BUCKHANNON – Getting tired of the same old cup of coffee every day?
Stone Tower Brews manager Courtney Page has a few tips to bring a coffee shop twist — and flavor — to a regular cup of coffee.
“I usually just go for a basic pour-over coffee myself, but I’ve tried a sweet cold brew-type coffee,” Page said. “You can do half cold brew, half milk with maybe some honey and cinnamon and that can give you that sweet, almost latte taste. Of course, it’s not the same as a Stone Tower latte, but it can give it that feeling.”
Page makes her own cold brew coffee at home with a glass kettle that has a filter in it. She said she puts the coffee grounds in the kettle and lets it sit in water for 20 to 24 hours.
“You can make it in the morning, put it in the fridge, let it sit and then have it the next morning,” Page said, “or you could buy cold brew concentrate from the store.”
Her fellow Stone Tower Brews baristas have their own preferences when it comes to their quarantine coffee routines.
Lisa Wolford has been drinking homemade cold brew with honey and oat milk, Justin Dynes makes pour-overs with Stone Tower Joe Pow Pow at home and Tyler St. Clair has been using a French press and pour-over and plans to start using an AeroPress at home.
“I also recently saw a video I want to try where someone microwaved some milk to steam it, and then they put that milk in the French press and then pressed on it and started whipping it until it got aerated to make it more like latte foam,” Page said.
Recently, with the help of Wolford, Page posted videos on Stone Tower’s Facebook page teaching people how to make Dalgona “Whipped” Coffee, which was originally popularized on Tik Tok at the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic. The first video explains how to make the creamy whipped coffee using instant coffee, and a second video takes users through the steps of crafting a Dalgona whipped matcha beverage at home.
(By the way, the drink gets its names from dalgona, a type of South Korean honeycomb toffee, which it reportedly resembles in taste.)
Want to learn more about making specialty coffee during quarantine? Page recommends checking out the YouTube channel, MorganDrinksCoffee, where you can learn how to use a French press to make regular coffee, cold brew coffee and latte milk at home.
