Different coffee drinks.

[Blue Donkey Blues]

I work where there's a cappuccino bar.  I love drinking coffee drinks, and when I first started working there, I very much enjoyed the novelty of trying different ones.  Now, however, I can't think of anything new to concoct.  That doesn't stop me from drinking my daily couple of mugs, it's just not as fun anymore.  

    Looking up coffee drink recipes on the internet yields an overwhelming number of recipes, leaving me with no idea where to begin.  Does anybody out there have a favorite novelty coffee drink?  The more original, the better (presuming it's still delicious, of course).  Keep in mind, please, that our store isn't licensed to sell hard liquor.  That's probably a good thing, considering how much I love throwing that stuff in my coffee.

Laters,

Rudy

[Steve Klc]

Rudy--I have to tell you I go the other way on this.

Instead of adding ingredients--I'd be alot happier to get a good to very good espresso more often--rather than something over-extracted, underextracted or crema-less.

I'd rather have the sweet novelties--the cream, the chocolate, the infusions and syrups--in dessert.

The simple pleasure of an espresso or machiatto is surprisingly hard to find after a meal.

[Jinmyo]

As close as I can come to putting something in coffe is to have it near coffee. Like a bit of cognac or sambucca along with a cup of Ethiopian coffee.

[=Mark]

I still have to admit that I prefer a nice strong, black, coffee flavored coffee...

[Blue Donkey Blues]

I feel a little naive is saying this, but I don't know that I've ever really had an espresso that I would call very good.  I live in a rather podunk little town, with only a couple of places to get one, and they're all lame.

    The idea of finding one that tasted delicious by itself makes me almost wanna go on a quest.

[Steve Klc]

Blue--what kind of machine does your place have?

[cabrales]

Blue Donkey Blues -- Steve Klc's thoughts are similar to mine. However, if you are interested in different coffee recipes, consider (1) Vietnamese-style coffee -- there is a "drip" method and the use of sweet, "condensed" milk (this Asian milk itself would be something interesting to sample), and (2) the use of little gelatinous tapioca beads in coffee, which some Taiwanese "bubble tea" places offer in NYC and certain other US cities now (not something I consider tasty beyond an initial novelty value, though).  

[jordan]

I too like my coffee, coffee flavored, and I find the south american estate coffees to be a great less expensive alternative to the blue mountain or kona.  But if you want to be creative and you are serving guests, try:

In a pony glass add 11/2 oz. of strong black coffee 1/2 an oz. of a flavored brandy (grand mariner, creme de cocoa, frangelico, creme de cassis, creme de almond, etc.) and top with a complimentary flavored whipped cream.  I like to use the coffee syrups (Monin) to flavor the whipped cream.  One of my favorite combinations is frangelico in the coffee and chocolate flavored whipped cream (for chocolate use cocoa powder instead of syrup).