Coffee, Tea by Me at Studio SnR
Believe it or not, I grew up not drinking coffee. Unlike my sister who loves needs her cup of java to wake her up in the morning, I used to prefer a glass of freshly squeezed orange juice to go with my breakfast plate anytime. It's quite surprising then that I ended up working for the Green Siren for a fun two years plus.
My first day at work really changed my life. It led me to drinking my first cup of brewed coffee and guess what, I liked it! Liked it so much that I never stopped drinking coffee after that. After a year or so, I even got certified as a Coffee Master! This got my parents thinking how on earth did that happened. Their daughter, the former non-coffee drinker becoming a coffee master. That, my friends, continues to remain a mystery.
It has been 4 years since I bid the Green Siren good bye but I continue to relive the fun days every single time I step into a store. The warm smiles, the comforting smell of coffee, the sound of the blender, oh I wish to be able to work at the coffee bar again.
I guess the coffee fairy heard my prayer as I got an invitation to be part of a special coffee and tea making workshop at Studio SnR. Since it was just a few weeks after Valentine's Day, the folks over at Studio SnR were kind enough to invite both Paul and I do join the workshop! Hearing about this, my sister was also interested and also signed up for the workshop herself. Triple the fun, I'd say.
So there we were one Saturday afternoon ready to get drunk with coffee. We arrived quite early for class and had time to look around to check the different espresso machines out by Saeco and the countless bottles of syrups and sauces by Far Skyes! If only I can bring them home! :)
Our class began with Ms. Liz Tan of Saeco explaining to us how to brew and create that perfect shot of espresso. Oh how I miss perfecting that show, the thrill of seeing the 3 shades of brown in my shot glass that represents the heart, the body and the crema.
I let Paul and Pan experiment with our machine. I love how it's so automated with touch screen panels making creating a cup of coffee so easy!
Here I am trying to steam our milk. I miss you dear steaming wand. You and I had lots of wondering, splatter-ful memories together! ♥
Thanks to Far Skyes' chocolate syrup, we learned how to make our cup of coffee pretty with our own hand-crafted latte art. Here we are with our own masterpieces. They're good to look at and yummy to drink too!
All throughout the session, we learned to make more hot drinks using the espresso machine and a couple of cold drinks with the blender. It's now so easy to create your own Mocha Frappe at home or even a glass of Milk Tea! There's just one secret ingredient and that's readily available with Far Skyes. Finally, I now know how to make my own Hokkaido Milk Tea with just the espresso machine, the secret ingredient and a bottle of syrup. All I need is to learn how to cook my own pearls and I can run my own little milk tea place!
Challenge for the Iron Baristas
What made this workshop really fun was the challenge wherein each team (there were four that afternoon) were tasked to create our very own espresso and cream based drinks. This is to make use of any of the available ingredients placed in a long table. From the regular chocolate syrups to the hard-to-imagine-on-your-drink kinds like Dijon Mustard and Wasabi. My team of three (that's me, Paul and Pan), planned and made our strategy. We're filled with so much competitive spirit that we're out there to win.
For the espresso-based, we called it Michael Jackson, in loving memory of the King of Pop. Since I have two chocoholics with me in the team, it was a unanimous decision to create a chocolate-y drink. This drink has a double shot of espresso, vanilla power and mixed with crushed OREO cookies, caramel and chocolate syrup. It's a perfect blend of black and white just like the song created by the King of Pop himself. Pan and I styled our glass by topping it with whipped cream, crushed OREOs and actual cookies too.
Meanwhile, our cream-based drink had summer shouting all over. We created a White Chocolate Peach Delight which was a blend of White Chocolate syrup and peach halves. It's decadent and fruity at the same time. Paul did the styling for this. This reminds me of sunny Boracay.
Finally, the verdict is in and the organizers/judges announced the winners. Another team won the cream-based drink category but our team..yes OUR team won the espresso-based drink category! Yes! OUR Michael Jackson won the hearts of our judges! Hooray for the King!
We each got Gift Certificates from Everwood where we can use to buy our very own Saeco coffee maker or my dream soup maker from Cuisinart (which they also supply). What a happy day!
I can't believe our workshop has ended and despite knowing the basics of creating coffee, I was still able to learn so much more! Is it time to open a Frannywanny Cafe? :)
I hope Studio SnR can make this more regular as I'm sure there will be a lot who would be interested to join. This is definitely a fun thing to do during the weekend. Not only do you get to learn something new, you are having fun too!
Visit Studio SnR's official website for more info.
My first day at work really changed my life. It led me to drinking my first cup of brewed coffee and guess what, I liked it! Liked it so much that I never stopped drinking coffee after that. After a year or so, I even got certified as a Coffee Master! This got my parents thinking how on earth did that happened. Their daughter, the former non-coffee drinker becoming a coffee master. That, my friends, continues to remain a mystery.
It has been 4 years since I bid the Green Siren good bye but I continue to relive the fun days every single time I step into a store. The warm smiles, the comforting smell of coffee, the sound of the blender, oh I wish to be able to work at the coffee bar again.
I guess the coffee fairy heard my prayer as I got an invitation to be part of a special coffee and tea making workshop at Studio SnR. Since it was just a few weeks after Valentine's Day, the folks over at Studio SnR were kind enough to invite both Paul and I do join the workshop! Hearing about this, my sister was also interested and also signed up for the workshop herself. Triple the fun, I'd say.
So there we were one Saturday afternoon ready to get drunk with coffee. We arrived quite early for class and had time to look around to check the different espresso machines out by Saeco and the countless bottles of syrups and sauces by Far Skyes! If only I can bring them home! :)
Our class began with Ms. Liz Tan of Saeco explaining to us how to brew and create that perfect shot of espresso. Oh how I miss perfecting that show, the thrill of seeing the 3 shades of brown in my shot glass that represents the heart, the body and the crema.
I let Paul and Pan experiment with our machine. I love how it's so automated with touch screen panels making creating a cup of coffee so easy!
Here I am trying to steam our milk. I miss you dear steaming wand. You and I had lots of wondering, splatter-ful memories together! ♥
Thanks to Far Skyes' chocolate syrup, we learned how to make our cup of coffee pretty with our own hand-crafted latte art. Here we are with our own masterpieces. They're good to look at and yummy to drink too!
All throughout the session, we learned to make more hot drinks using the espresso machine and a couple of cold drinks with the blender. It's now so easy to create your own Mocha Frappe at home or even a glass of Milk Tea! There's just one secret ingredient and that's readily available with Far Skyes. Finally, I now know how to make my own Hokkaido Milk Tea with just the espresso machine, the secret ingredient and a bottle of syrup. All I need is to learn how to cook my own pearls and I can run my own little milk tea place!
Challenge for the Iron Baristas
What made this workshop really fun was the challenge wherein each team (there were four that afternoon) were tasked to create our very own espresso and cream based drinks. This is to make use of any of the available ingredients placed in a long table. From the regular chocolate syrups to the hard-to-imagine-on-your-drink kinds like Dijon Mustard and Wasabi. My team of three (that's me, Paul and Pan), planned and made our strategy. We're filled with so much competitive spirit that we're out there to win.
For the espresso-based, we called it Michael Jackson, in loving memory of the King of Pop. Since I have two chocoholics with me in the team, it was a unanimous decision to create a chocolate-y drink. This drink has a double shot of espresso, vanilla power and mixed with crushed OREO cookies, caramel and chocolate syrup. It's a perfect blend of black and white just like the song created by the King of Pop himself. Pan and I styled our glass by topping it with whipped cream, crushed OREOs and actual cookies too.
Meanwhile, our cream-based drink had summer shouting all over. We created a White Chocolate Peach Delight which was a blend of White Chocolate syrup and peach halves. It's decadent and fruity at the same time. Paul did the styling for this. This reminds me of sunny Boracay.
Finally, the verdict is in and the organizers/judges announced the winners. Another team won the cream-based drink category but our team..yes OUR team won the espresso-based drink category! Yes! OUR Michael Jackson won the hearts of our judges! Hooray for the King!
We each got Gift Certificates from Everwood where we can use to buy our very own Saeco coffee maker or my dream soup maker from Cuisinart (which they also supply). What a happy day!
I can't believe our workshop has ended and despite knowing the basics of creating coffee, I was still able to learn so much more! Is it time to open a Frannywanny Cafe? :)
I hope Studio SnR can make this more regular as I'm sure there will be a lot who would be interested to join. This is definitely a fun thing to do during the weekend. Not only do you get to learn something new, you are having fun too!
Visit Studio SnR's official website for more info.
