Cup of Happiness

Our coffee machine broke down a few months ago. Coincidentally, my Starbucks habit kicked back in right around the same time. I am loathe to admit it, but I am addicted to caffeine. Like, for reals. I tried to give it up for Lent this year and made it exactly 4 days before my headaches and general Rage Against Humanity weakened my resolve and I went back to the dark side.

I immediately felt that I had a Green Living problem to tackle. What's the best way to get my fix with minimal waste and maximum awesomeness?

Factors to consider:

• I don't want ANY waste - No filters, no pods, no pouring half your French Press pot down the drain because I can only really handle one cup at a time and the mechanics of the Press make me create at least 2 big cups worth.
• When it comes right down to it, I really want a LATTE. Not coffee. Yes, I know, I'm a snob. Whatever. When I have good, excellent-tasting espresso and steamed milk, I don't even want any sugar OR honey. At least half of the reason I go to The Bucks is because I want the steamed milk. Lovely, frothy milk.

So I didn't want to buy a new coffee maker. Coffee makers don't make lattes, and latte makers cost $$$. I did a bit of internet searching, and decided on these two little old-fangled lovelies:

To my left, a stainless steel milk frother. To my right, the iconic Bialetti Moka Pot in the one-cup size. Just enough for ONE latte in the morning! 

Yes, they are not as fast or as fancy as the Pod coffee machines or the spendy espresso machines. And yes, the Bialetti would be a more energy-efficient choice if we had gas burners, but someday I WILL have gas burners, so help me!

How do these thrifty little metal contraptions produce a foamy latte? Observe.

This round fan-looking thing is what aerates the milk. It's attached by a metal rod to the knob on the lid of the frother When you pump it, it turns this little splash of warmed-up soy milk (see left) into this voluminous cup of foamy soy milk (see right). About as close to steamed milk as you can get without a fancy espresso maker OR a lot of attention and patience at the stove top.

And what about the espresso part?

Espresso goes into this funnel-shaped filter.

Which fits into the bottom part....

that holds the water.

When you twist the two halves of the Moka pot together and put the pot on the stove, you can lift up the lid and watch the espresso percolate up into the little pitcher.

Bubbling goodness.

Now imagine this is a TV cooking show and I skip to the finished product:

Perfecto. One latte, no waste. I can use organic, fair trade beans and whatever pretentious milk I want. And if I ever get my act together, I could even put everything together at night and just turn on the heat in the morning.

So there you have it! The solution to my latte addiction for about $40 of durable equipment. No waste, and far fewer trips to The Bucks. Come on over and I'll play barista for ya.

Put On a Frowny Face for Starbucks

Ok y'all - time to bust our your trombone to play a big Debbie Downer "Whaaah-Whaaaaaahhhhh".

I know knowledge is power, and we can't make better choices if we don't have accurate information. But don't you sometimes wish you didn't know? Wish for a do-over so you cold proceed in blissful ignorance? I've found out all kinds of routine-shaking, life-altering info on this quest for a healthier, greener, more responsible path. But THIS info goes into the category of "I kinda wish I didn't know."

100 Days of Real Food just posted this article about the nasty side of Starbucks.  And it is nasty, my friends.

I had already heard that the coffee you get from your smiley-faced Barista is NOT organic or fair trade, even though you can buy bags of organic fair trade coffee to make at home. And I know that Starbucks has been touting their "Trans Fat Free" stuff and "All Natural Ingredients" for a while now. I've even gawked in slack-jawed horror at the nutrition info for the stuff I occasionally noshed on while picking up my latte (no organic milk available BTW). But I really wasn't ready for the hard truth: that stuff is SCARY. Scary. Read the article and see for yourself. Spoiler alert: One of their Frappuccino ingredients requires a "substance known to cause cancer" label in California.

KNOWN.

To cause cancer.

Well this revelation couldn't have come at a better time for me, since our No Buy July scheme has succeeded  well enough from a "stuff" standpoint, but failed miserably from a budget point of view. We suspect that in our quests to avoid acquiring more stuff, our tendency to want to purchase things just shifted to categorize more things (ie: lattes and "healthy" snacks for me, other food/beverages for Les) into the NEED category. Our stuff purchases have been practically nil so far, but our overall budget hasn't shown much improvement because we've compensated for the magazines and cool new eco kitchen scrubbies (oh, the things we overbuy) by shopping for loads of food. And going out for burritos.

So Starbucks, now would be a good time to part ways. I can't afford you and you are killing me softly. And I never did bring Sock Bottle back to the counter. Whaaaah-Whaaaaaaaaahhhhh.

The Sock Bottle Gets and Upgrade, and Finally Goes to Starbucks

I made this brown felt Mug Snuggie (Smuggie? Did I just invent something?) for my infamous Bottle in a Sock so that Les would not cringe every time I decided to take my sock bottle out on the town with me.

Just kidding. That's a total lie.

I made the Smuggie for me. I had no problem filling up the Bottle in a Sock coffee mug with organic, fair trade java and some soy milk (and sugar, and dark chocolate syrup) at home and taking it out for a drive or a walk. But every time I thought about taking it to Starbucks for my weekly (twice weekly?)Guilty Pleasure Latte, I would get up to the counter and freeze. I Just. Couldn't. Do. It. I couldn't bring myself to hand my sock bottle over the counter to the hipper-than-thou barista. I couldn't bear the thought of the suited up Loopers behind me in line cocking their eyebrows at my makeshift to-go mug. The same way I sigh and shake my head when the lady in front of me orders a Nonfat One Splenda No Whip Decaf Coffee Caramel Frappucino. (That actually happened. 15 minutes ago.).

But today, the Smuggied Bottle made it out of my bag and over the counter. Hooray! One small step for repurposing posers like me, one giant leap for my Starbucks disposables waste reduction. And guess what? I got not one, but TWO complements on my "cute" coffee bottle. Yeah, the barista who was actually making my nonfat latte had some trouble getting the steamed milk into the bottle in an orderly fashion, but he smiled and said "no problem!". Like any properly indoctrinated baristas would do. I explained to him that it was my first try with the new coffee bottle. And he just handed me my bottle and said "Enjoy!".

And I am. Enjoying my very FIRST waste-free Starbucks Latte.

Finally. Only 4 months in the making.

Naturally-flavored coffee

OhMyGoodness, I am SO Excited! I came across this post today on Design Sponge, and the hair on the back of my neck stood up... it was like someone in the blogosphere has been READING MY MIND!

After much hand-wringing and head-scratching, I have been a bit vexed about how best to enjoy my needed caffeinated jolt and the marital benefits of sharing a morning coffee habit with my hubs, while cutting out the artificial flavor crap and loads of sugar I still need to make it drinkable.

I haven't always been a coffee drinker. The first time I ever went to Starbucks more than twice a year (one pumpkin-spiced latte and one non-fat, no-whip peppermint mocha) was in grad school, when my clinical supervisor at the hospital liked to treat me to a "hot beverage" every once in a while. She loved Starbucks, and I really wanted to go on these casual little field trips with her, so I had to start being more adventurous with the menu. I was afraid she would be unhappy if she paid $3 for me to drink a hot tea I could have made myself for free in the break room. I started branching out into flavored latte land on our little coffee breaks. Soon, I was hooked on the "skinny vanilla latte" - espresso, skim milk, and sugar-free vanilla syrup.

It's not that espresso is so bad for me. Or skim milk, really, even though I am now moving my way into almond milk or maybe even oat milk (watch for a future post about the various "non-milk milks" out there). But the syrup. Oh, the delicious syrup that makes all that burnt-coffee bitterness so drinkable. I have tried plain lattes, without the syrup, and I just end up dumping packets of sugar into them. Not a great swap.

The whole global coffee/fair trade/social justice considerations of a java habit will have to wait for a future post. But for now, let's just rejoice that someone else has taken the time to figure out some natural flavor options for your daily cuppa.

Now I have even MORE incentive to get a proper travel coffee mug: I can mix up my home-brewed flavored concoction, pour in some almond milk, and take it with me every day. Genius. I am so excited about this.

And when I get home from work today, I'll post this week's Friday Face Off. Just as soon as I decide what to write.

No Day But Today

Today's the day! The one year experiment has officially begun. I have pages and pages of notebook full of ideas, topics, questions, and stories to get this thing started. If you have any pressing conundrums for me to research, an eco product for me to test-drive, or any cool websites or blogs for me to add to the link list, please send them my way!

It's only 10am on the first day of the experiment, and I've already flubbed one of the most basic, simplest changes I've committed to make: I'm sipping a latte out of a paper cup with a plastic lid. At least the cup snuggie is made from 100% post-consumer recycled material...

Grabbed on my way home from the polls on this election day morning!

But that's how the best laid plans tend to go for me. And besides, if I had everything all consistent and perfect on the first day of the experiment, I don't think that would make for very exciting blog reading, now would it?

How am I going to celebrate this momentous occasion? The blog launch and my birthday? Well, for one thing, I took the day off so that Les and I could have a date day in the city for my birthday. I have to take the Blog Editor in Chief to the vet for his quarterly blood tests, but then Les and I will reconvene for a veg-tastic late lunch at a  Rick Bayless restaurant I have been wanting to try, and then we'll go to the Chicago Cultural Center to see the Vivian Maier photo exhibit.

Hopefully I can sneak in some yoga this afternoon, and then Les and I are going to go to attempt to gather the necessary ingredients and base pantry items for the next week of our healthy eating challenge AND spend less than $100 doing it. Think we can make it? I'm not so sure, but we're going to give it the old college try. I'll let you know what we come up with. I imagine it will be like a game show. As long as we get to come home and make a from-scratch winter veggie pizza and drink some wine, I will consider it a successful birthday adventure.

Coming up tomorrow (Or later today, depending on how things pan out): Going Gray Phase 1. Or, How to Pretend You Don't Notice That Your Roots are Ridiculous.