Christmas Coffees

It's Christmastime, and for coffee lovers that means new flavors at Starbuck's and other favorite coffee shops. But you don't have to go to those shops for great Christmas coffee! You can make it at home.

I don't know about you, but I think those flavored creamers you get in the grocery store are pretty good. The problem is, they're not very subtle or complicated. So here are some suggestions beyond the chocolate or hazelnut you might find in the grocery store.

For all of these, I recommend strong coffee because, well, it's better.


Triple Chocolate Coffee:
Put a dash of cocoa powder and a teaspoon of sugar (don't mess with that artificial sweetener garbage) in the bottom of the cup. Fill cup (almost) with coffee. Add frothed milk or whipped cream (I prefer frothed milk). Drizzle the top with chocolate syrup, and add some chocolate sprinkles. Yum!

Black Forest Mint Coffee:Put a dash of cocoa powder, a few drops of peppermint extract, and a teaspoon of sugar in the bottom of your cup. Fill (almost) with coffee, and add frothed milk or whipped cream on top.

Pumpkin Pie Coffee:Yes, I know you can buy pumpkin pie creamers this time of year, but they aren't as good as this. Put a dash of pumpkin pie spice (from the jar) in the bottom of your cup, along with a teaspoon of sugar and a few drops of vanilla extract. Fill (almost) with coffee, and add frothed milk or whipped cream on top. Can you tell that I like something on top?

Eggnog Coffee:
Add some nutmeg, vanilla extract, and allspice, and rum flavoring (just extract, mind you--we wouldn't want the Baptist preacher advocating anything else) along with a teaspoon of sugar in the bottom of your cup. (Almost) fill the cup with coffee, and add frothed milk or whippped cream on top. Add red and green cookie sprinkles on top for texture and color.

Cinnamon Sin-sation Coffee:
Add some sugar and vanilla extract to the bottom of your cup. (Almost) fill the cup with coffee, and add frothed milk or whipped cream to the top. Sprinkle with cinnamon. Add a sprinkle of cocoa to the top of that, if you dare!

Helpul Hints:

• When you put your mixtures in the bottom of the cup first, the pouring action mixes them up, so you don't have to stir.
• Ikea has a wonderful milk frother that works like a plunger. You can use it on either hot milk or cold milk, and it only costs $1.99. When you use this, together with strong coffee, and get the right mixture of milk to coffee, it mimicks espresso without the extra machine that's hard to clean.

Have fun with your holiday coffee, and Merry Christmas! My wife was just reading over my shoulder. "Is this stuff you actually do?" she asked.

"Yes," I answered.

Wandering away, she said, "I wonder if there's a 12-step program for coffee-addicts."