dvlucke Senior Member Joined: 9 May 2011 Posts: 8 Location: Texas Expertise: Professional
Posted Mon May 9, 2011, 10:22pm Subject: Blended Beverage Bases: any homemade versions??
I manage a small coffee shop that just opened a month ago. Currently we use Big Train products for our blended menu, which includes coffee, non-coffee, and fresh fruit smoothie blended beverages. The big train powder bases are great. They taste good (as long as you like sugar) and are quick and easy.
My problem is that as our little shop works to find our identity and vision, two of the most important aspects of the business to us are to source as many things as locally as possible, and to strive to create as handcrafted and quality products as possible.
We are in Texas and Big Train is in California, so obviously they don't fit into our local goal. And while the products taste good and are consistent, frankly I am embarrassed to use powder bases. I suppose I am not all out against a powder base, but if it was something I could mix myself from raw ingredients, I could take a little more pride in it.
I like the idea of using bases instead of making each blended drink completely from scratch because we do a high volume of blended business, but I don't want to sacrifice too much of the handcrafted ideal. Is there any way to make a more handcrafted blended beverage without sacrificing speed of service?
Essentially any blended beverage will be using milk or water and ice, with other ingredients added for flavor. I would like to create a base for coffee blended beverages, and then an unflavored base for our non-coffee blended drinks, maybe one with a milk base and one with a water base (milk makes a drink richer, but some flavors don't match well with "milkiness").
I guess it is less important that the base be either a powder or a liquid than it is that they be able to be handmade, preferably with the types of ingredients that one could source locally.
Has anyone had success with a more handcrafted blended beverage?
Hi! Have you had any luck creating a better blended coffee? I love a good blended coffee, but I can't take the 400+ cals and $4 for a frappucino.
I've been experimenting with the following:
4 shots espresso 3 cups ice, crushed 3/4 cups non fat milk 1 tbs powdered coffee creamer 1 tbs sugar or 1 oz Ghirardelli chocolate coffee syrup
The drink tastes good, but no matter what I try, it separates quickly and I end up with cold liquid on the bottom and a bunch of crushed ice floating on top.
Symbols: = New Posts since your last visit = No New Posts since last visit = Newest post
Forum Rules: No profanity, illegal acts or personal attacks will be tolerated in these discussion boards. No commercial posting of any nature will be tolerated; only private sales by private individuals, in the "Buy and Sell" forum. No cross posting allowed - do not post your topic to more than one forum, nor repost a topic to the same forum. Who Can Read The Forum? Anyone can read posts in these discussion boards. Who Can Post New Topics? Any registered CoffeeGeek member can post new topics. Who Can Post Replies? Any registered CoffeeGeek member can post replies. Can Photos be posted? Anyone can post photos in their new topics or replies. Who can change or delete posts? Any CoffeeGeek member can edit their own posts. Only moderators can delete posts. Probationary Period: If you are a new signup for CoffeeGeek, you cannot promote, endorse, criticise or otherwise post an unsolicited endorsement for any company, product or service in your first five postings.
= No New Posts since last visit 