Step by Step Make a White Chocolate Raspberry Mocha Recipe

Nearly all of the drinks you find at a coffee bar / Starbucks / Caribou Coffee come from one of three recipes. Some drinks are warm, some are cold, and some are blended frozen. I'm going to teach you the central hot recipe using my favorite drink, the white chocolate raspberry mocha. Using this template, you can also make a latte, a cappuccino, a mocha, and any one of the flavored mocha drinks.

Step 1. Before we do anything let's get our espresso going. If you don't have an espresso machine you can pick up a cheap one for $20 at Walmart. As for the espresso itself - head to a coffee place and ask for a half pound of their espresso beans. Ask them to grind them up for an espresso machine. Perhaps even this sounds too complicated for you? That's alright; brew up some REALLY strong coffee and we'll try to work with that.

Step 2. While that's brewing, throw a scoop or two of white cocoa powder into a glass. A lot of coffee making is approximation . . . rarely will you see a professional actually measuring ingredients. If you do, they're probably new! If you're having trouble finding white cocoa powder, try Meijer or your local coffee house. If you can't get the powder, the syrup or melted chocolate should do.

Step 3. Add a shot of raspberry syrup. As with the other ingredients, this one can easily be found at a Starbucks or Caribou Coffee. They don't usually advertise it, but I've never had a problem just buying a bottle by asking. They're usually pretty cheap too.

Step 4. Throw two shots of espresso into the cup and mix. Make sure you get the espresso in there while it's steaming hot; that's the key to getting everything to mix well. You don't want any chunky cocoa floating around in there do you?

Step 5. Fill the rest of the cup with milk. I like soy, but any kind will do. You can use your espresso machine's steam wand to heat up the drink. The major drawback of a $20 Walmart espresso machine is that the wand is mostly decoration. If that's the case, just throw the cup in the microwave. Of course check to make sure there aren't any coffee elitists watching.

Step 6. To finish, some people like whipped cream on their coffee. Gross.

If you wanted to make a latte or cappuccino, you'd just do the espresso and milk. Cappuccinos are more foam than liquid milk, but that's all in mad foam wand skill. To make a regular mocha, milk chocolate or white, just follow these directions skipping step 3. To make anything else, just substitute the raspberry for other flavors (and the white cocoa for regular).

Additional Tips

• Experiment!
• A better espresso machine would go a long way.
• The espresso will taste best if you grind it yourself, right before brewing
• Caution: Hot!
• Seriously though, if you make enough of these you'll surly burn your hands and mouth.