I’m a coffee girl. In college I worked at a coffee shop and so I learned a lot of tricks of the trade. I also learned that sometimes coffee shop customers are awkward. Seriously, I used to write an entire series on this blog called “Tales From The Coffee Shop” about my awkward interactions with customers. (I cannot believe that I’ve been writing this blog since college, y’all.)
I drink a lot of coffee now because I am Scarlette’s mother and if you’ve read here for any length of time you know that my two and a half year old is just about the cutest thing you’ve ever seen. She’s also a complete handful who enjoys participating in random acts of sneakiness and not sleeping through the night. I’m the only one that likes to have constant access to a cup of coffee or chai throughout the day as my husband only drinks a fancy espresso drink on occasion. I attribute this to the fact that he also possesses some sort of super power that allows him to sleep through the sounds of the baby monitor.
It was kind of a hassle to make an entire pot of coffee just for myself though, so I was really happy to receive a Keurig® Brewing System machine to help promote Fair Trade Month with Green Mountain Coffee®. My favorite drink is the Pumpkin Spice latte, which fancy coffee shops like to only make available in the fall. They also like to make them cost fifty batrillion nickles. There is a phrase for this. It is called “Getting Tricked By A Bizness” according to the very business savvy Macklemore.
I just make it all at home now, because I’m thrifty like that and because I like to enjoy my pumpkin year round. I make the syrup for lattes but for everyday use I make a homemade pumpkin spice coffee creamer. It’s super easy and much cheaper than buying it at the store! There are a ton of recipes for this online and after a lot of tweaking (not to be confused with twerking, this is a family friendly blog y’all) I came up with this one:
Homemade Pumpkin Spice Coffee Creamer
On the stovetop heat 1 cup of whole milk, 1 cup of heavy cream, 3 tablespoons of canned pumpkin, 4 tablespoons of pure maple syrup, 1 1/2 teaspoons of pumpkin pie spice and 1/4 teaspoon of cinnamon. Wisk it all together and once it is steaming add 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract. Then strain it through a mesh sieve into a mason jar. I strain mine twice to get it extra smooth.
Before you use it you’ll have to shake it like a polaroid picture. “What’s a polaroid picture?” ask the teenagers reading this blog. Never you mind, young whippersnappers.
You can see in the photo above how it separated a bit, apparently pumpkin spice coffee creamer wants to get on board with the ombre trend, hence the need for shaking. It is delicious. It also makes an excellent gift for the new mom in your life. Package up the creamer + a cute mug with a lid like mine* + a box of K Cup packs or bag of coffee and you have yourself one perk-y little gift basket, pun totally intended. That’s why they pay me the big bucks.
I use my Breville milk frother* when I add the pumpkin spice creamer to my coffee to make it extra smooth with a little bit of foam but if you don’t have one of those you can score this $5 IKEA one on Amazon*. (And these DaySpring mugs are my favorite for coffee and tea* because they have a lid to keep them warm and they are so pretty.)
In all seriousness, I’m all about supporting Fair Trade and when you buy Fair Trade Certified Green Mountain Coffee, that means you’re helping coffee farmers receive a fair price for their beans. Which should just be how it is, if you want my soapbox stand on it.
If you don’t want to make your own coffee syrup, they have a Fair Trade Certified Pumpkin Spice K-Cup packs. Or you can also be thrifty like me and get one of these reusable K-cup filters and then purchase their Fair Trade Certified bags of coffee and brew your coffee that way. I’m trying out the K-cup packs they sent (am I the only one who uses a single K-cup multiple times? I run mine twice!) and then it’s back to the reusable filter for me 🙂 
Green Mountain Coffee wants to know: Are you a coffee drinker, and if so, would you consider buying fair trade coffee?
THIS GIVEAWAY HAS ENDED
Leave a comment to be entered to win a Keurig® Brewing System and a Green Mountain Coffee® gift basket! Sweepstakes Rules: No duplicate comments. You may receive (2) total entries by selecting from the following entry methods: Leave a comment in response to the sweepstakes prompt on this post Tweet (public message) about this promotion; including exactly the following unique term in your tweet message: “#SweepstakesEntry”; and leave the URL to that tweet in a comment on this post Blog about this promotion, including a disclosure that you are receiving a sweepstakes entry in exchange for writing the blog post, and leave the URL to that post in a comment on this post For those with no Twitter or blog, read the official rules to learn about an alternate form of entry. This giveaway is open to US Residents age 18 or older. Winner will be selected via random draw, and will be notified by e-mail. You have 72 hours to get back to me, otherwise a new winner will be selected. The Official Rules are available here. This sweepstakes runs from 09/18/13-10/31/13.
