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Author:
Franco Salzillo
Let me tell you about one of my favorite all-natural ingredients. Lavender flowers. These violet-hued Provencal flowers are simply beautiful to see, smell and savor.
When I first heard about lavender latte, I knew I had to try it. Unfortunately, my first approach was a not-very-natural drink flavored with some kind of artificially colored and flavored syrup. Luckily, that didn’t stop me from making my own, and now I’m sharing my all-natural recipe for a lavender latte with you. Let me talk you through it.
First, there’s the most important ingredient, lavender flowers. If you’ve never heard about the health benefits of this Mediterranean flower, let me tell you all about it. Lavender will help you defeat anxiety, depression, and fatigue. It’s the ideal sleep booster and will guarantee you sweet dreams. If it helps, the flower also soothes menstrual cramps and can even improve your skin health.
Now imagine all the natural benefits of coffee working together with lavender. That’s a healthy latte right there, right? That’s why we’re using lavender tea.
If you want to make the perfect lavender latte, there are a few other things to consider.
First, there’s coffee. For warm creamy drinks with delicate flavors, I recommend medium roast Arabica. Fuller roasts will overwhelm the fragrant flower aromas, so go for a city roast. When making chocolate drinks like mocha, then French roasts are OK.
Then there’s the dairy because what is a latte without milk? If you know me, you know I like creamy lattes, so I use half & half instead of whole milk, you can’t beat the creaminess.
As for the sweetener, here’s where things get interesting. We’re making our own lavender simple syrup, it will flavor and sweeten our latte simultaneously, and it will be all-natural, no tricks here.
Making simple syrup is the easiest thing there is, and the result will amaze you. Think of lavender-scented mojitos and lavender margaritas; for this syrup, the sky’s the limit.
A 1:1 ratio between water and sugar will result in a pure syrup that will become the heart and soul of our latte. You’ll get it once you check out the recipe.
To make your lavender syrup add the lavender tea bags to a cup of boiling water in a saucepan and brew for 2 minutes. Squeeze the bags to get the most extract.
Add one cup of sugar to the water and stir until fully dissolved. Let it cool and store in a container.
Microwave the half and half until warm and add once ounce of lavender syrup. Stir.
Brew one ounce of espresso and add it to your glass.
Add the lavender-infused half & half and gently stir.
