Buzzfeed - 19 perks of being a barista

I can waste hours on buzzfeed and have to say this is one of my favourite lists for a while:

19 Perks of being a barista

I love it when a barista can memorise my order! (#15)

In the summertime... Iced Coffee!

Iced Latte From Costa

I've never enjoyed iced coffee as much as I have this year. The summer snuck up on us here in the UK, and much as I'm still drinking hot coffee it doesn't always hit the spot in the same way.  I'm being careful to only drink the iced versions of my normal faves though. The fabulous icey frappucino drinks are a bit too calorific for me at the moment!

So, do you do iced?
I've tried the costa version, and the starbucks a few times too. In fact, if you hit starbucks on your way into work at the moment you can get a £2 tall iced drink with your receipt in the afternoon.

Treat Receipt promo from starbucks

This can save you a little bit, especially if you are a regular customer there.

So, my next plan is to attempt an iced latte at home! I'll let you know how I get on.

Pandora's Kitchen, another quaint Norwich coffee shop

I met a friend for coffee today, and in my ever ongoing quest for new places to try I thought I'd give Pandora's Kitchen on London Street a try. It was a gorgeous sunny day here in Norwich so the outside seating was lovely and a great place to catch up with my friend.

I think there may be seating upstairs, I didn't explore too far, and I know they do hire out their space too.

The Coffee
As ever, my weapon of choice was the skinny latte, which was £2.15, pretty reasonable I think. There was only one choice of size, probably equivalent to a medium in one of the chain stores, so good price in comparison.

I'll admit, for me the first taste was a bit strong, I needed to add a little bit of extra milk, but it was a nice flavour, not bitter at all. According to their website the coffee is roasted and packed in nearby Suffolk, I shall have to find out more!


Everything else
The service really was lovely, smiley staff with a warm greeting and they bought the drinks out with milk and sugar. The food looked lovely (sadly not diet friendly! so I didn't partake) and the quaint touches, like bunting and decor made me feel very welcome.

Overall, if I'm that end of the city again I will definitely pop in, maybe I'll have to ask for less shots in my coffee though!

Latte art with a twist!

This is truly special... I want my face on a latte!

Recipe - Gingerbread Syrup

As promised yesterday, here is my recipe for Gingerbread Syrup.
I say recipe, but honestly, it really isn't that difficult.  I originally found it on the money saving expert forums years ago.

• 2 cups water
• 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
• 2 1/2 teaspoons ground ginger
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

• Combine the water, sugar, cinnamon, ginger, and vanilla in a small to medium saucepan. 
• Bring mixture to a boil then reduce heat and simmer uncovered for 20 minutes. 
• When done, pour into a melt-proof container and let cool. It will thicken a bit more once cooled.

Best to keep in the fridge and pour a little into your regular coffee! Utterly delicious and I can't wait to make some more in the winter!

Flavoured Coffee - Right or Wrong?

I promised you a blog post about flavoured coffee, so here it is.

There are a couple of different ways to get flavoured coffee, firstly there is the addition of flavoured syrups. (I have a great recipe for Gingerbread Syrup which I'll share when I dig it out!) You can buy them from most coffee shops, or pay a little extra to have a shot in your coffee.

These syrups are available at www.thecoffeepod.co.uk and cost around £6-£8 a litre

Now, at christmas time I'm very partial to a gingerbread latte (hence the desire to find a recipe!) but generally I go for a straight up latte, the extra sugar that these syrups add is not conducive to dieting, and honestly the sugar free ones are not so nice!

However I recently tried the Douwe Egberts Vanilla instant coffee:

Delicate vanilla flavoured coffee - 2 calories a cup!

The flavour collective range also has a caramel flavour and a hazelnut one. I actually got sent a sample of the caramel (go to the Douwe Egbert's facebook page to request one) but I bought a jar of the vanilla and I have to admit I'm impressed.

The trademark jar is miniaturised down to 50g and when you open it you get a waft of vanilla fragrance, in fact I have to admit the smell is the most impressive thing about this coffee, it just smells fantastic and is perfect first thing in the morning.

Now bear in mind there is no added sugar in this coffee, so you aren't going to get the same sweetness you would if you added a shot of vanilla syrup, but there is a hint of mellowness that coffee sometimes lacks.

Something I really like though, as it cools this coffee actually still tastes good! In fact they suggest you can serve it over ice and make your own iced vanilla coffee, though in that case I'd add some sugar for a touch of sweetness.

Overall I'm pretty happy with this coffee. Of course it's only a little jar, they say 25 servings, but I've not been keeping track. And I'm afraid this is not an every coffee drink for me, I'd love too, but it is a little bit pricey for such a small jar, according to my supermarket the current prices (at 30/5/2013) are:

• Sainsburies has an offer and it is £1.99 a jar 
• Tesco has it at full price - £2.99 a jar
• Asda have it on offer at £2 a jar

I would definitely say it is worth keeping an eye out for an offer though - my next purchase will be the caramel!

Starbucks infographic created by ilovecoffee.jp

ilovecoffee.jp created this awesome infographic about starbucks

As you all know, I am a fan of starbucks, and I'm very jealous that Ryko over at ilovecoffee.jp got to go into the Seattle headquarters.

I'm not sure how much of this applies in the UK (especially about the gold card - I want! or the Clover coffee!) but I thought it was cool and you'd enjoy it.