Aug 17: How To Make a Double Shot at Home

I have mentioned before that I am obsessed with the Starbucks Double Shots they make in their stores. Not the bottled stuff, it's totally not the same. But the handmade version? Divine when they make it correctly but it's usually $3.60ish for a grande. Eesh.

So Nate and I have begun to make a version of this delightfulness at home. I figured I should share in this fun little recipe in case anyone else wants to pretend to be a barista with us.

A Starbucks DS has espresso, 2% milk, classic sweetener, and ice. I don't know why it tastes like heaven with such simple ingredients, but it does. We like to get half and half instead of the milk and the number of espresso shots depends on what size drink you choose.

At home, we do have a tiny espresso maker kind of like this one but we don't use it much because it's kind of a beast to clean. However, we also have a small 'Aeropress' from a local coffee store here in Milwaukee and we love this baby so much. I also found one just like ours here on Amazon if you want to give it a go at home.

Do you know the difference between coffee and espresso? I don't think I did until recently, and figured that espresso was just stronger coffee somehow. But my coffee-snobby-husband informed me that coffee is made when you drip the water through a filter and espresso is when you force the water through somehow. So this little Aeropress can make espresso because you push air down through this tube on top of coffee grounds and hot water. Very fancy, I know. I used to make my other favorite 'hard core' drink from SBux with our Aeropress all the time: an Americano. That is just espresso and water and I like mine hot and straight up black. It's still my 'go to' drink, actually, but every now and then a Double Shot calls my name.

Here is how we make our own version of our favorite SB drink:



1. Make simple syrup. That's one part water and one part sugar over medium heat for about 3-5 minutes until all sugar is dissolved, stirring a lot so you don't burn your concoction. We store the simple syrup in a tupperware container in our fridge to use for this drink and any alcoholic drink that calls for simple syrup (ie Mojitos!) and we usually use 1 cup water and 1 cup sugar. It's also funny that I'm saying 'we' here since Nate is always the one that makes this for me. Truth: he actually makes these drinks 90% of the time and I have only recently started making my own. I'm spoiled, I know.

2. Put three fairly big spoonfuls of simple syrup in the bottom of your cup. SBux uses 3 pumps in a grande DS, so that's why we wanted to use 3 spoonfuls at home. Then we add ice to the cup.

3. Make your espresso. If you have an Aeropress, it means you will grind 2 big scoops of coffee beans (maybe equivalent to about 4 tablespoons?) and heat up some water. Then you put the coffee in the bottom of the tube with a filter, put it right on top of your cup, then pour 3 cups of hot water into the tube. You stir the grounds in the water for 10 seconds. Then you slowly push the top of the press down into the grounds, making it take about 30 seconds to push all the way through. Be careful here since you are pushing right into your cup and if you tip it over during this manual labor you are screwed!

4. Add however much half and half you like. Or milk, I suppose, but the fatty stuff is way better. Add more ice since you probably just melted the other stuff with your coffee. Then, if you want to be super authentic, hand shake your drink to let it mix gently. Wait a bit for it to cool off and then...



5. Enjoy.

(this one was a lot prettier than the one above, actually. Love when the cream does that!)

Remember, we always make half caff coffee at home because we like so much of it, so often and that let's us feel less addicted ;) But the full caff version is great, too, just a lot stronger (duh). You can play around with how much coffee you use depending on how strong you like it. But that's how we are playing SBux baristas at home this summer. Not quite the same but the fact that ours isn't nearly $4 a pop makes it taste a little better somehow.