Home Brewed

Some times I'm just not motivated enough to go out and get coffee somewhere else, but I still wants me some coffee so I have to brew my own. As with many other coffee drinkers, I've come up with my own brews and mixes to simulate my favorite drinks to the best of my ability. Remember, I'm not an espresso or coffee expert, I'm just a guy who likes, ok really likes coffee.

In my amateur attempts at brewing drinks like those available at coffee houses, I've developed a favorite drink that I'd like to share here in hopes of getting other folks to share their home-mixing techniques and recipes. The method is simple and so are the ingredients. Below is a step-by-step to brew what I call a 'Pogey Mocha':

What you'll need -

• Normal, drip-style coffee maker
• A filter to fit your coffee maker
• Enough ground coffee to suit your taste
• Water
• Milk
  
• Hot cocoa mix
• Table spoon
• Coffee cup

What you do -

1. Brew a pot of coffee. I've found it's better to brew this pot a bit stronger than normal as you'll be diluting it a bit in the mix. That and I just like strong coffee. So if you have to guess on how much ground coffee to use, it's better to guess high.
2. Put a heaping spoon of cocoa mix into the cup.
3. Fill the cup to about 3/4 full while stirring & mixing the cocoa. Putting the cocoa mix in first and pouring the coffee on top makes it easier to mix it than putting the cocoa on top of the coffee.
4. Fill the remaining 1/4 of the cup with milk. This thickens the mix a bit and helps cool it down so you can drink it right away.
   

Please note that I tried to avoid being specific with measurements or sizes because the point of this is to find what you like, not what is written on a recipe. Your taste buds will tell you if you got it right.

At the end of this you'll have what I call a Pogey Mocha. If you want to know what a 'pogey' is, you can look here to get the full back story on how exactly this drink came about. The short version is that spent a year in a place where I couldn't just run down to a Starbucks or Peets and get my fix so I had to figure it out for myself.

Anyway, I hope you give this brew a try and if you have your own mix, please share it with us here. And remember, your taste buds are the true judge of whether or not you get your mix right.