Lark & Lola

My signature coffee drink has always been the iced mocha. Even on cold winter days, 9 times out of 10 I'll order the iced mocha instead of a hot drink. I have always had a habit of stopping at Starbucks to pick up my signature drink, my guilty pleasure during a day full of time-outs and diaper changes. Yes, I've stopped at Starbucks often. I'm not telling how often. Please don't ask...it's sort of a personal question.

This past year--due to budget changes and trying to save money to buy a house--I've had to learn to stop handing over the $4.15 for my signature drink, at least not so very often. {Even my two-year-old knows how to order my coffee, she's heard it enough times to repeat, "Iced grande, light-ice, no-whip, non-fat mocha."}

I won't lie, it took a lot of trial and error to figure out how to make myself a palatable iced mocha at home. It wasn't easy, and I tried lots of things. I've finally learned how to make it just right for me. {Note: I'm not claiming this is a Starbucks copycat. It's a different iced mocha altogether, but it's one I really like.}

I've learned the brands I use have something to do with it. I LOVE Dunkin' Donuts coffee. Sure, it's more expensive than generic store-brand, but it's a LOT cheaper than going to Starbucks everyday. Uh...I mean, every once in a while. Also, their "Bakery Series" Chocolate Glazed Donut coffee is YUMMY! It even smells like a coffee-dunked chocolate donut.


My second product is Hershey's Special Dark chocolate syrup. The dark chocolate, I tried on a whim one time, has proven to make a richer, more mocha flavored mocha. I suggest you give it a whirl.


I like to hide my precious Dunkin' Donuts Chocolate Glazed coffee in tin where no one would suspect it...my Ballonoff "Coffee" canister.

So, I make a sort of espresso with this coffee. Sort of...kinda...

My husband says I don't make espresso correctly, and he would know. We use the same machine his nerdy 10-year-old self asked for his tenth birthday twenty years ago. True story. My husband is apparently a nerd coffee snob, always has been. {What ten-year-old asks for an espresso machine for his birthday??? He cracks me up.}

So our machine is twenty years old, but it works and so this is how I make my mocha drink. {One of these days, I'll buy one of those nicer used espresso machines--with all the parts, my husband's is missing some--at the thrift store. I see them every time I go, usually for $10-15. So if you read this post and want an espresso machine now, and you didn't get one during your childhood like most nerdy people, then go thrift a cheap one. Or, you know, buy a nice new one like some rich people.}

My husband says I do it all wrong {and he would know...having twenty years of coffee making under his belt...and he turns 30 this year}. All I know is that regular machine brewed coffee isn't strong enough to make a mocha I like. It turns out all weak. So I fill the espresso thingy to the brim with Dunkin' Donuts coffee grounds and I make 1 full cup of espresso. Meh. Works for me.

Look, it's stronger than machine brewed coffee but weaker than full blown espresso which I have no idea how to really make and my husband reminds me of this daily just before I remind him that I could pay the baristas at Starbucks $4.15 to make espresso correctly at which point he decides it's best to be quiet about my lack of espresso making skills. Either way, I get my caffeine fix. By the way, we just celebrated 10 years of marriage last week. Yay us!

If you want to try this "recipe" and don't want to make "fakespresso" then you "could" make a pot of really "strong" "coffee" instead and see how you "like" it. "Theoretically." #airquotesabuse

Anyway, I need it cooled down so I transfer it to one of my aluminum tumblers and pop it in the freezer for 5-10 minutes. Alternatively, if you don't have much time, you could make those coffee ice cubes with left over coffee or make the "fakespresso" in advance and keep it at the ready in the fridge. I usually have the time to wait for it to chill in the freezer.

Once it chilled, I transfer it to a jar and add about 1 cup of milk. I'm a 1% sort of gal.

"Now" would be the time to stir in the chocolate "syrup" to "taste".

And I get it ready to pour over ice--which chills it better than just dumping ice in the top--and add an optional splash of half & half for creaminess and because.

It really does help to pour over the ice. My friend Jan got me one of these cool drinking cups from The Mason Bar Company. I love it. It's glass, it's cute, it's the perfect size and it fits in a cup holder.

At which point I add a splash of half & half. It looks like more, I don't know why it looks like more than a splash, but really just a splash. Maybe a teaspoon? Mmm...

So that's how I make my own iced mochas at home and save $4.15 every time. I think this is also much bigger than a grande. This method o' mine would easily make two non-caffeine-addict-sized drinks. I swear by the Dunkin' Donuts coffee and the Hershey's Special Dark syrup to make it "perfect". It definitely still saves me a good deal of money, but I get my "gourmet" coffee drink at the same time.

Maybe it's a stay-at-home-mom thing, but there's something about having a little indulgence like this that makes my days a little more relaxing and enjoyable. What's your vice? Now you know mine.

Cheers & Happy New Year!
"Heather"