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Author:
Franco Salzillo
We all love coffee drinks, and I’m talking about more than just coffee because our favorite roasted bean can become an endless variety of tasty beverages, hot and cold. There’s a reason we spend twelve bucks on a creamy drink topped with whipped cream: they’re pure pleasure.
Of course, making your own caffeinated drinks, from cappuccinos to macchiato to lattes, is on a whole other level of satisfaction; impersonating a barista at home is just fun. You save tons of money too!
Suppose you want to make great coffee drinks at home. In that case, you need the right ingredients. That means premium coffee, of course, but also some other vital items: milk and cream, chocolate syrup, caramel sauce, whipped cream, cocoa powder, vanilla extract and some other stuff, you get the idea.
Today we’re making one of these critical ingredients: our own vanilla syrup. This lusciously dense liquid will be your secret ingredient for vanilla lattes, awesome frozen coffee, and much more. Learning to make this one is important for another reason; you won’t find a proper vanilla syrup at your local corner shop.
The first thing we’ll need is vanilla extract. And you must choose wisely; there are many knockoffs made with other things that are not vanilla.
Authentic vanilla extract comes from the Mexican vanilla orchid, and it’s the seeds what we use to make drinks, ice cream and pastries. Fake vanilla comes from the glands of beaver’s butts. Yuck!
The only other ingredients you need are sugar and water because we’re making simple syrup. Typically, simple syrup is best when following the ratio of 1:1. Interestingly, one cup of water and one cup of sugar renders only one cup of simple syrup and not two, isn’t that mysterious?
Some folks, especially working as mixologists and specialists in cocktails, swear by a 2:1 simple syrup, using twice as much sugar, and the resulting liquid is as thick as honey. Try it and see what you think about it.
After heating the water and dissolving the sugar, the only thing left to do is incorporate the vanilla essence. That’s it. A perfect vanilla syrup to create the most exciting drinks!
In a saucepan, heat the water until boiling point.
Slowly pour the sugar while stirring, continue stirring until dissolved.
Remove the saucepan from the heat, pour in the vanilla extract and stir briefly.
Let it cool and store in a lidded bottle.
Store in the fridge for up to one month.
