The Beverage Edition #2: How do you say… cucumber? 🥒

Cucumber agua fresca, a lemon tart cold foam, and more.

Hello and welcome back to Five Things I Ate! This week, it’s another Beverage Edition. For photos of the recipes, check out my post on Instagram. Read past posts here, and please follow @fivethingsiate.

Agua de pepino (cucumber agua fresca) at home

Sort of made it up, but google for more authentic versions.

I love many things about Mexican food – but the dedication to beverages is perhaps my favorite part. I wish every culture had its own agua frescas. It really is made for Certified Beverage Girlies™️. My go-to is usually horchata or jamaica, but I only recently discovered that there’s an agua de pepino! After a particularly long and hot day in the city, I was craving the idea of a cucumber cooler, and whipped up a simple version of my own, which turned out to be the perfect rehydrating drink. For two servings, I blended 2 mini organic cucumbers (very well scrubbed and sliced), the juice of 1 fresh lime, a tablespoon of agave syrup, and 1 cup filtered water. Pour into a tall glass filled with ice, and top off with fresh club soda (or topo chico)!

Lemon tart cold foam with cold brew at home

Lemon curd is from Trader Joe’s.

Citrus and coffee is really a match made in heaven. I’ve already tried a lemon iced shaken espresso, but this time I felt inspired by a jar of lemon curd that I picked up at Trader Joe’s. I made a simple cold foam by frothing together 1 tablespoon heavy cream, 1 tablespoon full fat oat milk (or whole milk), 1 teaspoon lemon curd and a tiny drop of vanilla extract. The cold foam tastes just like a slice of lemon tart with whipped cream, and goes perfectly with a tall glass of classic dark roast cold brew.

Chobani Cookie Dough Coffee Creamer at Gristedes

And elsewhere, for way cheaper.

I’ve been meaning to try the Chobani coffee creamer for a looong time, since everyone raves about it on social media, but finally bit the bullet this week. The reason it took me so long is that the closest place to me that stocks it is Gristedes, which I swear is a money laundering front. Every New Yorker knows that the price gouging at Gristedes is insane, but finally one day I said fuck it and bought the $10.99 cookie dough creamer because curiosity killed the cat’s wallet. I am happy to share that this creamer totally lives up to hype and makes regular ol’ Stok cold brew (which is not very tasty nor super caffeinated on its own) taste exactly like Nestle ready-to-bake cookie dough. I really like that you don’t need a ton of creamer for a tasty bev– the serving size of two tablespoons works! Extremely drinkable, I'll be making the trek to Target next time for my refill.

Banana milk iced latte at home

Bingrae banana milk available at H Mart.

I know that I’m really late to the party, but I finally got my hands on some Korean banana milk from H Mart and I’ve been totally addicted. It’s the absolute perfect iced latte base. I think the original viral 7-11 recipe combines cold brew with a carton of banana milk (which is indeed very good and smooth) but I like it with a doubleshot of espresso or instant coffee, frothed. The mildness of the banana milk totally mellows out the bitterness of the coffee. I love it so much I hauled two six-packs home on the bus on a 95 degree day in the city, but it was worth it. You can probably find it online, though.

Ode to an espresso and cookie at home
Just a Nespresso pod here — but I’d love to make real espresso someday.

I really think that a foamy dark roast espresso, freshly pulled in a tiny cup, placed on a saucer with a tiny cookie at 3 in the afternoon is the peak of civilization. I mean, sure, I could go round and round in circles trying every sort of viral latte till the end of time (and I will, since I adore novelty!). But if beverage invention had stopped some one hundred-odd years ago when Luigi Bezzera created the espresso machine, I still would have lived and died happy. Now, in terms of the side-cookie, Michel et Augustin caramel cookie squares are pretty much the perfect pairing. Individually wrapped and very buttery, with a good layer of both chocolate and caramel, it’s tiny enough to just last one shot of espresso.

Have a good weekend,

Soph

P.S. We’re going to ITALY in two weeks! Please please send me your food, little treat, ESPRESSO, weird snack, and grocery store finds for Venice & Milan!