morning, you probably just won't have fresh chocolate chip cookies at 8 pm. Nor do we bake the same things everyday, but rather when they get low/run out. So maybe we have brownies in the case for a day or two. The thing is, how long do people let home-made cookies and brownies stay around at home? If it's been three or four days since you made cookies at home, you would still eat them, right? This isn't crazy, right? Of course, I can't say that to a customer, which is why, I guess, I'm saying it to you guys. But seriously- we have one lady (we'll call her Alpaca based on her camildae-esque manners) who not only turns her nose up at cookies which weren't made on the day she comes in, but also expects a refund if she deems them insufficient. ARE YOU KIDDING?
I tell ya what. Picky people. They need a reality check. Anyone who has similar situations, feel free to comment.
DRINK OF THE DAY:
Iced Green Tea. It's just so delicious!!
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