A Great Cuppa

A great cuppa, is a British informal short phrase that refers to "a cup of tea", typically but it goes beyond just tea. It can be used for coffee or hot chocolate, really whatever beverage you prefer can take on the label of a great cuppa.

When someone asks the question " what is your cup tea?" it refers to what you are interested in, or what you are partial to doing, a hobby usually.

Although the phrase typically implies a cup of tea, i am using it for several great beverages and any variations that i have found to be excellent in quality. Liquid beverages like tea, coffee, hot cocoa, hot chocolate and warm milk are amongst my favorites.

The awesome thing about these drinks are that they can be served both hot, warm or cold, with ice or without ice. It all depends on how you feel and what you are in the mood to enjoy. So they can be consumed at anytime of the day or the night.

Warning though, these drinks are typically high in calories, sugar and fat but they are oh so good, so they must be treated as a treat. To be consumed on special occasions. But like any good thing you can tweak the recipes and make them as low fat, low sugar and lower in calories, so that you don't feel as guilty.

From what i have learned there is an art to making the best possible versions of these beverages, but starting with the best possible product / ingredients is advocated. i am torn on this point, i feel you can make anything taste good with the right amounts of special items like sugar and spices.

1. Cuppa Tea:

Making a great cup of tea always starts with steeping. It is important not to steep tea too long, it becomes bitter and no amount of sugar will help. Neither for a short period of time. Almost perfect tea is about 4 or 5 minutes. Real tea makers usually use loose leaf tea, in a variety of blends. There are pots specially made for this type of making tea, or you can use a tea ball.

Everyday tea makers like myself use a prepackaged version that we refer to as tea bags. As i mentioned tea comes in a variety of blends. Most of them are healthy but hot tea is good for stomach problems, i recommend it for gas, bloating and digestion issues.

Hot Tea

Start with boiling, steaming water, steep the tea bags for desired length of time, add sugar, milk / cream or lemon, honey can also be added

Iced / Cold tea

Iced tea is just cold tea or tea that has had ice added to the finished product, but the best tea is that made in a pot, then melting the sugar in the hot liquid

2. Cuppa Chocolate

A real cup of chocolate is made with chocolate pieces and not cocoa powder. It is usually made with milk or heavy whipping cream. The milk or cream has to be warmed but not hot , then the chocolate pieces are added. If you use semi sweet pieces you will need to add sugar, but using milk chocolate chips usually do not need anything else.

Hot Chocolate

What you will need:

Chocolate pieces or chips

8 oz of milk / heavy whipping cream

1 tsp vanilla

Spiced Hot chocolate: 1 tsp of cayenne pepper or 1 tsp of cinnamon

Iced / Cold chocolate: 1 or 2 cups of ice, put it in the blender with the room temperature chocolate

3. Cuppa Cocoa:

The packages usually give you the best instructions on how to make a cup of cocoa, but sometimes it needs to be tweaked for our individual taste. Hot or cold cocoa is usually made from a powder and has the strongest taste of chocolate because cocoa is purer.

Hot Cocoa

Instead of using water, use warm milk or heavy whipping cream or if you want you can make it with hot water then add in 1 tbsp of heavy whipping cream or evaporated milk

1 tsp of vanilla

1/4 cup mini marshmallows or 3 regular sized

a dollop of whipped cream with a dusting of cocoa on the top is decadent and over the top

Iced / Cold Cocoa, make regular hot cocoa, allow it to cool then put in the blender with a cup or 2 of ice and blend until it is smooth

4. Cuppa Coffee / cuppa joe

Make the coffee as usual following the directions given. Go ahead add sugar to taste, so it melts.

Hot version

Add milk, heavy whipping cream or evaporated milk or your choice

Iced / Cold version: make coffee with less water, you want it to be stronger than usual.

In a blender add 1 cup of ice

1 cup of milk, heavy whipping cream, or milk

add a 1 tbsp of flavoring eg caramel, hazelnut, Irish cream or peppermint

1 tsp vanilla

6 to 8 ounces of coffee

5. Cuppa Milk

I love drinking warm milk. It brings back memories of my grandparents and the late night snacks before bed. Warm milk or just short of hot milk has a lot of health benefits as well. I know from personal experience it is great for those who have a hard time sleeping.

Making warm / hot milk is easy but the best way to make it is in a sauce pan or small pot and bringing the liquid to just below a boil. You do not want to boil the milk.

What you need:

8 ounces of milk

1 tsp of vanilla

1 tsp of cinnamon

1 tbsp sugar, or sweetener optional

a mug

What to do:

1. Warm up the milk

2. Take off the heat, add the vanilla and cinnamon

3. Pour into the mug and sip slowly