Breakfast Drinks To Beat The Autumn Chill
Getting a head start in the morning might be a tad harder these days particularly when a grey backdrop awaits outside. But what if you had a menu of breakfast drinks so unusual and indulgent that you actually looked forward to that morning commute?
Most people don’t stray too far from the regular coffees, teas and hot chocolates at breakfast. So perhaps it is time to disrupt that morning routine by throwing a twist into your favourite picker-upper.
Coffee
If you are a coffee aficionado you have probably sampled most that your café has to offer, settled on a single choice and are not in a hurry to mess around with it. This would be a great shame since coffee is a versatile canvas for creating new flavours.
Those with a sweet tooth might opt to replace sugar with a few drops of pure vanilla extract, and then take it a step further by mixing the vanilla extract with coconut milk for a homemade coffee creamer.
Feeling adventurous? Diana Yen, author of A Simple Feast, suggests a cardamom coffee that involves dusting ground cardamom over your cup of joe or grinding whole cardamom seeds with the coffee beans.
Tea
Tea drinkers have a prolific range of blends to choose from yet many still reach for the plain blacks or standard herbal concoctions. Perth food blogger, Emma Galloway, of My Darling Lemon Thyme isn’t one of them. A fan of nettle, she has turned the humble plant into a soothing tea and recommends steeping it overnight for the best results.
“The best tip I was given when I first started drinking nettle tea was to add star anise to the brew to disguise the somewhat grassy nature of nettle. Just one or two is all you need to add a lovely little liquorice note.”
Hot Chocolate
There are so many ways to redesign the classic hot chocolate but most cafes stick to the tried and tested options of milk, dark and white. Fortunately, two well-known Sydney bloggers have created deeply delicious versions of this winter staple.
Sneh Roy from Cook Republic has concocted a hot chocolate chai that marries cocoa and spices. “A rich steaming cup of spice infused hot chocolate chai is the perfect lift me up on a lazy weekday morning.”
Lorraine Elliott of Not Quite Nigella meanwhile believes that while a hot cup of tea is good, hot chocolate adds that extra bit of warmth and richness that is hard to replicate. And so she has dreamt up a stunning quartet of coconut, salted caramel, peanut butter and Italian hot chocolates. The winner is the coconut creation.
“It’s amazing what a few thick dollops of the thick cream from the coconut top does to give hot chocolate a creamy voluptuousness.”
Whether you spend the early hours of your morning in quiet contemplation or with the rest of the city’s commuters, these heavenly breakfast drinks will start your day with on the right flavour note.
What breakfast drinks get you up and going during the cold season? Tell us in the comments section below!
(Main image credit: unsplash.com)
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