Monday, October 14, 2013

Homemade Pumpkin Spice Latte Recipe

Now that fall is here, I've been devouring all things pumpkin! We've been making muffins and crisps like crazy. This week, I finally found the time to try making homemade pumpkin spice lattes. 

Pumpkin Spice Syrup


Homemade Pumpkin Spice Latte Syrup


Ingredients:

1 cup water
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 tablespoon pumpkin pie spice
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon nutmeg
1 teaspoon cloves
4 tablespoons pumpkin puree

Directions: 

Heat water in a small saucepan over low-medium heat. Once it's warm, dissolve the brown sugar. Whisk in the pumpkin, spices and vanilla. (I made mine really spicy, you could cut back on the spices if you want.)
Pour it the mixture through a fine strainer to get the lumps out.

Now you have a syrup you can add to any kind of coffee!


Sprinkling a little extra pumpkin pie spice hid my lack of latte art skills!

Before stirring in the syrup. 

Friday, October 11, 2013

Fall Cupping Session

Hello internet! It's been awhile since we've blogged. I hope you're all having a great fall and drinking lots of coffee!

We had a cupping this past weekend. We had six varieties to sample this time, including a decaf, and new batch of the same Mexican coffee we already carry. Even coffee from the exact same farm and can taste different crop to crop, so we needed to make sure the taste was roughly the same. 

If you're unfamiliar with cupping and the process, you can read some of our past posts about cupping: 


My cupping sheet


Brazil Organic Fancy - Nossa Senhora de Fatima Estate:
The fragrance brings to mind almonds, pretzels and rum with hints of smokiness. Dark chocolate and nut flavors are present, with very low acidity.

Mexico FTO Bird Friendly SHG EP - Swiss Water Decaf:
Muted peppery fragrance, followed by low acidity, classic Mexican chocolate and nut flavors. Very similar to our other Mexico.

Mexico FTO SHG EP - Union Ramal Santa Cruz:
(This is the same Mexico we offer now.) Almond and pepper aroma, nutty cocoa flavors with a slight tanginess and mild sweetness. Very little difference from last year’s batch, also similar to the decaf we cupped above.

Burundi FW AA – Rutana:
Smells like a garden. Very earthy, brings to mind squash, mind flavor, low-medium body.

Brazil Standard FC Peaberry Natural - São Pedro Estate:
Sweet jasmine notes in the fragrance, sourdough bread and chocolate flavors with a hint of spice, and a low-med body. Very mellow. 

Panama SHB EP - La Gloria Estate:
Vanilla, almond and anise aroma. Creamy, low acidity with cocoa butter flavors. Reminiscent of our Kenya Peaberry. 

After tasting all of them, we settled on stocking up on the Mexico, the Decaf, and some of the Panama to work into future blends. 

What coffees sound the best to you? Have you ever done a cupping?

-Jessamyn
at Voyage Coffee Roasters