How to Save Money but Still Live Like a Celebrity

We’ve all see those snapshots in the grocery store checkout line–a Hollywood starlet on the front page of a magazine, darting out of a well known coffee chain with huge white paper cup that is only eclipsed by the size of her sunglasses and gigantic “hobo” bag.

At an easy four bucks a pop (after dropping the change in the tip jar) those drinks add up fast. When did we become ok with buying a drink containing 70% milk for more than the price of a half-gallon of milk alone? Not going on vacation this year because of the economy? Can’t by those fancy shoes because you’re cutting back? I think you’re looking for your lost kitten hiding right under your own couch. What are you spending on coffee beverages at your local palace of caffeine? Here’s the truth.

If you buy a drink that costs you $3.50 per day, and drop the change in the tip jar, that adds up to over $1200 per year. “Holy Monolo Blahnik!” Oh, sorry guys “Holy Sony flat screen!” Pair up your consumption with your significant other, and we’re talking about at least $2400 bucks per year spent on coffee, sugar and milk. I’m telling you, without hesitation, that every one of us can learn to make these snazzy drinks at home in no time—but why would we?

Well, the last time I checked, most of us don’t have movie deals in the works, nor are we secretly enjoying a trust fund set up by our long lost uncle in the oil business (you’re going to tell your girlfriend about it just as soon as you figure out if she loves you for you and not for your money). So why are we spending so much of our hard earned money on something we really can do ourselves? The reality is that you’ll never be able to make your own 4” heals to wear to this year’s Christmas party, and you’ll never be able to build your own television. However, you can learn to make a darn good latte with just a little practice and guidance, and probably do it better than 90% of the “baristas” out there working at your local cafes.

Excuse: I don’t have time to make a drink.
Reality: You have 9 minutes to go to a café to buy your drink every morning.

Excuse: I can’t make the drink as yummy as they do with the foam and stuff.
Reality: You can totally make the foam, and you can totally pull a great espresso shot. You just need to have the right equipment and get a little instruction. By my calculations you have $1000 bucks this year to spend on a new espresso machine that will last you the next 7 years. You’re at least as clever as “Sideburn Jimmy” who works down at the you-know-where who learned how to make your drink up to those “standards” in no time. Yes, the other 10% may never ever be attained, but you can sure give it a good try. Chances are you’re not getting that extra fancy 10% now, even at the $3.50 a cup.

Excuse: I don’t know where to get good coffee
Reality: Try finding and tasting fresh coffee from a local or online coffee roaster until you find a coffee you enjoy drinking. According to my calculations, you can spend about $16 for a 12 oz bag and land at the savings I mentioned above.

Excuse: I have a huge crush on the girl who makes my grande latte down at Kitty Cat Coffee Bar and I’m sure one of these days she’ll realize I’m spending $4.50 a day just to see her and hope that she’ll look into my eyes and fall in love.
Reality: She has no idea you exist except for the fact that you’re grande latte guy and you tip her a buck every morning. Ask her out, win her heart, and pretty soon she’ll be making your drinks at your house every morning instead. You can use those extra bucks for something sparkly.

More excuses? The reality is that making a great coffee beverage isn’t that complicated at all. If 300,000 22 year olds working at coffee chains across the country can figure it out, so can you. For those of you who are graced with an amazing local shop that actually makes you an over the top drink with beautiful microfoam and a rosetta design on top—you’re spoiled now, but even that can be achieved with a little practice.

There are great super automatic espresso machines out there that you can buy to make drink making a snap at home, and there are fantastic fresh coffees available to buy. Need the tips for pulling it all together? Right here, next week…I’m going to share all the secrets with you to make your own yummy latte. In the mean time? Think of what you’ll do with all that money you’ll be saving, and make sure your passport is up to date.

Sideline Caffeine

This Saturday morning we woke up to the surprise of 2 inches of snow on the ground. Expected, partly, because the forecast called for it, but unexpected, because as anyone who lives in ski towns knows, if you’re expecting the snow, it probably won’t come. Don’t expect it, and there it is: Magic—even in October. My soccer-obsessed kid couldn’t wait to suit up for his last game of the season on the powder covered grass with a bunch of his little buddies. Parents were a little more reluctant in their enthusiasm as they stood bundled up on the sidelines, sporting an overwhelming lack of appropriate footwear. When snow comes in October, and you need to be somewhere by 10 a.m. the only easily accessible shoe choices are things like flip-flops, sandals, running shoes, or clogs. Avoiding clogs at all costs is my advice, but you know that about me already.

Dozens of moms and dads stood in support of our little Beckems and Beckemettes, clutching onto their travel mugs and paper cups filled with a hot coffee of some kind. One of my friends said to me, teeth chattering as she grasped her little plastic mug, “thank god for caffeine”. I had to agree. Caffeine rocks. I assure you the fans’ cheering was mostly measurable by the amount of caffeine each person had ingested to that point. God only knows it’s hard to be a cheerleader when your toes are freezing. I know there’s a lot of this and that about it…it’s good one minute, bad the next, ok in moderation, a drug of the devil, a juice of the gods. I can’t possibly play ball in the caffeine good or bad debate, as I took the road back in college to study business instead of science. Since I don’t have a lab of my own, and can’t report my own findings, I’ll share with you some of what I’ve learned. (There are lots of places you can go to research actual milligrams present in each cup, so don’t base your caffeine consumption on what I’m about to say, and if your eye pops out of your head due to caffeine overdose, it’s your fault, not mine.)

So here’s some stuff that might surprise you:
• A 6 oz cup of coffee prepared as drip coffee has about 60% more caffeine than a 1 oz single shot of espresso (that’d be comparing serving to serving). Extracting your coffee as espresso only pulls out about 60% of the total available caffeine in the volume of ground coffee, due to the short 25-30 second brew cycle. So it’s true, you get less caffeine when brewing your coffee as espresso, serving per serving, compared to drip.
• There are two main cultivated species of coffee, simply put, Arabica and Robusta. Arabica beans are what all the quality coffee brands use…otherwise known as the good stuff. Robusta is what you’ll find in the cheapo-budget brands and lots of gas stations across the country. Robusta actually contains about 50% more caffeine than its much lovelier cousin, the Arabica species. I guess it’s not a mistake that crappy coffee and truck stops go hand in hand. It’s the high-test stuff that gets us through that 10 hour stretch in the Nevada desert that gives us the most caffeine per cup. If you drink the quality stuff, which will taste way better, you’d have to pee more, and we all know that’s just not cool on a road trip. Unless, of course, you’re stopping for more coffee anyway.
• Different coffee varietals contain slightly different amounts of caffeine, and can vary season to season. Brewing factors can vary also, even in your own kitchen, so no two cups are exactly the same.
• The darker the coffee is roasted, the less caffeine usually ends up in your cup. Comparing the same coffee bean, and all else being equal, the darker a coffee is roasted, the puffier the beans become, and therefore the fewer beans are used when you use your measuring scoop. It’s a slight difference, but contrary to what people believe, roasting darker doesn’t bring on more caffeine. The bean has what the bean has, and you can’t “grow” more caffeine in a coffee bean by roasting it darker. So sad but true, those black beans that you think pack more of a punch just because they’re darker, really don’t.
• Black tea has about 1/3 the caffeine as the same amount of drip coffee.
• Decaffeinated coffee still contains a few milligrams of caffeine.
• Caffeine can be found all over our diets in foods, drinks, candies, and medicines.
• Caffeine rocks. (Oh sorry, that’s just me and the rest of the soccer moms and dads talking).

Fun times in the snow...

Rainy Day

One of my favorite things to do is to host parties and gatherings. I love the feel of a room full of people talking and laughing. I love giggling until my eyes water and my belly aches in pain and I’m gasping for breath. I’m a bit spoiled when it comes to being a hostess, I have to admit, because I’ve been cast out of the kitchen for years now by my uber-chef husband who’s taken over the cooking since our son came along. He figured that someone had to do the cooking, and someone had to deal with the poopy crying thing, so he’d take the cooking. Now days, I’m knee deep in 3rd grade math while my husband is preparing dinner, trying to explain how one is to count change back when something is purchased. I’m a little annoyed that this is even being studied, because, first, the chance that actual bills and coins will still be tendered by the time my kid has his first minimum wage job is unlikely, and secondly, the cash register will tell him how much change the customer is supposed to get. If that doesn’t work, use a calculator, or if that doesn’t work, use your cell phone to call someone with a calculator, or heck, but then I’m sure the customer can walk out the door and the RFID in the exit will automatically bill the entire cart directly to his or her Visa.

Anyway, being more or less kicked out of the culinary action of a dinner party has left me in charge of what I call the three Ds: That’s drinks, decorations, and dessert. Today I got to indulge in drink making to my heart’s content, because my coffee roasting shop was filled with a giggling, talkative crowd, gabbing about everything from hair products, to the vice-presidential debate last night. I was on the espresso machine making one cappuccino after another (which I might say had about a 90% “good foam” success rate, which is not a bad rate for simulteaneous talking and foaming). I informed everyone that if they talked to me while I made their drink that it would take twice as long to get their beverage. I think this may be due to my uncontrollable need to flap my hands around as I talk. It’s genetic, I’m sure of it. People didn’t seem to care much about the speed, though, so I had some wonderful chats with some people I’d never met before.

This group happened to know each other pretty well, as they are the local masters swim club that swims together 5 days a week. Many of them regularly spend a few minutes after practice sharing a cup of coffee at the clubhouse. Today, I invited them over here, although I’m not myself a swimmer (something about staring at a tiled blue line while going back and forth trying not to suck water into my lungs every time I gasp for air just doesn’t work for me. It could also be related to my flapping hands issue—I’ll have to research that). I can see how much fun they have together, though, and loved being in the midst of this joyous crowd who seemed to relish in the simple pleasure of hanging out and sharing laughs.

It must be the slightly rainy day today, or this morning’s unexpected phone calls from a couple of missed friends that got me thinking about this, but I find that so many people just don’t make the effort to visit, call or make simple connections with others. We get so busy that we delay the phone call or email invitation. People make the lamest excuses, like thinking their home is too messy to have visitors, or they feel weird about inviting someone over who they don’t know very well. I think that’s crap, honestly. You’re really not that busy, and no one cares if your house is messy, and you don’t have to make a Food Network masterpiece. If you have friends who care about the mess in your house, or the quality of your meal, they suck. Find new friends.

I wouldn’t be honest if I didn’t say I realized today that this is the biggest joy of the business I’m in. I love that a simple invitation, with a simple little drink of coffee and milk can bring people together and fill us up more than anything else we may choose to do, this week or any other. I’m one lucky girl.
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