aureate & aromatic

Took a brief break, but back to it. The fourth drink of my thirty day book as a beverage series is an iced ube latte with ube cold foam, topped with freeze dried raspberries for a pop of color and flavor. This drink is based on my edition of The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde.

This cover has a lot of colors I could’ve pulled from, but I stuck with three. I also cheated and used a cup that had some gold in it to incorporate a fourth color~ What can I say? It’s difficult to find natural flavors that are bright yellow or gold in hue.

This beverage’s name is:

‘the purple portrait’

Name Explained: Pretty self-explanatory. The picture referred to in the book’s title is actually a painted portrait when you read it. And since the majority of the book’s cover has this purple hue, the result is a very simple purple portrait.

Ube Coffee: Initially I planned on making the beverage have only ube cold foam and a vanilla cinnamon flavor profile for the coffee. But after making the final product – although the colors were nice – the flavor overall was too mild. Not enough purple representation. So I’d rate the initial version a solid 4, but it could be better. So, for the second version I added some ube to the coffee itself in addition to the vanilla and that resulted in a much more visually appealing and flavorful drink.

Ube Cold Foam: Since ube is so distinct, and quite sweet, I didn’t need to add anything additional to the cold foam when making it. The condensed ube did all the heavy lifting color and flavor wise when added to the whole milk and heavy cream.

RATING: Overall I’d give the final drink a 4.85.

Flavor Combination: Considering the drink relied mostly on the ube in the foam and the drink, there was nothing disharmonious about it. I added some vanilla to the coffee itself to add some sweetness, and those flavors worked well with the oat milk. As an ube fan, this became my hyper fixation for the week. I already made it several times. The raspberries that were merely decoration at first, I ended up adding more of for the second iteration of the drink because I liked the burst of flavor they brought.

Ease: Since I used a Nespresso machine for the coffee shots, there was nothing difficult about the assembly of this drink. The frother made the foam, and I simply had to pour all the elements in order to make the final beverage. Even the raspberries I crushed by hand straight from the bag, so that didn’t need any labor either. This whole thing doesn’t take more than five minutes to make, if you work concurrently.

Appearance: Again, I couldn’t draw on all of the colors of the book. But of the ones I selected, I think they were a fairly close match. The bit of gold on my glass cups also tied the overall image together methinks. Since the blue was largely ignored, I docked half a point though.

Ways to Improve: Considering I’ve had this drink more than four times in a single week, I think it’s safe to say I wouldn’t change anything about it. It’s super easy and quick to make, and is very enjoyable to drink. I’ve also made it hot as well and didn’t change anything about it and enjoyed it equally as much.

Here’s the spreadsheet for all of the tools and ingredients used:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1r98ituvMhsrjiXfidDUlMtrU0u_YwIdNyY_rlxD-8YA/edit?gid=891834841#gid=891834841

I’ve also provided the information below for added ease~

Glass Cups (close alternative): https://amzn.to/3WgejmO

Oat Milk (exact): https://amzn.to/3JlAYuT

Condensed Ube (exact): https://amzn.to/47ijBTE

Coffee Capsules (exact): https://amzn.to/42NUnLD

Vanilla Syrup (exact): https://amzn.to/3WMsTm5

Heavy Whipping Cream (exact): https://www.traderjoes.com/home/products/pdp/organic-heavy-whipping-cream-072300

Whole Milk (exact): https://tgleedairy.com/products/whole-milk-plastic-quart/

Freeze Dried Raspberries (close alternative): https://amzn.to/472YTZj

Freeze Dried Raspberries (exact): https://www.traderjoes.com/home/products/pdp/freeze-dried-raspberries-096844

Ice Tray (exact): https://amzn.to/49eT38p

Frother (exact): https://amzn.to/3KS1c8J

Here’s a quick video showing how I made the drinks:

@aureateandaromatic

A gajillion years later, the process of making my fourth book as a bev. An iced ube latte with oatmilk and ube cold foam, topped with dried raspberries. I tweaked the recipe from my initial experimentation which is why it looks a bit different at first. The original one wasn’t bad, just mild in flavor. It tasted more like an oat cinnamon latte than an ube one. The updated one was much better and my hyperfixation for the week, so it gets a 4.85/5 ⭐ I also never do voiceovers so I can’t tell if I’m yelling or too quiet, lol. I’ve already made like 10 drinks since this one, so I shall hopefully share them a bit quicker. The recipe has already been posted should anyone be interested~ #ubelatte #recipe #thepictureofdoriangray #booktok #bookasabev 

♬ Magie des fleurs – Fjellson Weber

Thanks for reading, hope it will be a great week!
~ C.C.