So, I’ve had my fair share of herbal teas and pumpkin spices over the many past fall seasons, so I thought- why not shake things up and try something new this year? I admit, I’m usually not afraid to try new things, so if I find something that I have not tried yet, you’d better believe I’m going to find it and try it myself.
So after searching through all the coffee & tea shop menus all over Iowa City, I managed to find one that makes turmeric lattes, or otherwise called “Golden Milk Lattes,” at the Bread Garden Market & Bakery downtown. While I didn’t quite know what to expect when I ordered my latte, I was pleasantly surprised at how appealing the Turmeric Latte actually looked when it finally came out.
Just look at how beautiful this turmeric latte is, complete with that perfect orangey fall color, with just the right amount of frothy swirl.
After seeing how beautiful the turmeric latte was, the next tests were of course smell and taste. In terms of smell, the Turmeric Latte was very herbaceous and smelled sort of like a spice shop- in a good way. It reminded me of baking a pumpkin pie, and I could pick out notes of honey, turmeric (obviously), ginger and cinnamon. Then in terms of taste, I mostly got a strong flavor of turmeric, and I could also pick out a bitter hint of espresso- which I was not expecting at all. Don’t get me wrong, espresso is good, but not all espressos are made equally and some are far stronger in flavor than others. So for my own personal taste preferences, I thought the espresso was a bit too intense, and therefore, made the turmeric latte slightly too bitter.
Upon the slight disappointment in the level of sweetness, I then decided to find out what else was in this turmeric latte to see if I could add anything extra to it when I got back home. So I turned to Instagram and I was able to find the Bread Garden Market & Bakery post about how they make their “golden milk latte”.
As you can see from this picture, they make their turmeric latte with espresso, honey, turmeric, ginger, cinnamon and coconut oil. I was surprised to find Almond milk in it as well. Once I figured out all the ingredients that were in my turmeric latte, and when I got back home, I then added more almond milk to my Turmeric Latte and it took away all of the residual bitterness. And I admit, it was pretty delicious after I did that.
All in all, I liked the turmeric latte because it was so different from anything I’ve ever tried before, and I was happy to find out that it was dairy-free as well, which was just an added bonus. So I’d recommend trying this drink, if you have a dairy intolerance or if you just don’t like super sweet drinks.
Now go try one yourself!