#treatyoself: almond milk latte in the vitamix (a cleveland company!)

You don’t even want to know how much time and money I’ve spent at Starbucks in the past year. It’s kindddd of embarrassing. And while I’ll always love my coffee shop visits, sometimes you just have to DIY. I’ve always wanted a fancy espresso machine but I’ve never been able to justify it so you can imagine how pleased I was when I had an “a-ha” moment and realized I could make my beloved vanilla almond milk latte in my new Vitamix.

I was gifted a Vitamix (the new Ascent A3500 to be exact) at a blogger event I attended at the Solon store a couple weeks ago. Admittedly, I didn’t know there was a store in the area and I was so blown away by the space. It’s so fresh and inviting, and even has a test kitchen so you can try out some of the machines before you purchase. I had a blast at the event, tried a ton of Vitamix recipes and can’t wait to go back for one of their culinary classes!

 

Anyways, back to the caffeine. For a vanilla almond milk latte, you will need:

• 1 mug of almond milk (I used vanilla because I love it!)
• 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract (depending on how vanilla-y you want it to be, the almond milk may be enough flavor)
• 1 tsp. instant espresso powder (this is what the brand I bought called for but you could use more for a stronger drink)
• 1 tsp. sugar (totally optional depending on your preferences)
• A cute mug!

I bought all of the ingredients for about what it would cost to buy 1.5 Starbucks lattes. With the exception of the almond milk, it should all last me a long time. SUCH a money savings!

All you have to do is put all of the ingredients in the blender and let it whirl on the “hot soups” cycle, which on my machine, takes a little over 5 minutes. Greylen actually LOVES watching the Vitamix and dances to the sound of the blending for 5 straight minutes. It cracks me up and helps me justify making a second drink some days!

A couple tips: You can use cold or hot almond milk. The Vitamix will heat cold milk up for you on the hot soups setting but I like my drinks extra hot so I heat the milk before I put it in. Also, I don’t use sugar in mine because the almond milk is sweet enough. If you use unsweetened almond milk, you may want to add sugar or another type of sweetener.

that foam, though…

The Vitamix machine is truly amazing. I can’t wait to blend up smoothies, soups, dips and spreads. My favorite part about the Vitamix, though, is the amazing company behind the brand. Vitamix is Cleveland-based, family-owned and is currently led by a woman. What’s NOT to love?!

How good does that look?! Next up, perfecting my latte art!

Disclosure: I attended a blogger event at the Vitamix Store and was gifted a Vitamix. All opinions are my own.