I've been "invited" to provide espresso drinks for a fall festival (benefit) at my daughter's school. I think we've just about worked out the logistics (water for the machines and for rinsing), towels, electricity, cups, milk, etc. I'm planning to take my two OLD Gaggia Coffee machines, using one for shots and the other for steaming. I'll use the Forté for grinding.

I'm pretty sure people will expect some frou frou drinks, like pumpkin spice lattes, salted caramel lattes, and mocha lattes. I'm willing to try these, but need some help with how they're made. I'm assuming I can just get some pump bottles of flavoring, and add to the shots before pouring the frothed milk in. Is that how it works? Are there preferred brands? Torani, Monin, Ghirardelli? Best places to get this stuff?

Not doing whipped cream. That's where I draw the line!

Thanks in advance.
Jack

There's a pretty wide forgiveness factor inherent in these drinks. The syrups are so heavily flavored and sweet, they'll mask almost any flaw short of heavily scorched milk.

Shot > Syrup> Milk in that order. Monin is considered by quite a few to be superior in quality to Torani, but I think it's due to their goals of making more natural flavorings as apposed to artificial.

Hard to go wrong with Ghirardelli. And I wouldn't bother with more than 3 other syrups at most. I'm sure the lion's share of your audience will be happy with vanilla lattes, or a mocha. Hazelnut plays well with pretty much any of the common primary syrups (chocolate, caramel, vanilla, etc).

Not really anything to add but that they are very easy to make. I may do it wrong and may regret this sometime but I usually add the flavor to the milk before steaming. It probably does draw a bit up in wand but just flush after steaming every time.

Great tips so far, thanks.

One more question. Why are some flavors really thin (Torani, Monin) and others are actually called "sauce" (as in Ghirardelli mocha sauce)?

Jack

Don't take this as any sort of expert opinion, but the syrups are just concentrated sugar water (or HFCS) with liquid flavorings, so they're usually more viscous than straight pancake syrup or the equivalent. But the chocolate "sauce" has actual cocoa and cocoa solids, (a fair amount of fat and likely even waxes or other lipids). They are also used for decorative drizzling on top of the whipped cream concoctions, or in the world of Starbucks, drizzled along the side walls of the cup so they're both aesthetically pleasing and the chocolate flavor stays consistent throughout the drink.

A tablespoon of HFCS in any sugary glaze or sauce recipe generally prevents crystallization. Something to do with the abundant fructose molecules preventing linking or something. Plus, it's dirt cheap thanks to our governments corn subsidies, hence it's in everything, bread, ketchup, etc.

I often make chai lattes for guests using the Torani Chai Tea Spice syrup, and they are always popular. I use a ratio of around 1:6, for what it's worth, and I like to stir the first half of the microfoam together with the syrup to get a well-mixed base before I try and pour any art on the top (which will come out somewhat faint in any event).

One of the easiest things in the world is to make delicious mochas -- mix equal parts good dark chocolate chips and hot water, and stir till it becomes a smooth emulsion. Equal parts chocolate and espresso, than pour the desired amount of steamed milk over the top. Subtract the espresso and you also have killer hot chocolates.

I have occasionally poured caramel syrup over the top of lattes (hot or iced) for guests who have a hard core sweet tooth, but I've never bothered to taste the results so I cannot vouch for it. I've never had any complaints, though.

My neighbors often come over for drinks, but all they want are big milky lattes.

So I figured I'd have on hand some syrups to sweeten things up for them. This way I can also make them a seasonal pumpkin spice latte even though I'd never drink any such thing myself. Interesting idea to mix it with the milk rather than the espresso. Will have to try that and test it on my wife.



Bought these at a local World Market for $5 each.

I usually mix a little flavoring in with the milk before steaming too - but I find the results as far as art work aren't consistent - some syrups or creamers work better than others. I have a sweet tooth and like to add some Italian sweet creme to my capps and that works really well. My wife like her drinks cooler so when I make hers, I'll add the syrup or creamer separately to help cool things down a bit. I think bottom line for those kinds of drinks is you have a lot of room for error and still get a drink that the general public will enjoy

We are sugar drinkers here. With a really nice shot I skip sugar, but in the morning I'll have it in the cappuccino and wife will always use it.

I keep simple syrup on hand, and at the espresso station. Flavored syrups are fine, but I'm not really interested and find simple syrup works well.
Pull shot, pour in a touch of syrup, pour in the steamed milk and it's all mixed instantly with most of the flavors from the coffee rather than a bottle. Subtle notes from great espresso get lost when flavoring is added.

(Simple syrup: 1 cup of sugar, 1.5 cups of water. Bring to simmer. Done. Simmering longer yields more caramelized notes, but still subtle. Turbinado sugars add a nice touch of extra flavor in espresso. I also like to make syrup with Mexican piloncillo sugar, the rawer, brown sugar cones - makes a nice flavor that complements some espresso.)

I suggest that you forgo the flavored lattes and give them fantastic REAL lattes. I would bet that none of them have ever had a good one.

They will be amazed.