Breville Espresso Maker & Vegan Creamer Recipes

After accomplishing our goal of student loan payoff, Josh and I rewarded ourselves with an espresso maker splurge. We’ve had the Breville Barista Touch since December and have been really happy with it! Josh generally drinks his coffee black with the occasional cappuccino or espresso mixed in and I like the sweeter mixed coffee drinks which this machine can accomplish for both of us.

Having three young kids I needed it to be relatively simple to do because I don’t have time to fuss to much but I also didn’t want to sacrifice on quality of the espresso. This machine is automated nicely requiring just a few small steps from me and the ability to personalize each drink as I want. It’s been getting a lot of use during quarantine too!

It has a touch screen to choose the type of drink you are wanting: espresso, Americano, cappuccino, latte, flat white or just hot milk (think hot coco!). You also have the ability to customize a drink but I haven’t found that to be necessary. There is a grinder with a hopper on top of the machine plus a frothing wand on the side. The water reservoir on the back filters your tap water for you and the water is heated in seconds so no waiting around for warming. 

When we first got it we bought some cheaper Starbucks espresso from the store because we burned through it pretty quick tweaking the grind time and coarseness. Basically you want the espresso to begin to drip within 8-10 seconds and stop by 30 seconds, otherwise the settings aren’t quite right. 

The quality and freshness (when they were roasted) of the espresso beans plays a huge part in how good your espresso turns out. I thought the store bought Starbucks would be adequate, I was very wrong! We tried two different roasting companies that deliver through the mail – Blue Bottle Coffee Company and Black Rifle Coffee Company. Both had good service but Blue Bottle was very inconsistent with roasting which was evident in differing pour times and tastes despite having the same settings. 

We decided to subscribe to Black Rifle and have found them to be consistent in their quality and service. They are a veteran owned company which we like and with every purchase they donate coffee to those in the military and most recently to health care workers on the front lines. 

I’ve been wanting to try my hand at making my own coffee creamer from canned coconut milk as store bought has so many additives to it that are not ideal. We avoid dairy as much as possible and I really haven’t found a non dairy creamer that I just love…….so I’ve included my creamer recipes below! I generally use 1.5-2 Tbsp in my coffee, I add it to my milk frothing pitcher with water, stir and froth and it has a nice thick froth. It could also be added straight into a cup of coffee and stirred in. I have been using a can of coconut milk that is 13.6 ounces so a batch would give me 13-25 cups of coffee depending on how heavy handed I decided to be with the creamer. Sugar can be added or scaled back per taste and while I used coconut sugar any sweetener could be substituted (cane, maple syrup, stevia, agave). 

Salted Mocha

Canned Coconut Milk – 1 Can (13.6 oz)

Organic cacao – 1 1/4 Tbsp

Vanilla – 1 tsp

Coconut Sugar – 3/4 Cup

Kosher Salt – 1 tsp

Cinnamon Vanilla

Canned Coconut Milk – 1 Can (13.6 oz)

Cinnamon – 1 1/4 Tbsp

Coconut Sugar – 3/4 Cup

Vanilla – 1 tsp

Vanilla

Canned Coconut Milk – 1 Can ( 13.6 oz)

Vanilla – 1 tsp

Coconut Sugar – 3/4 Cup