Morning Coffee Routine

Don't you just love a good cup of coffee?  I am someone who loves coffee, all kinds of coffee: basic coffee with milk, lattes, cappuccinos, iced coffee.  But I am also someone who is somewhat particular about the coffee I make at home.  

When I moved in with my (then) boyfriend, he didn't have a coffee maker in the apartment, for one very simple reason: he doesn't drink coffee.  You can imagine what distress this caused me.  And him - he went downstairs to Starbucks every.single.morning to get me coffee.  What a guy!  

While I really was ever so appreciative of my sweet man and his sweet gestures, I love making coffee in the morning and it's so much easier for him than running out every morning.  It's a win-win. 

What was our solution?  It's two fold: 

1. A Keurig.  Are you familiar with this brand?  It's a non-traditional coffee brewing system: it makes single servings, which is perfect for a household with only one coffee drinker. Plus    a Solofill (more on that below...)

2. An Aero Latte or Nespresso machine.

Here is our Keurig, he is the Platinum Brewer:

We did run into a few small problems though:

1. We have limited storage space in our kitchen and massive amounts of K-cups did not make the prime real estate cut.  

2. K-cups are expensive!  Especially if you are someone who uses 2 each time coffee is brewed (like me).

3. I don't love the taste of pre-packed K-cups as much as my beloved Dunkin Donuts Hazelnut coffee.  Even the Dunkin K-cups do not taste the same in my opinion.  

But, no problem, we worked around this...enter Solofill.  This is by far the best refillable Keurig compatible product I have found.  And, because it's sold at Bed Bath and Beyond it's 20% coupon eligible, of course!  In all seriousness, though, this really is a lifesaver: it doesn't get grounds into your coffee like the other Keurig compatible products I have tried.  And it seals tightly.  Important stuff here...

Directions to make one heck of a tasty cup of coffee:

 1. Start here: Procure some Dunkin Donuts Hazelnut coffee.  I freeze any excess coffee that I may have - in this case 5 pounds of excess.  

2. Fill a large jar with ground coffee.  This jar comfortably holds over 1 pound of ground coffee and sits with all of our other jars, which happens to be right next to the Keurig. It's good to keep things that "go" together in close proximity.  However, in most NYC apartments everything is in close proximity to everything else.  So, depending on where you live and how big your kitchen is, you may wish to consider moving your coffee canister close to your coffee brewer.  

 3.  Pack your Solofill.  I use a teaspoon to help me keep things tidy, and because most coffee measures are too large to fill this small cup.  Here is a picture of that:

And here is a picture of the Solofill packed and ready to go!

4.  Place your Solofill into your Keurig machine.  I select the second to smallest cup size.  And then make two cups (thus the reason I would need 2 K-cups).  This is the setting I prefer, but you may wish to try the medium setting first, and determine how weak or strong you take your coffee.  

If you drink your coffee black, then you are finished!  If you take your coffee with milk, read on...

If you have a Nespresso machine with a built in milk frother, then I imagine you make the most delicious frothed milk ever to be had.  But if you don't have one, not to worry!  I have a much cheaper solution for you.  An Aero Latte is a handheld milk frother for under $20 (and 20% coupon eligible) although I'm really not trying to beat a dead horse here, who doesn't want to save money?

5.  Pour your selected milk and sweetener into your brewed coffee.  Place the Aero Latte into the mug and turn on, being mindful that it might spray everywhere if you lift it up too high.  Keep it low in the mug.  You'll get fabulous whirring action that will mix in your sweetener and froth your milk.  

6. Enjoy your coffee! 

A Keurig was the best choice for us - no wasted coffee from brewing too much and can be made exactly to your liking with a Solofill.  Also, I feel as if I should note that while this post is long, the coffee brewing process really is not.  Under 3 minutes!  Faster than running down to Starbucks...

Do you like regular or flavored coffee?  Have you tried to froth your milk?  I'd love to hear from you!

xx,

The Future Mrs. Wolf