Author's posts
Oct 22 2023
Coffee Klatch: Meaning, History, Traditions & How to Host One
Coffee has always been about more than caffeine. For centuries, people have gathered around coffee to trade news, catch up with friends, discuss ideas, celebrate milestones, and simply enjoy one another’s company. One of the most charming names for that tradition is the coffee klatch. At its simplest, a coffee klatch is an informal social …
Oct 14 2023
Coffee Roasting Explained: Process, Roast Levels, Temperature & Flavor
Coffee roasting is the transformation that turns a dense, green coffee seed into the fragrant brown bean we recognize and brew. Before roasting, green coffee smells more grassy or vegetal than like your morning cup. Heat changes everything. As the beans roast, they lose moisture, expand, become increasingly porous, change from green to yellow to …
Oct 01 2023
Iced Pumpkin Spice Latte Recipe: Easy Homemade Fall Coffee
Pumpkin spice season does not have to wait for sweater weather. This iced pumpkin spice latte combines bold espresso, real pumpkin purée, cold creamy milk, maple syrup, vanilla, and warm fall spices over plenty of ice. Finish it with a generous swirl of whipped cream and a dusting of pumpkin pie spice, and you have …
Sep 24 2023
Cozy Pumpkin Latte with Salted Caramel and Marshmallow Topping
There are pumpkin spice lattes, and then there are the pumpkin lattes made for the days when you want something unapologetically cozy. This hot pumpkin latte with salted caramel and marshmallows combines strong coffee or espresso with creamy milk, real pumpkin purée, brown sugar, vanilla, and warm pumpkin pie spices. A swirl of salted caramel …
Sep 21 2023
Homemade Pumpkin Spice Latte: Easy Hot PSL Recipe
Few coffee drinks signal the arrival of fall quite like a hot pumpkin spice latte. Creamy milk, bold espresso, real pumpkin, vanilla, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and cloves come together in a warm drink that tastes like autumn in a mug. Add a generous swirl of whipped cream and a dusting of pumpkin spice, and you …
Aug 27 2023
Americano Coffee: What It Is, Taste, History & How to Make It
An Americano is one of the simplest drinks on a coffee-shop menu—and one of the easiest to misunderstand. At its core, an Americano is espresso diluted with hot water. That is it. There is no milk required, no syrup, and no special type of coffee bean. A properly made Americano begins with a normal espresso …
Aug 14 2023
Southern Sweet Tea Recipe: Easy Homemade Iced Tea
Few drinks are as closely associated with a hot Southern afternoon as a tall glass of sweet tea packed with ice. It is refreshingly simple: strong black tea, sugar, cold water, and plenty of ice. No complicated ingredients, no bottled tea concentrate, and no special equipment required. The secret to really good Southern sweet tea …
Aug 09 2023
Starbucks Cup Sizes: Short, Tall, Grande, Venti & Trenta Explained
Ordering coffee at Starbucks is easy—until someone asks what size you want. Instead of small, medium, and large, Starbucks uses a mixture of names such as: And then there is another wrinkle: A Venti hot drink and a Venti iced drink are not the same size. A hot Venti is 20 fluid ounces. An iced …
Aug 08 2023
The Caffeine Content in Green Tea
Green tea often gets described as the gentler alternative to coffee—but it is not caffeine-free. Unless you specifically choose a decaffeinated variety, green tea naturally contains caffeine because it comes from the Camellia sinensis plant, the same plant that gives us black tea, white tea, oolong, and other traditional teas. The amount, however, is much …
Aug 05 2023
5 Easy Tea Sandwich Recipes for Afternoon Tea
A pot of tea is even better when there is a plate of little sandwiches beside it. Tea sandwiches—sometimes called finger sandwiches—are deliberately smaller and lighter than ordinary lunch sandwiches. They are meant to be easy to pick up, easy to eat in a few bites, and varied enough that you can sample several different …