See, I’ve been doing a full time job lately, and that takes up time. Specifically, it takes up mornings, which is when I tend to drink coffee. I can’t exactly be pouring gravy into the office coffee machine, so work really puts a limit on my experimentation. I can’t pick up slack during my evenings either, because the caffeine would keep me up all night and make those gravy-free mornings even more miserable.

But wait, what about caffeine-free coffee?

I’ve never drank coffee for the caffeine. Other than keeping me from sleeping, I don’t feel any effects of the stuff; my body seems immune to perkiness enhancement. I might as well remove the caffeine and add the possibility of late-night experimentation.

It limits which kinds of coffee I can have, but have you seen this blog? It’s more about what goes into the coffee than the coffee itself. I think I’ll find enough variety.

Hey, what about you? Do you drink coffee for the caffeine, the flavour, or both?

Of course, I don’t have a French drip filter, nor the type of coffee they used. I made do by grinding my grocery store brand coffee extra fine, using a lot of it in a French press (hey, it’s still French), then slowly stirring it into a mug with condensed milk.

The main thing here is the sweetened condensed milk. It’s different than dumping a crapload of cream and sugar in the coffee; more caramelly, and thicker in texture. Even with regular coffee, it’s a new way to cream and sweeten it in a tasty new way.

I like to put a lot of condensed milk so it’s sweet as candy in a base of bitter coffee, but (obviously) I like bold flavours. It may not be true Vietnamese coffee, but I highly recommend giving the stuff a try.

Unfortunately, it was as delightful as you’d expect. The half-melted chocolate and coffee-soaked biscuit are an improvement over dry Twix.

I had already dunked and devoured both bars before thinking of this, but I wonder if it is possible to suck up the coffee through the biscuit after biting off both ends.

This would resemble the Tim Tam Slam, which is something I have always wanted to try, but Tim Tams seem to only be available in Australia. Anyone out there know of a way to procure a Tim Tam here in Ontario? Please tell me, and I will both love you forever and give you credit for what would surely be an embarrassingly messy post.

Update Aug 5th: I found Tim Tams (at Loblaw, go figure)! How come you guys never told me how good these are? Stay tuned; I’ll try them with coffee if I don’t eat them all on their own first.

I can’t say I ever get sick of chocolate, but in the week post-Easter when there is so much of it around, it fades into the background of everyday foods. Like rice. Why not try it in a new context? Like, uh, coffee?

This is a job for the Magic Bullet.

As soon as I open the mug, the smell of Easter hits my nose. A candy chocolate mocha smell that brings me back to days of frantically running around my parents’ house in my pajamas, searching every drawer, cupboard, nook and cranny for chocolate eggs, trying to beat my sisters to finding the massive chocolates in the shapes of cartoon characters (i.e., last weekend).

As you can see, there is quite a head on it. For a few minutes, it’s thick, like a delicious meringue.

When it comes down to it, this is basically a café mocha. But the additional ingredients add a special kick. I can’t really taste the peanut butter cup, but I definitely get the cream egg filling and the shells of the mini eggs. These give it a distinct Easter taste that you can only get at this time of the year (unless you hoard cream eggs, which I’ve tried, but they last about three days before I’m curled up on the bathroom floor, my belly visibly bulging with 30 eggs like some bizarre giant pregnant amphibian).

There’s a bit of sludge at the bottom, but it tastes like chocolate syrup, so I’m calling it a plus. SUCCESS!