With the start of the new semester, we’ve seen a shift in the atmosphere at The Commons. Although the usual controversies of monotonous food and questionable feng shui are still present, there have been some additions that make one’s typical trip to the Commons a bit more exciting. One of those changes is the new coffee bar. It includes different types of milk, milk alternatives, hazelnut creamer and whipped cream, taking the Commons coffee experience to a whole new level.
As a self-professed coffee connoisseur, it has been my personal journey to turn mediocre coffee into a not-so-bad replication of local shop brews. To pursue research on Commons coffee, I made coffee in both cups provided by The Commons and my travel mug. For the purpose of making this guide as accessible as possible, the recipes will follow what I made in the large plastic cups next to the soda machines. With this in mind, we can shift the conversation to the experiment itself. I have tasted many different flavors of coffee in the last week and spent many minutes of class bouncing my leg as a caffeinated response. In the end, I’ve chosen my three favorite mixtures to share with you all.
Your first step is to stop desperately attempting to cool down hot coffee with ice and milk because one of the new additions to the coffee bar is an iced coffee dispenser. By using the iced coffee dispenser, you avoid watering down the coffee and ensure that the coffee is satisfactorily cold. Next, in order to make a pseudo latte, you have to fill the cup about halfway with the coffee. Then, you use your preferred milk to fill it the rest of the way. After that comes time for customization, which is where my experimentation began.
The first option on the board was a plain vanilla latte. I put in four pumps of vanilla syrup and called it a day. While it was an acceptable drink, I decided to continue to explore my options by adding two pumps each of vanilla and hazelnut syrup. To top it off, I added some whipped cream. The result served as a solid fall drink that I would recommend to anyone. If you like your coffee on the sweeter side, I would suggest adding another pump of the vanilla syrup.
Another good option I discovered takes advantage of another station in the Commons: the waffle bar. Next to the syrup machine is a small tablet of various syrups that is often home to both caramel and chocolate. After mixing these two together in an even mixture, the resulting latte was sweet but not excessively so. It was reminiscent of a Starbucks mocha as long as you ignored the slight burnt taste of the coffee underneath.
Finally, we have our third coffee. This mixture brings together all the good aspects of the previous mixtures but represents its own unique flavor. With three pumps of vanilla, an equal amount of mocha and a smidge of caramel, we create the most flavorful option out of the three finalists. It may be sweet for some, but it pairs well with a mid-morning waffle breakfast. To maximize the comfort that the sweet flavors bring, you should sit at one of the window seats and watch the squirrels run by. It makes for a solid break between classes.
All in all, the addition of the coffee bar at Commons has provided coffee lovers with the oasis they needed. No longer will we suffer with watered-down black coffee and bagged whole milk—especially since they introduced oat milk. The age of good coffee at Commons has arrived, and it can only go up from here.
Emily Cookson is a sophomore double-majoring in English and philosophy.
Featured image courtesy of Emily Cookson.
