My {not so secret} addiction.

I've told you all before about my terrible addiction to Starbucks. I've always loved a good Starbucks iced latte, but when I got pregnant, I suddenly could not stand the smell or taste of coffee in general. This was a good thing. A very good thing. "What an easy way to quit my addiction", I thought to myself!

When I had Claire, I still didn't have a great interest in coffee; but the sleepless nights were catching up with me & I knew I had to bring it back into my life. I started out with just making my own coffee at home for the first couple of months. Which was nothing special & saved us a shit ton of money.

But then, somewhere between October & now, I have re-kindled my love for Starbucks in a very, very sickening way. It started out as an innocent Venti Iced Latte here & there. Nothing major. & then, as maternity leave came to a close, it became an everyday essential. Every morning, people. I would drive my heiny to the nearest Starbucks, order my Venti Non-fat Iced Vanilla Latte & $4.80 later, I would be on my merry way. It became so bad, that even on days I didn't work, I would pack up the babe & drive there to get my daily fix.

My name is Lauren, and I have a {serious} addiction to Starbucks.

As the $5.00 a day transactions dwindled from our bank account, I knew I had to get a grip on this bad habit before it gets even more out of hand {as if that's possible}.

So, when my birthday rolled around & hubby asked me what I wanted {within reason}, I said an espresso maker! That would solve all of my problems! I could just make my lattes from home!Simple!

Well, not quite. When I hopped on my favorite website, Amazon & researched Espresso Machines, I was quickly saddened to find they were hundreds of dollars {but you're probably thinking to yourself, psshh-she spends at least $100.00 a month on Starbucks, anyway}.

After hours of research, I realized that to make an iced latte, I don't need a big fancy machine. I just need a simple contraption that will make the espresso.

So, I decided on this little guy:



Bialetti Moka Express Stovetop



                                                    
It makes 6- 2oz shots of Espresso. That's all I need! & it was $30.00. I was so happy when realized that I just needed something simple!

I also ordered one of these little plastic tumblers to make it feel more like Starbucks. I think it was like $5.00. A re-usable cup for the price of ONE COFFEE. That's sad. 

So, when I got my little espresso brewer/maker & tumbler from Amazon on Thursday, I was so excited to make my latte come Friday morning! Well, to make a very long story short, I made my drink on Friday morning...it tasted and looked like poop water. No joke. It was disgusting. I was so bummed. But determined to make this work!

So yesterday, {I relapsed over the weekend. Go figure} I waltzed into Starbucks & asked the nice little barista to tell me what I needed to make my own Starbucks Iced Latte. She told me exactly how to make it. She even sold me the vanilla syrup they use AND a pump!

So I bought this:

And this: specifically ground for espresso. I bought this exact stuff from Wal-Mart on Thursday, but it was ground for coffee and not espresso. No wonder it tasted like poop!

So, operation Kick Starbucks Addiction to the Curb commenced this morning & I am pleased to announce that my Non-Fate Iced Vanilla Latte tasted  just. like. Starbucks.

Here's what I spent:

$30.00 on Espresso maker 

$5.00 on plastic tumbler

$8.00 on a liter of vanilla syrup

$10.00 on a 12oz bag of ground espresso 

Total: $53 {ish}

All of these will  last me a while!!

Not even the total of what I would have spent in one month on my daily trip to S-bucks. How sad is that?

Now let's see if I can keep this up...

ETA: How silly of me not to tell you how to make these after all of that!

If you want to make a 16oz. Latte, you need:

*4-5 pumps of the syrup of your choice

*3 shots of freshly brewed espresso

*about 1/4 cup of non-fat milk {I just eye-ball it}

*ice

First pump syrup into your cup. Add shots of espresso & milk. Add the amount of ice to your liking, stir & ENJOY!