If I am but allowed one vice in the morning, it. must. be. coffee.  I could drink coffee anytime, but it is that warm cozy goodness that sets me up for a happy day.  A wise woman I work with (Mrs. S) once said, “It’s not the caffeine I care about.  There’s just nothing like a good cup of coffee!”  And I quite agree with her!

Starbucks just introduced their new line of instant coffee.  Hold your horses, this ain’t your grandma’s Sanka nor is this your mom’s Taster’s Choice!  This is something that could pass for an actual cup on-the-go.

For this experiment, I tried different methods.  For a road trip to Graceland & then Grandma’s in December, I enjoyed it plain-jane & black.  However, I always wondered what my espresso would taste like if brewed with milk instead of water.  I just never derived the courage out of fear of breaking my machine.  I am in the middle of reading Charlotte Brontë’s Shirley and one of the French characters was going on about brewing café en lait.  I went to Starbucks the next morning & they made me a skinny cinnamon dolce with a packet of the via.  It was fantastic!  Thus spawned my adventure…

This morning I poured a serving of Via Italian Roast Extra Bold into my cup with Silk light soymilk and Monin Sugar-free Hazelnut coffee syrup.  I chose soymilk because of the nature of it.  Coffee is what I call a “nut-base” and from working in a couple coffee places, it is my firm belief that the nut-bases compliment the best.  For instance, caramel syrup goes better with milk because they’re of the same “family.”  So I microwaved my concoction for 2 minutes and out came a delightfully frothy, bold mixture that tasted like a cookie!  This went over really well at work with some of the most discriminating coffee palates!