Vegan Latte

Since I became vegan I have been working on the perfect latte or cappuccino.  I got an espresso maker for Christmas and have been perfecting my favorite coffee drink.  I tried soy milk, but my latte did not forth properly, so I turned to Almond milk.  It is perfect.

How to make a vegan latte:

This is my fabulous espresso maker.  You need to have a good espresso maker for a good espresso.  This one is not the top of the line, but it makes a decent espresso.  I also like Cuisinart, it is a good dependable brand.  I love my food processor, it is the greatest tool in the world. 

You also need a good coffee grinder.  This one has blades, the best is the ones that don't but they take up a lot of counter space.  And guess it's a what Cuisinart too! (love it)

Grind up your beans.  Fresh ground beans are important.  I also buy my beans in small batches so they don't get stale either.  I keep them in an airtight container.  I once thought they should be kept in the freezer, but this is no longer true.  (My friend who makes the best coffee on earth is my source for all this info)

For espresso the beans must be super fine.  This is not fine enough. 

Here is a better, more fine, ground beans. 

These are the tools of the espresso trade.

Add grounds.

Press grounds.  I learned, by trial and error, not to press too hard for this machine.

Here is the coffee all ready to be espresso-ed (you know, made into espresso). 

Before I make the espresso I like to froth my milk.  Almond milk, in this case. 

I love the nobs on this one, and they have to be set to steam (somehow this took me a while to figure out from the DVD, yeah they had a DVD, and I watched it.).

Froth up the milk.  I like to use a fair amount of milk.  The almond milk is the best for bubbles. 

Then I brew the espresso.

As my friend taught me, you must have a good brew I think that means a nice dark coffee, and a good head of white foam (I'm talking about coffee here ladies, sheesh). 

Top off the latte with some cinnamon.  I like cinnamon because it helps enhance memory, and I need that.  It also helps with digestion, as my very brilliant hubby told me today. 

Yum, this is the second drink of the morning I require before I am capable of doing anything productive.  It's good stuff. 

How do you like your coffee?