Coffee Drinkers - How do you prepare your coffee at home to avoid places like Starbucks?

runmama411

Try an Americano next time you're at Starbucks-I'm not a black coffee fan, but these taste awesome and low cal,

DawnieB1977

We buy decent instant coffee like Nescafé Azera or Carte Noire Instinct. So, I add boiling water and a splash of whole milk. Voilà, done! Sometimes in the Summer I make my own frappuccino....coffee, flavour like caramel, ice cubes and a bit of skim milk in the blender.

I'm not really keen on Starbucks (really crap, weak coffee) but if I have coffee out I either have an americano or a skinny cappuccino. Caffe Nero and Costa in the UK are better, or independent coffee places.

Marchmallow

In the UK, we tend to use milk rather than cream in coffee, which I suppose lowers the calories especially when you use skimmed milk. I drink tea the same way, with two tbsps of skimmed (low fat) milk and two tsps of Stevia.

The funny thing is, when I moved to Germany, I noticed that the coffee culture here is almost as strong as the US, no one drinks tea, mostly coffee, (unless it's that fruity nonsense ) and they use cream rather than milk, just like the US. But I just ask my mum to send me boxes of tea, hehe!

sweetd6

I'm not sure if this has been mentioned because I didn't read through the 6 pages, but the thing to look for, for good coffee, is "100% arabica beans" on the label. Most expensive brands say this, but some cheap unheard of brands say this too, at least at Ocean State Job lot, where I buy my coffee. There are three brands there that are 100% arabica beans there, "Portafina" and "Java" and "East Coast market", and they are $4.99 for a lb. and a half, or $3.49 for a lb (entire lb., not 11 oz.) for the East Coast Market. If the label doesn't say 100% arabica beans, then they have added other, cheaper beans (like robusto beans) that bring in bitterness. Once you start with a good coffee, whatever you do will taste better. Sometimes I like to put cinnamon on top of the grounds before brewing so it will be cinnamon flavored when brewed. I use a small amount of sugar free creamer, I do like the "Italian Sweet Cream" flavor from Coffee-Mate lately. Because I'm trying to use the smallest amount of creamer as possible, I add a few vanilla cream stevia drops to make it just a tad sweeter.