Coffee Shop at Home

Introduction

My philosophy is this: Life is too short to drink mediocre coffee.

Many of us drink coffee at least once a day, and I believe every coffeedrinking experience should be a positive one. Coffee is a source of joy for me each morning, and something I look forward to when I go to sleep at night. I want this book to be like a lighthouse for you, guiding you toward the best possible at-home coffee experience. Because at the end of the day, no one cares more about your coffee experience than you do (well, except for me, but I can’t be there to make your coffee every day).

I spent too many years of my life overpaying for and drinking mediocre brews because I lacked the confidence to learn how to make a great cup at home. When I finally committed to practicing and learned how simple at-home coffee can be, I wished I had started sooner. The fact that you’re reading this right now tells me you too want to improve your coffee skills. I am here to help.

In August 2021, I began my at-home coffee journey. I started posting recipes and coffee education content on my website and social channels because I wanted to share the techniques I was learning and the knowledge I was acquiring with others. Whenever I was asked a question I didn’t know the answer to, I researched or practiced techniques to better assist others with their at-home coffee. Five years and hundreds of thousands of coffee fans later, I’ve distilled all my knowledge and coffee expertise into this book.

With Coffee Shop at Home, I want to help you increase your own coffee knowledge, learn how to re-create all your favorite coffee-shop drinks at home, fall even more in love with coffee, and become more confident in your coffeemaking abilities, no matter what type of drinks you enjoy most. This book will set you up for success whether you’re crafting a single cup for yourself or you are the barista when hosting friends and family.

My hope is that through the information and recipes within these pages, you’ll become an equipped at-home barista who prefers making coffee at home rather than buying from a shop, and who has an infinite number of drink recipes in your toolbelt. And along the way, I hope you’ll embrace the imperfect moments, too. Early in my coffee journey, I accidentally melted a Torani vanilla bottle by leaving it too close to my air fryer, and it curved into a swan neckshaped bottle. Three years later I still refill that wonderfully wonky bottle, now named Veronica. She’s my daily reminder that learning to make great coffee is a process, and that the joy is found not just in the perfect cup, but in the imperfect, memorable moments you collect along the way.

The first part of this book will walk you through the fundamentals of coffee. I discuss topics like coffee origins, roast levels, flavor notes, processing methods, and grind size and how all of these affect how each cup of coffee tastes. Understanding the characteristics of various coffees will allow you to make coffees with the qualities you enjoy most. This section also covers the different at-home brewing methods so you can choose the best ones for your lifestyle and budget.

The second part of the book dives into recipes that include coffeehouselevel mochas, lattes, shaken espressos, Americanos, iced coffees, cold brews, and frappes. In addition to coffee drinks, there are also affogatos, chais, and matchas. This book will allow you to whip up all of your coffee-shop favorites anytime you want them, and for a fraction of the price. And yes, I mean making a Pumpkin Cream Cold Brew in the middle of April if that is what your heart desires.

Throughout my college years and early adult life, I—like many of you, I’m sure—bought an iced coffee every day before school or work. I tried making my own drinks at home to save money (that $3.25 per day was pretty painful for a college student), but no matter what I did, I always ended up pouring the coffee down the drain. I felt so reliant on coffee shops to give me a good coffee every day that I’d ignore the fact that some days they’d forget the sweetener or wouldn’t add enough cream, or the topping was missing, or the coffee tasted like burnt computer cables. Week after week, I’d reload my card and turn a blind eye to my dwindling bank account.

But one day, I decided to add up my monthly coffee charges, and I was utterly blown away when I saw that the total was in the $300 range. I’d known I was spending a lot, but hot diggity, that was a significant chunk of my paycheck! Yet when I thought of the alternative—subpar coffee made at home—I was able to justify to myself that it was okay to spend that much on coffee as long as I was enjoying it.

As the months went by, I switched from iced coffee to lattes, which literally doubled the price I was paying each day. The price increase hurt, and I couldn’t help but notice more and more that my coffee was disappointing. And now that I was paying more, I found myself agitated anytime the topping was missing, or the cold foam was nonexistent, or the color was completely wrong. But I felt like a nuisance always asking the baristas to fix my drinks, so sometimes I just accepted the bad coffee.

Finally, I realized something: no one else cared about my coffee experience as much as I did, so why did I constantly put the responsibility in other people’s hands? If I knew exactly how I wanted my coffee to taste (and look), why wasn’t I making it myself?

So I decided to make it my mission to learn how to make my coffee at home, exactly how I wanted it.

I researched various coffee roasts. I learned about the different brewing methods, like pour-over versus cold brew versus espresso, and I learned how to make different drinks with those methods. For example, to make a simple iced latte, you start by making espresso (using an espresso machine, Moka pot, or AeroPress or other method), then combine the espresso with milk and ice. You can easily create any latte you want by adding a flavored syrup. For an Iced Blueberry Vanilla Latte (page 124), just add my Blueberry Vanilla Syrup. To make a hot mocha, you want chocolate sauce, espresso, and steamed milk. You can add cinnamon and cayenne for a Mexican Mocha vibe (page 88) or swap the steamed milk for cold milk and ice to create an iced version.

I learned how iced coffee and cold brews are made with different brewing methods. Iced coffee is brewed hot and then chilled, while cold brew is brewed cold (hence the name), and although they can be served similarly—add a syrup or flavored creamer or cold foam as you like—they taste drastically different. The same also goes for a coffee-pot cup of coffee and a hot Americano. The two may look similar and seem to just be a cup of coffee, but they are wildly different in taste, acidity, body, and so forth because of their different brewing methods.

For frappes or blended coffee drinks, I learned that using instant coffee powder rather than liquid coffee is best for giving you that bold coffee flavor without watering them down.

I discovered that you can create different espresso drinks by changing the “base” of the drink (e.g., water, milk, or half-and-half) or adjusting the ratio of espresso to milk (as in a latte versus a macchiato) to make a more-or-less-coffee-forward beverage.

I quickly realized that making coffee at home was much more enjoyable than buying it every day, and I discovered how much fun it was to create different flavor combos to make any coffee beverage my mind could imagine! Oftentimes I would crave a holiday drink like gingerbread, eggnog, peppermint mocha, or pumpkin spice coffee but my local coffee shops didn’t have these seasonal favorites. Making my own versions meant that I could enjoy them any time of year. It’s important to note, I never want to shame anyone for buying coffee if it’s something that brings them joy. It used to bring me joy, until one day it didn’t anymore.

This book is for anyone who is tired of overpaying for mediocre coffee, and wants to learn how to make all their coffee-shop favorites at home for much cheaper.

I want to help you get to the point where your own creations are unmatched, and no coffee shop can offer you a better cup of Joe than the one you make yourself. Why? Because friends don’t let friends drink mediocre coffee. You can learn to make all your go-to coffee-shop drinks without any fancy equipment or barista training, and you can transform your home into your own coffee shop—you just need this book.