Hot Drinks

[SuperBacon]

Again with more iced coffee nonsense in a hot drinks thread, but Costas new Iced Whipped Caramel Latte is wicked.

[Jazzy G]

My mate who lives in Looe has a coffee shop (Paws For Coffee). He's got a menu, but also offers to go off menu if you have a request for something he doesn't have listed. Somebody asked for a London Fog, which is an Earl Grey latte. It was really nice.

[SuperBacon]

14 minutes ago, jazzygeofferz said:

Earl Grey latte.

That sounds awful.

[Mr_Danger]

As in milky hot tea or tea mixed with coffee? 

[Keith Houchen]

1 hour ago, jazzygeofferz said:

Earl Grey latte.

[SuperBacon]

20 minutes ago, Mr_Danger said:

As in milky hot tea or tea mixed with coffee? 

A tea latte just follows the principle of a latte (the foamed milk) rather than mixing it with coffee, which given its Earl Grey, wouldn't actually make it taste much worse if it was the latter.

[BrodyGraham]

Just made my second trip to Knoops. If you've never heard of it, it's a fancy chocolate drinks shop where you customise your drink by % of chocolate, flavourings, milks, marshmallows etc. It's a favourite with all the fashionable young ladies about town in Manchester so the child and I went in to lower the tone.

Anyway, it's fucking exorbitantly expensive. This time it was £11 for two small milkshakes. Last time was £6.50 for a small cocoa with ginger. I shudder at more than a tenner for two pints never mind two half pint milkshakes. Delicious though.

A fool and his money, Yadda Yadda.

[SuperBacon]

Had the new Sticky Toffee Latte from Costa yesterday. Was superb, and the bottom had about a centimetre of thick, sticky syrup that was like that super squishee that Bart and Milhouse had.

10yo had the Terry's Orange Hot Chocolate and was bouncing off the walls afterwards. I had a sip and my word, there must be so much sugar in it.

Any recommendations on hot chocolate for the home? Can't be spending money on a Costa every week, and it's not something I'd normally buy.

[FLips]

16 minutes ago, SuperBacon said:

Had the new Sticky Toffee Latte from Costa yesterday. Was superb, and the bottom had about a centimetre of thick, sticky syrup that was like that super squishee that Bart and Milhouse had.

10yo had the Terry's Orange Hot Chocolate and was bouncing off the walls afterwards. I had a sip and my word, there must be so much sugar in it.

Any recommendations on hot chocolate for the home? Can't be spending money on a Costa every week, and it's not something I'd normally buy.

You can buy the Costa hot chocolate as an instant.

[SuperBacon]

That'll do! Cheers.

[DavidB6937]

I use that in our Hotel Chocolat velvetiser and it's a decent quick replacement. Big fan of how easy the velvetiser is. Can't be doing with faffing about. I know they say not to use anything non-Hotel Chocolat with it but there's plenty of different recipes and whatever online. I use it most days during the cold months.

[Onyx2]

11 hours ago, SuperBacon said:

Had the new Sticky Toffee Latte from Costa yesterday. Was superb, and the bottom had about a centimetre of thick, sticky syrup that was like that super squishee that Bart and Milhouse had.

10yo had the Terry's Orange Hot Chocolate and was bouncing off the walls afterwards. I had a sip and my word, there must be so much sugar in it.

Any recommendations on hot chocolate for the home? Can't be spending money on a Costa every week, and it's not something I'd normally buy.

My youngest got obsessed with the Costa Terry's Hot Chocolate too so I had to come up with a home version. I recommend M&S's hot chocolate powder made with hot milk (microwave or saucepan), and you can buy bottles of orange syrup from Monin. For extra effort pick up a milk frother (one of those skinny electric whisks - often £2-3 in B&M, Home Bargains and other similar discounters this time of year for gifting) and whisk the milk before combining with the chocolate.

Edited November 12, 2023 by Onyx2

[deathrey]

1 hour ago, DavidB6937 said:

I use that in our Hotel Chocolat velvetiser and it's a decent quick replacement. Big fan of how easy the velvetiser is. Can't be doing with faffing about. I know they say not to use anything non-Hotel Chocolat with it but there's plenty of different recipes and whatever online. I use it most days during the cold months.

I have one of these too and it's the best. They are a bit expensive but regularly have £20 off the machine and they are better than most coffee shop ones in my opinion. The Clementine and Salted Caramel one is my favourite.

I also make myself a mocha in it pretty much every day as coffee works quite well in it. My sister works for Hotel Chocolat and she said they recommend using a shot of espresso in it but I use instant and two spoons of 70% dark chocolate and it does the trick. Unlike the hot chocolate, it's not as good as the ones in coffee shops but is the best attempt you will get at one at home in my opinion.

Edited November 12, 2023 by deathrey

[DavidB6937]

I definitely thought they were expensive when the wife bought it but I've probably used it 95% of the time so I should probably let her off 🙃

But yeah it's not once you know you're not really limited to the HV stuff. The amount I've probably saved on not going to coffee shops overall. Granted working from home more helps too but knowing me I'd probably Uber something otherwise anyway.

Plus the fact I can just pour stuff in and press a button rather than worrying about heating milk and all that other rubbish. Definitely appeals to my lazy side.

[deathrey]

Yeah, even washing it is incredibly simple, and when I'm feeling lazy I do the drop of washing up liquid and water straight in to it and just put it on and voila a very clean Velvetiser. I do use HC chocolate in it exclusively but I get it at 50% off. I don't know if I would if I didn't get it at a discount or occasionally free if it's out of date.