 |
| Photo courtesy of The Coffee Compass |
I have a lover. He lives in my cupboard. His name is Café Latte. Instant. Cheap, huh?
My husband had always contemplated on buying an espresso machine for me so I could have my caffe latte anytime I wanted it. He’s happy with the coffeemaker because he likes his coffee black and strong, while I like mine laced with milk and in the same room as the word “yummy”. But the problem is, “having it anytime I want it” means adding more inches around my waist and making friends with more fat and the deadly sugar. I told him maybe it’s not a good idea so he let it go after I said no… many times.
A coffee shop opened very near our old place. It had such a lovely sunset view, I remember. The last rays of the sun would be replaced by a sea of splendid lights at night covering the buzzling part of Taguig City where Venice Piazza at McKinley Hill sits.
Having Somi Café just a few steps away from me was just like having my own espresso machine. I just needed to go through my front door, walk to the other side of the hallway to get my coffee and pay P90 for a good cup of caffe latte. The proximity of this coffee shop has opened for me my personal underworld. And when temptations come, they come like crazy. Coincidentally, after the opening of the coffee shop in my neighborhood, a deluge of instant white coffee and lattes also started filling up supermarket racks. “Gourmet coffee” now comes in small packets that you can purchase in stores at a very cheap price.
I love anything that’s creamy. I’d eat and drink anything that promises cream in it and yes, even my coffee has been demonized by creamers. This love affair with sweet creamy coffee began right after I gave birth to Attika. There were some things that my pregnancy did to me and some of them stuck with me to this day.
Creepers in creamers
With every cup of instant caffe latte that I drink, I know that I’m getting too much cholesterol, fat, and a combination of ingredients that are harmful to my health, maybe including transfat hiding behind another ingredient’s name. According to accomplished nutrition expert Gloria Tsang, RD, you’re getting 40 to 60 calories for every two tablespoons of creamer. With a promise of more creamer for a yummier drink (in three-in-one and white coffee variants), I just know that I’m in some kind of an unpalatable trouble.
The problem with creamers is that they are made from ingredients that we should not be feeding our bodies with. I flipped a sachet of my favorite brand of instant white coffee, looked at the list of ingredients and found everything to be mysterious. I researched these ingredients and was not pleased with what I found out. And yes, if it has too many of those stuff you can’t read and pronounce, it makes sense to run away from it. “Artificial flavors” may be your nemesis in a mask.
Back to black?
Certainly so. But a heavenly habit like sweet creamy coffee is hard to break. I’ll start with cutting it down to two cups instead of four a day. Then slowly move back to my old lover’s place. We all know that black coffee is still highly recommended for its antioxidant properties.
Or maybe… I should just stop being silly and ask for my espresso machine again. I learned that a large caffee latte is equivalent to ten rashers of bacon. It’s not a very sexy thing, I know, but at least with a real latte you use real milk and not sodium caseinate like they use in instant coffee.
Here’s what cafe latte lovers get from their daily fix:
12 oz. – 16 grams carb, 120 – 200 calories
16 oz. – 21 grams carb, 160 – 260 calories
20 oz. – 27 grams carb, 210 – 340 clories
How about you, what’s your coffee like?
