Tis the season to be drinking . . . pumpkin spice la-la-la-la-ttes! Ever since Starbucks announced the return of pumpkin spice lattes to their menu, those drinks have returned with a vengeance. Every coffee shop that I go to and every major kitchen website I visit have come up with their own version of a pumpkin spice latte! These drinkable delights are getting all up on my grill, and you know what, I don’t mind it all that much. Of course, I want to make one of these lattes for myself. But the fact of the matter is that I don’t own an espresso machine. They’re way over my budget and I don’t have the space in my apartment for one. Instead of using espresso, I tried recreating a pumpkin spice latte with coffee. Oh boy, I definitely had several cups of nasty drinks before I got to something I was happy with. When you’re making this, keep in mind that you’re going to want a very strong tasting cup of coffee. Because the taste of espresso is very concentrated, the coffee needs to be bold in flavor as well. For me, this meant adding more beans to the grinder for a cup of coffee. What about the milk foam you ask? I found this fantastic tutorial from The Kitchn on how to froth milk with your microwave. I couldn’t believe that it worked! No fancy machine required! You’ll have to excuse the quality of the photo on the right. I got so excited it worked that I forgot to shoot it with my camera nicer! Photo quality aside, look, the microwave method actually works!
