The Willi Mocha Latte

Note: Willi recommends listening to the Kate Campbell featured song, New South (see side bar) while reading this entry.

The willi latte had its origin from a Krups espresso maker that had sat dormant in the cupboard from the beginning of the union known as jsgawilli. During the Christmas Holidays I set a goal to learn how this coffee maker worked.

Perhaps it was a competitive thing or one that resulted from teasing. You see they opened a Starbucks between home and my work place and I had become a frequent visitor. I was suffering much teasing from gawilli about having a Starbucks jones. She even chided me about writing the Starbucks Shuffle and then selling out to the "save the world with the arabica bean".

Well, after a couple of tries I figured the Krups out and before long gawilli had a latte jones of her own to deal with. Many of you have read about this problem and seen photographs of the fall out. So here is the willi mocha latte recipe.

This recipe is for preparation before leaving for work. It begins with a bib apron -can't get coffee or chocolate stains on a Jerry Garcia tie!

Start with fresh water in the espresso maker and your favorite bean, we prefer a dark roast. Currently we are using a Trader Joe's dark roast. Any dark roast bean should work; why you could even use a Starbucks bean. Doing so would support numerous liberal causes and contribute to the stock dividends of many investors.

I grind said beans in an electric grinder. I usually grind more than I need. I then use the doubleshot filter. The single shot filter is for wimps. Of course I would prefer that they made a triple shot filter but then, but then, but then! Well it might be a little too much caffeine.

After filling the double shot filter and installing in the espresso maker I retain the excess in a ramekin dish. This allows me to make the next day's mocha latte without a grind.

Next I pour the milk into the cute little metal pitcher that comes with the espresso maker. I fill it about halfway which corresponds to a number of tablespoons that aren't worth measuring. Then comes the mocha. In my case I use a chunk broken from a bar of dark chocolate. Using a miniature box shredder and the smallest shred holes I shred dark chocolate into the cute little pitcher until it covers the exposed surface.

In order to ensure that the final mix is hot I first melt the chocolate by placing the pitcher under the steamer. I have found that if you let the steam hit the surface first before submerging the spigot the chocolate melts better. After submerging I leave the cute little pitcher under the spigot until the chocolate is melted.

Next I switch the lever to the espresso mode. I have a little espresso cup into which I let the coffee flow until it is half full. Then I switch back to the steam mode and finish steaming the milk. If you raise the spigot to the surface you get a little foam.

I pour the espresso into a "to go" cup and then add the steamed chocolate milk. I squirt a little or a lot of whipped cream on top. Finally, I shred chocolate flakes on top using the large shred holes. These flakes fall like chocolate snowfalkes onto the whipped cream.

I hand the willi mocha latte to gawilli, receive a kiss for the work and remove the apron. The Garcia tie is clean and the wife and I are smiling like we ripped off Starbucks and got away with it.

-willi