Caffeine (via Instant Espresso Powder) is Life Right Now

 Being on my new renal diet for the CKD is going well but only because I found a new way to get my caffeine fix. And let me just pause right now to thank the good Lord in heaven that I can still have my daily coffee. Without regular sex, cigarettes, and alcohol, coffee is life.

If you have checked my blog about this whole CKD thing, you know that I've struggled with adjusting my diet to keep this sarcoidosis (and the sarc meds) from killing my kidneys. So far, so good. I hope. The thing is, I've had to give up a lot of my favorite foods. Cutting back on the food has not bothered me as much as I expected. But the coffee thing...

When I make "regular" coffee - that is, coffee brewed in the machine - I tend to use too much sugar and dairy creamer. I have learned to substitute dairy products with nut and plant creamers. Rice milk and macadamia milk are the two I tolerate best. Still, they seem to weaken the flavor of the coffee. So I have switched over to having a couple of espresso-based drinks each day. And you know what? If I have a good mocha, I don't miss some of my food. Seriously. Not having my Greek yogurt or collard greens or pinto bean stew... Not good on a bad coffee day but, with decent coffee, I can deal.

Keep in mind that just late last year, I bought a new coffee maker. A freaking Ninja that is suddenly on sale - after I took a big chunk of my measly budget to buy one. The same machine is now about 30 bucks cheaper. To make matters worse, I find that I've hardly used the thing in the past three or four weeks. Because... espresso.

After one of my recent doctor's visits - where we had to dang near ride across the state to get to - my family and I stopped so I could treat us to a coffee at an actual shop. I treated myself extra and got a mocha. It was the most delicious thing I've had in a minute. And I realized that I was enjoying coffee for the first time in a while. 

The problem with coffee shop drinks is that they are pricey. And I'd have to actually leave my home to get one. You probably know that I don't like leaving my home. Outside and I are not friends. There are people out there. And germs. And stress. And anxiety. I leave my home for food (when I don't order in), medical care, and family. If a tornado ever touches down here, I will leave to take shelter at the church across the street. Maybe. It depends on how bad the tornado acts up.

Anyway. I was talking about coffee. And my renewed love for espresso.

So. I allow myself to have one espresso-based drink in the morning and another one around midday. If I'm really dragging ass, I will have a second midday drink. The only thing I'm careful about is adding the chocolate sauce. Chocolate is one of those delicious things I can only have in moderation these days. And that's fine. I can skip the chocolate and just have the... Latte? That's the mocha minus the chocolate, right?

The tough thing was finding a cheap way to make espresso. I looked at the various machines. I figured I could swap out the Ninja coffeemaker for a budget espresso maker. Ha! There is no such thing as a budget espresso maker. There are some affordable makers but most of them don't seem to get the best reviews from other users. Mostly though, what bothers me is that some machines look so complicated. I'm pretty sure I could blow myself up just using one. I went to Reddit for help. Some comments were informative but we are talking Reddit so...

Reddit and the coffee subs

When my family learned that I was looking for an espresso maker, they offered to get me one but I don't like them gifting me things outside of Christmas or my birthday. Besides, I'd probably blow up my kitchen trying to mess with an espresso maker. That's a thing, right? Of course, there are the Nespresso machines - and they aren't too, too expensive for the lower-end models but... I quickly realized that Nespresso - or De'Longhi or whoever - isn't making money on the machines. They are making the real bucks on the coffee. 

I got so excited when I found a Nespresso/De'Longhi machine that I could kinda-sorta-afford (only because of the flex plan on one of my credit cards and I have some Amazon credits), that I had it in my cart and ready to go. Thank God for an excellent credit rating, right?

The machine and...

...the payment plan

...Then I went looking for coffee capsules that would work with the machine, and... Yeah, no, that's not going to happen.

I get 35-45 servings from a $12 jar of Nescafe

Anyway.

I now have about 6 machines and coffee packages sitting in my Saved For Later cart on Amazon. In the meantime, I looked around for another way to have espresso. And I found it.

And no worries about a machine

A good brand of instant coffee isn't as awful as most coffee snobs might say but it's not my go-to. The only instant coffees I like for my dalgona coffee are the Aldis Beaumont brand and the standard Nescafe. 

The Nescafe Gold that is imported from Canada (and why is everything Canadian always better than the American version???) is truly gold. 

My brother, who once owned a coffee shop years back, laughed at the idea of making an espresso from an instant powder. Then I made him a mocha. He's not laughing now. I gave him and my SIL a bottle of the Nescafe as a good old Southern "bless your heart". It's how we say "Told you so".

I use Torani chocolate sauce (in moderation) and the only complaint I have is that my drinks never stay as hot as long as the ones from the coffee shop. That's probably because I always serve them in my cute little cup and saucer for eye appeal. Who am I trying to impress? I'm going to try serving them in my short thermal mug from now on.

Now, I am not sure if all instant espresso is as good as this Nescafe. I can tell you that I got some Cafe Bustelo and it's good coffee, in general, but it does not even try to foam the way the Nescafe does. The Nescafe will start to make a crema (?) the minute I add a few drops of the water with no prompting. I stirred and rotated the hell out of the cup with the Bustelo and it was just... yeah.

Messy but you 
get my point

By the way, the Bustelo is chunky (like regular instant) where the Nescafe is truly a fine powder. 

I should mention that A few years ago, I was given a milk frother. I'm almost ashamed to say that I only used it once and that was to make hot chocolate. To be honest, I wasn't sure just how else to use the thing. Thankfully, I saved the manual. The frother has been amazing! (I checked and, sadly, this frother has disappeared from Amazon but someone did a video review of the exact machine I have.)

Here is the drink I made this morning.

So, yeah, I'm down with giving up brewed coffee for espresso. I'd rather get a big hit of caffeine once or twice a day rather than several bland cups of coffee throughout the day.

Best of all is that I can make my lattes and mochas using macadamia or soy milk. The macadamia froths up well (it's what's pictured) and I sometimes add a tablespoon of either half-and-half or some sweet coffee creamer for a boost of fat and sugar. When I'm med-sick and not eating anything during the day, I will add a tablespoon of half-and-half and a tablespoon of heavy cream. Don't judge me.

For those watching ingredients as I have to do, the only one listed on both the Nescafe and Bustelo is coffee.

Like I said, caffeine is life. With the instant espresso powder, I really don't see myself buying an espresso maker anytime soon. I'm not a connoisseur. I'm the same with espresso as I am with wine: if it's wet and tastes good, I'm down with it. And I sometimes slurp.

Peace

--Free