Cappuccino Kick

This hasn't happened in about a year but I am on sort of a cappuccino wave as of late. I'm able to keep it under control for now. I've had two in the past week so that's not bad. If I could limit my dessert intake to twice a week, I'd be set!

I rarely drink my calories, I drink lot of water and tea and occasionally I'll have some juice or a sweetened iced tea when we go to the only place that I know of in New Jersey that serves it. It's borderline unsweet actually. In the south, it would never fly. As far as fattening coffee drinks go, cappuccinos are about as good as it gets. I always get skim milk and I rarely add flavor. I'll drop in the occasional piece of chocolate if it's available. Of course, I'm usually drinking it with some sort of sweet treat so there's a dangerous correlation there. I don't normally drink coffee and I also don't drink soda so my tolerance for caffeine is low. I get headaches if I don't order decaf.

There are few things more dreamy to me than a perfectly coiffed stack of milk foam. The steam causes the lactose to bind together and the subtle sweetness is the perfect compliment for the slightly bitter espresso. I rarely get cappuccinos because most espresso shots taste like a campfire. If it is pulled with finesse, there will be a slight creamy layer of reddish/beige swirl on the top. This is called crema and it is a result of the fat that naturally occurs in the bean. It also contributes a sweet flavor. Combined with the milk foam, it's heavenly if it's done right. It almost floats right out of your hand! It was always troubling when I worked as a barista and customers would give me a perplexed look after I handed them their drink. They would then proceed to complain that the cup felt too light and there must be some sort of mistake. Obviously they ordered a cappuccino when what they really wanted was a latte which has more hot milk and less foam. I'm the exact opposite. I tend to frown if my cup is too heavy but I never say anything. I realize there are variations on the wet and dry spectrum but sometimes I feel like a snob when I throw too many adjectives into my drink order. There was this one guy who always ordered a latte and and after he gave us the specific stats, he would instruct us to only heat the milk to 115 degrees (We usually do 140). We were total jerks and we made fun of him even though he was always nice about it.

We have a cheapo espresso machine that we got with a JC Pennys gift card during my last cappuccino kick. It's sitting at the bottom of our pantry. It might be time to dust it off.