Ok I know it’s not massage or beauty related but it is fun and it is related to the day spa business in general. I’m talking about our gourmet latte’s and Teavana drinks that we provide for free to our guests. Lately I’ve been trying different experiments with Teavana teas and coffee.
With the teas I’ve been blending different teas like they do at The Shop’s at La Cantera. My latest blend was with Jasmine pearl flowers and peach to make incredible tasting teas. The beet rock sugar crystals do make a difference on the taste rather than just using plain old table sugar or even cane sugar. I noticed the table sugar covers some of the subtly of the tea, hey I like the way that sounds, “subtly of the tea”. Anyway I also mixed a Teavana Chai tea mix with both cold and hot steamed/frothed milk, holy cow that was amazing! Great cinnamon and spice flavor. Great drink hot or cold for sure.
As a side note Saffron will be taking a few free training days with Teavana at La Cantera next week to get more hints and tips for great tea. They absolutely love her there. However, I should warn everyone, the people at Teavana are great sales people, I mean really good. Every time I go there for one two things, I walk out with 5 or 10! They are so natural at selling by simply explaining, I must learn from them, haha.
Next I want to talk about my experiments with various espresso and coffees. Now this has been really exciting (probably because of the caffeine in my system). I read through various web sites, YouTube videos and gathered the best double walled glasses I could buy and started right up.
Coffee is so complex yet so simple. Complex because there are so many different ways to make it with so many flavors from around the world, it’s mind boggling. However, it’s simple once you get a few tricks down and learn what comes first when mixing. Right now I’ve been focusing on mini-macchiato and cappuccino drinks. The drink I’m proudest of right now is a mini vanilla latte macchiato drink. I use real Vanilla Bean infused syrup (Madagascar bourbon and Tahitian vanilla beans) I bought from Sur La Table at La Cantera and put that with the espresso and into the milk frother for a taste through-out the drink. I’ve learned that what ever a coffee drink says first is what you pour first, so latte (or milk) first shot second for a macchiato. You gotta try this stuff, it really is magical! Wow what a drink and the look is amazing.
I’m also buying some La Perruche caramel sugar cubes soon and I can’t wait to try them out in just pure espresso, it should be intoxicating!
Not sure how many drinks we’ll be adding to the final menu, I’ll keep experimenting. If I had it my way, I’d put as many drinks on the menu as I possibly could but I’m not sure my partners would be too happy about that. What are some of your experiences with mixing coffees and teas? We’d love to hear from you below…