London Fog Latte to Lavender Fog Latte? How To Easily Make a Delicious Tea Latte at Home
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I personally love a good London Fog latte. Clued in by a good friend on this Starbucks concoction, I have increasingly seen this popular tea latte appearing on the menus of a great many other coffee shops. However, as we all know, buying your morning drink on a regular basis does add up in cost. So before creating too much of a drain on our wallets, how could we recreate this latte at home for much less cost?
Before we get too far, we first need to define a London Fog latte. This latte is earl grey tea, frothed milk, and a shot of vanilla syrup. Perfectly warming, milky, and slightly sweet all in one!
Recreating At Home
You will obviously need your favorite earl grey tea and milk. I tend to use Whittard’s Earl Grey Tea and either skim milk or lactose-free low fat milk. You can use vanilla syrup if you have it or use vanilla extract for a healthier low-sugar alternative. Plus, many of us already have vanilla extract in our cupboards for baking purposes!
Earl Grey Tea
Milk
Hot Water
Vanilla extract or vanilla syrup
1) Brew the tea in hot water in separate container. I use this small ForLife teapot—plus you can then top up your latte with more tea throughout the morning!
2) While the tea brews, put the milk in your teacup or thermos of choice. I recommend filling around a quarter of the container with milk, depending on how milky you want the latte to be.
3) Add two drops of vanilla extract to the milk. Or, if using vanilla syrup, add half a teaspoon.
4) Froth the milk and vanilla mix. I use simple battery-operated hand frother similar to this one. Keep in mind that the milk will take up much more room in the container once frothed.
5) Pour in the brewed tea.
I absolutely loved the warming flavor of the vanilla extract during these chilly spring mornings! However, after two mornings and discovering that vanilla extract has a tiny bit of alcohol (pregnant lady here), I decided to switch it up a little…
Enter the Lavender(!) Fog Latte
Basically this latte is exactly the same as the London Fog latte above, but with lavender syrup in lieu of vanilla. This change adds a lightly sweet floral taste to the tea. The big secret though, is to make sure to have a really good lavender syrup. I highly recommend visiting your local lavender farm for the best quality…none of that fake stuff! See a list of lavender farms in the USA here. I am personally using lavender syrup from Orchard View Lavender Farm in New Jersey.
The bottle of syrup from a farm may seem slightly expensive, but keep in mind that this is quality syrup and it will last a long time. You only need half a teaspoon for each latte! And you can add the syrup to other beverages (lavender martinis, lavender lemonade, anyone?) or other treats.
I can honestly say that I’ve been enjoying my homemade lattes for the past few weeks. If working from home, sipping on a latte helps my morning feel relaxed while giving my brain a needed caffeine boost. And going to the office is no problem either…a thermos works well!
Do you enjoy tea lattes in the morning? Which flavor do you prefer?
