Iced Honey Cinnamon Vanilla Latte #CBias #RedCupShowdown

If there’s one thing I love, it’s COFFEE!  I’ve gone through phases of not drinking it, but at this point, I’m firmly in the ‘must have coffee’ camp.   That’s why I was excited to have the chance to share the Seattle’s Best Red Cup Showdown with you guys – it’s a chance to win $10,000 and have your very own drink featured at Seattle’s Best Coffee locations throughout North America!

To find the next BIG coffee drink, Seattle’s Best officials and celebrity Chef Jeff Mauro are hitting up the staples of summer – the State Fair – in five locations across the country: the California State Fair in Sacramento (July 14th), Ohio State Fair in Columbus (July 27th), Wisconsin State Fair in Milwaukee (August 5th), the Illinois State Fair in Springfield (August 10th) and the Iowa State Fair in Des Moines (August 15th).  You may or may not know this, but I’m from Wisconsin and have so many great memories from the Wisconsin State Fair – so it’s no secret I’m hoping for the winner to be a Wisconsonite!!

Unfortunately, I cannot participate – for some reason the Arizona State Fair is in November (ha ha) – but I still wanted to create a coffee drink that was organic, locally sourced, and delicious.  We headed to Walmart to do a little shopping, of course.

We found the Seattle’s Best easily enough, and opted to go with the #4 organic ground coffee.  Our machine can brew either ground or whole bean coffee, but the organic was only available in ground, (for the record, it tastes fantastic!)

I was going to purchase vanilla beans for a garnish, but the only ones available were out of my price range – so we opted for cinnamon sticks instead.  Sometimes you have to adapt and I’m always willing to do that!  I also wanted to purchase the vanilla syrup they use at coffee bars, but I searched and searched and couldn’t find it – so I had to modify my original plan again.  But, my drink turned out delicious!!   If you want to see more of our shopping adventure, check out my Google + Album!

Iced Honey Cinnamon Vanilla Latte

Ingredients:

1/2C Heavy Whipping Cream (Organic if possible)

1/4t high quality vanilla extract

(OPTIONAL) 1T organic sugar

4oz strong coffee or espresso (made with Seattle’s Best Organic #4)

1/8t high quality vanilla extract

1T local honey

1/2C milk (I use local raw milk)

a couple shakes of ground cinnamon

1/2C Ice

Cinnamon stick and ground cinnamon for garnish

Directions:

With a hand or stand mixer, whip whipping cream, vanilla and sugar until stiff peaks form.

In a different cup than you’ll use to drink from, place 1/8t vanilla and honey and hot coffee/espresso:

Mix honey and vanilla into espresso until dissolved:

 In a shaker (like a martini shaker), combine espresso, ice, milk and a shake or two of cinnamon.

Shake to combine well, then pour into cup you’ll be using.

Top with homemade whipped cream, dust with cinnamon and garnish with cinnamon stick:

ENJOY!

Now, I’m kind of a coffee snob – usually we purchase locally roasted beans but do occasionally buy from the grocery store.  I do prefer to always buy organically grown beans, of course…and the Seattle’s Best Coffee made a great espresso, in my opinion.  I tried it outside of this recipe – and it was great.  In the Honey Cinnamon Vanilla Latte I created, it was delicious and balanced.  If you don’t like strong coffee, Seattle’s Best offers all different levels – from the lightly roasted level one, and all the way up to level 56, which is the darkest roast.  They also have flavored coffee like vanilla and hazelnut – yum!

I’m actually having a cup of Seattle’s Best Organic right now – I love having a small espresso with some whipping cream -  guilty pleasure?  Absolutely

You can check out Seattle’s Best on Twitter and Facebook, and follow the Challenge on Twitter by following #RedCupShowdown!!

I am a member of the Collective Bias™ Social Fabric® Community.  This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias™ #CBias #SocialFabric