Near the sea, it's crazy: high temperatures and humidity make us dumb and irritable, this salt wears us down as if we were made of iron, hot iron; cold drinks evaporate on the tongue. Water! We drink a lot of it. Frappé aux fruits! When we're not drinking them, we're dreaming of them. Smoothies, ice cubes, iced tea... If we can afford it, let's go for it. If it's homemade, all the better. A hot latte? Yes. In the heat? Double yes.

It's a scientifically proven fact that if you are scantily clad in a very hot place, a cup of hot drink can help you cool down, because when you ingest it, your body increases sweating and the latter evaporates on your skin, producing a cooling effect. This is a very interesting topic.

Coffee can be romantic, comforting, refreshing... even hypnotic... You may want to stay for a few minutes so we can share a delicious latte made with cashew milk.

One checks the weather on the web and sees temperature is above 37 °C, heat sensation is above 40 °C. Then you run away from this hell and log on Hive and see snow in the posts of the people you follow, beautiful photos of people smiling in the snow, all so warm in their thick, padded clothes that they can barely move naturally. Many envy the sun and sand, the sea, gifts that are there for me every morning in this small coastal town where I live. But the reality is far less romantic than it seems, whether you're in the freezing snow or in the scorching sun.

...Anyway, whether it's hot or cold, I take refuge in my coffee--and my cats.

As I was soaking the cashew nuts to make the milk for our latte, I thought it'd be nice to post it on Hive. So I took some pictures of the process.

I made enough milk so I could use it for smoothies and desserts. I will share my little experiments which turn out well.

Let's get to work! 😁

This is what I used to make 1 lt of creamy cashew milk (a little flavored and sweet):

You could use 1 cup of cashew nuts and 3-4 cups of water and nothing more. However, I wanted to make it a little flavored.

• 200 gr cashew nuts soaked in water for 4 hours
• 3 cups of warm to hot water
• pinch of salt
• half teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon vanilla essence
• 2 tablespoons cane sugar

A little vanilla and a little cinnamon are just perfect for latte in my opinion. Besides this, I must say that cashew milk is sweet even when you don't add any sugar, so I consider it to be a good choice for people who can't have sugar or who don't want to use any sugar.

Let's make some delicious plant based milk!

First things first. You need soaked cashew nuts.

I weighed 200 grams of roasted cashew nuts. This was a little more than a cup. I soaked them in enough water to cover them completely.

After 4 hours, the cashews had almost doubled in size and became two cups.

I washed them and drained them well with the help of a strainer.

Then I put them in the blender and added 3 cups of fairly hot water.

I could have added 4-5 cups of water, but I wanted it to be creamy because that way I add less water to the coffee and prevent it from getting cold--since the milk is usually cold in the fridge. At home, we like our coffee really hot. The hot wheather might be karma.

I let the blender work for 4 minutes at full speed. If they're well processed, all the cashew nuts turn into delicious milk. No straining needed.

Then I measured the spices and sugar.

I added them to the milk and blended again for a few seconds so that the sugar would dissolve.

I poured the milk into a sterilized glass jar (10 minutes in boiling water). After it cools, I'd store it in the refrigerator.

This milk can last up to 4 days in perfect, fresh condition if kept well refrigerated and in strict hygiene.

What did not fit in the jar, I took it to a pot to heat it when mixing it with the coffee for our latte. It was creamy and aromatic 😁

A little hot coffee and we're ready to go!

At home, we have a little coffee grinder and an old moka pot, faithful companions. Our afternoon coffee totally depends on them. Today I used a new brand from a local farm in Anzoategui state, my second home: Los Pajaritos--you can click on the link to find it--. We loved it.

The grinder did its job smoothly.

It's an aromatic bean, well roasted but so soft and moist.

Our moka pot holds 3 cups, but this is only two cups for us. We are beasts when it comes to coffee and so the universe punishes us with this weather. I filled the bottom chamber to below the valve and filled the basket to the top.

A barista friend of mine showed me a crazy way to use the moka pot, and we think it does make better coffee.

My husband learned the method too; we heat the water in the bottom chamber and when it is about to boil, we place the basket with the coffee and adjust the upper chamber with the lid open. We never close the lid it in the process; only after turning off the flame of the stove. Ah, and you must always keep the heat low.

As soon as the coffee was ready, I mixed it with the hot milk. I like it frothy, so I whipped it a little with a hand whisk.

Besides the taste, the main difference I noticed between this milk and the almond or coconut milk --which I also make at home-- is that I had to work it a little more with the whisk.

But it works, and it's delicious! We had our latte with cookies. Afternoon coffee = happiness!

Here in eastern Venezuela, we always wear light clothing when we're at home. And there are also people who have freed themselves from the oppressive chains of decency and go out almost naked in the street, ha, ha, ha, ha. The thing is that if you're at home wearing shorts, a t-shirt, and flats because you are roasting in the heat, you might as well make yourself a nice cup of coffee and cool off. You give it a try if you haven't done it yet! Perhaps you'd like to treat yourself to a cup of creamy, hot cashew milk latte?

Cheers!

Thank you so much for your visit :)

All text and images are my own. I have taken the pictures with my Redmi 9T cell phone. And if any GIFs here, I've used GIPHY for all them.