Earl Grey Latte

It's time for SRC again! What's SRC, you ask? SRC stands for Secret Recipe Club, where each month, we're assigned another blogger, and we get to select one of their yummy recipes to make. This month, I got Michaela from An Affair from the Heart, and she's definitely got lots of yummy eats to choose from! I thought about making her Pad Thai Wonder Pot (never made a wonder pot before), Loaded Baked Potato Soup, or Double Decker Baked Tacos until I saw an Earl Grey Latte with DIY Frothed Milk!

The first time I tried an Earl Grey Latte was at Starbucks. James and I usually accumulate stars, and then, when we can get a free drink, we like to go for something different. This time, we were deciding what to get - since we usually get a larger size and split the free drinks, and we kept on hitting dead ends. James likes his coffee as strong as possible, and me? I'm more of a tea person, especially Chai Tea - yum! However, the one tea James does like is Earl Grey. We didn't realize Starbucks even had Earl Grey Lattes until we saw it advertised on the wall or in the app. Thinking about it though, it makes sense they could make it since they have Earl Grey tea, and adding milk makes it a latte. :)

I also wanted to make some frothed milk on top - makes it extra special! I tried shaking the milk and then microwaving, and I ended up with lots of large bubbles that popped as soon as the milk cooled. After doing some research, it seems the shake and microwave method works best on skim or 2% milk, and I used whole milk. No worries though - I just switched to the French Press method. I was going to get some frothed milk, one way or another! For the French press method, simply pour at least enough milk to cover the plunger when it's lowest, and then start pumping the plunger until you've got foam! Give yourself an arm workout in the process. :)

What's your favorite way to top a drink?

Earl Grey Latte with DIY Frothed Milk

by CJ Huang

Make your own Earl Grey Latte with DIY frothed milk at home! No special equipment required.

Prep time: 5 minutes
Cook time: none
Total time: 5 minutes
Yield: 2 cups

Materials:

Mass	Weight	Volume	Number	Material	Notes
				Earl Grey tea	I used a loose leaf tea, and bagged tea works too! You'll want to adjust the amount of tea depending on how strong you like your tea.
		1.5 cups		water
		1/2 cup		milk	Skim or 2% are easier to froth. I used whole.
		2 teaspoons		vanilla extract	I used my alcohol-free vanilla extract so no additional sweetener was required since the glycerin base is naturally sweet. You could also use the usual vanilla extract and then sweeten with something else.

Methods:

	1. Gather all materials.
	2. Brew tea to desired strength, and then stir in vanilla extract.
	3. Froth milk. You can pour the milk into a jar so that's it's mostly empty, shake vigorously, and then microwave it (lid off) for about 30-60 seconds if you're using skim or 2% milk. Since I'm using whole milk, I poured in just enough milk to completely cover the plunger screen on a French press, and then pumped the plunger until I got frothed milk. (If you use skim or 2%, you'll likely end up with better results.) Pour/spoon frothed milk into/on tea. Make some latte art if you're fancy. :)