Eevee Latte

Another day, another recipe, and today's is perhaps the nicest cheat of them all: a latte art latte. I went into this recipe, not a coffee drinker, and I came out of it still not a coffee drinker, but now I know just barely how to use a coffee machine, and I have a greater appreciation for baristas. 

I've been deeply harrowed by this innocent latte.

I would like to preface this by admitting that Eevee is by far my favourite Pokémon, and I loved her from the moment Bebe handed her to me in Pokemon Diamond. Everything about her is so sweet and adorable, and truly, truly truly did I want to do good by her on this recipe. I really did, but fate said no. I did her so dirty, y'all.

Finding the cup was the easy part, I actually already had a near identical mug to the one Cafe Mix presents, and making the latte wasn't too difficult once I figured out the machinery, but it was the latte art itself that ruined me and Eevee's friendship, and for that I am deeply scarred. 

After some debate, I decided to cut out a stencil for the Eevee art out of paper, with any flimsy or detached bits, like the eyes, attached with thin paper strips to avoiding filling in any areas that didn't need to be filled. I made a couple of prototypes, but ultimately settling on the one I cut out best. My next mistake was trusting that that would be enough.

In hindsight, mixing a hot milky latte and cocoa powder with a simple piece of paper was a bad choice. Next time, if there is one, I will first laminate my stencil so I may use it more than once. I, however, did not do this first time around, and having shredded my back-ups on thinking I would not need them, I sealed my fate. The second the cocoa powder hit paper, everything disintegrated, including my will to redo the latte. 

Anyway, if you take anything from this, its that no one is above hubris or stupidity. Either way though, I got a good laugh out of it. The blob I got instead of Eevee was cute in its own way, even if not flattering, so I can't say I was unhappy with it. Just please... don't follow in my footsteps on this one. 

Tastiness

Now, I have never been a fan of coffee, tragically, but I will say that the frothed milk and cocoa powder were a delicious combo, like a hyped up hot chocolate. Pretty good!

Difficulty: Recipe

I'd say this one is a little more tough if you don't have a coffee machine on hand, as frothing up the milk may take much longer on a stove, but its not impossible!

Difficultly: Accuracy

As mentioned, the mug was already done and dusted, but the stencil was a mess. I'd say it evened it out to a medium accuracy.

Final Recipe

Ingredients

    - milk, ready to be steamed 

    - espresso coffee

    - cocoa powder

    - eevee cocoa powder stencil (homemade and laminated)

1. Prepare your espresso in your Pokéball mug, and set aside.

2. With your milk in another mug or small jug, bring to the machine and submerge frothing wand into milk, following any specific machine instructions first. Ours, for example, requires the back to be filled with water before use. Why does it need that you ask? No idea!

3. Hold the milk in position until creamy and of an appropriate temperature. Ideal frothed milk has lots of tiny, fluffy bubbles and wobbles in a really satisfying way. 

4. Pop any large bubbles that may interfere with the cocoa powder by tapping on the side of the container, and then gently pour over the espresso.

5. Moving your stencil over the latte, sift some cocoa powder over the latte using a small sieve or teaspoon, if you're feeling brave. Dab any unfilled spots with a cocoa-dipped cocktail stick. Ta da! One Eevee latte, ready to go! (Hopefully your's is much more intact that mine!)