I’m sure many of us have had a moment where we think to ourselves, “I need to stop spending so much money on food.” While we all deserve a sweet treat from time to time, I’ve found that making my fun drinks at home has even more benefits than I thought. Most importantly, it saves me money. An added benefit is that I can make drinks whenever I want and not feel like I need a “reason” to treat myself and spend at least $7. Additionally, I can infinitely customize my drink without each change being an 80 cent charge.
Ever since getting the fridge space in an apartment to hold different ingredients, I’ve been trying to use this to my advantage by experimenting with different flavorings, coffees, and teas. These three recipes have by far been my favorite concoctions.
Lavender mint matcha
I haven’t been a huge matcha girlie, but after coming up with this recipe, I’ve been craving it nearly every day. It took me a minute to find a good, reasonably priced matcha. I first tried the Trader Joe’s Matcha Green Tea Latte Powder (the one that comes in a tin) but found it way too sweet, especially for flavored drinks like this one.
For me, the better option at Trader Joe’s is the single serving Matcha Green Tea Powder packets, whose sole ingredient is matcha powder. A similar option, and my favorite, is the Mighty Leaf matcha powder packets that can be found at Whole Foods.
Take it a step further and get Mighty Leaf’s mint-flavored matcha to create this drink. An oat milk mint matcha is refreshing enough, but also adding lavender syrup makes it taste like it’s from your favorite artsy coffee shop. I thought of this while waiting in line at Red Eye Coffee where they were selling their own house-made lavender syrup, so I would have to recommend trying theirs, but you can also find lavender Torani syrup at World Market. The lavender, mint, matcha, and oat milk (and I like almond milk too here!) combine to make the perfect spring drink.
Vanilla turmeric chai
I hate to break it to you, but if you’re buying an iced chai from any cafĂ©, you’re most likely getting ripped off because of how simple this drink is to make. While perhaps a restaurant or certain coffee shops will steep tea with spices and milk and then pour it over ice, more often than not an iced chai often consists of only two ingredients: chai concentrate and milk. To recreate it at home, the hard part is finding a good chai concentrate.
There’s no gatekeeping here, so I would 100 percent recommend the Rishi tea concentrates, which can be found at Target and Whole Foods. I’ve been switching through the three flavors Masala Chai, Turmeric Ginger, and London Fog to keep in my fridge. The Masala Chai is great for the classic chai latte flavor, but I’ve recently become obsessed with the Turmeric Ginger Chai. If you decide to try, grab some Torani vanilla syrup on your Target run. The Turmeric Ginger Chai, vanilla, and oat milk (or your milk of choice) create a light, uplifting, and flavorful drink that’s super easy to put together in a to-go cup before class.
Brown sugar oat milk latte
This one is for the girlies who need their caffeine. Inspired by the Starbucks shaken espresso of the same name, I’ve been using the Moka Pot stovetop espresso maker with Café Bustelo espresso ground coffee to recreate without an espresso machine. This combo makes a bit more and stronger coffee than a typical few espresso shots, which makes it great for this recreation given that the Starbucks drink has an extra espresso shot and uses the more caffeinated blonde espresso beans.
The Trader Joe’s Brown Sugar Oat Creamer is a perfect replacement for the oat milk and brown sugar syrup. If you want to sweeten up the drink a bit, you can also add vanilla syrup or brown sugar. Lastly, add cinnamon and shake the drink (if you have a cocktail shaker) with ice if you want it to taste just like Starbucks.
Once you discover your favorite ingredients and drinks, the only problem you’ll have is restraining yourself from making your drink of choice five times a day!
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