Come on now, get your minds out of the gutter… I’m not talking about that kind of morning ritual;)

For a while now, on weekends, when my boyfriend and I wake up in the morning, we got into the habit of watching a bit of TV in bed, while sipping our cups of coffee, stretching out the moment before we really have to get out of bed.

I’ve written about my love of Kicking Horse Coffee before but I wanted to share with you how I make my perfect cup of coffee.

It really all starts with a French Press. I don’t use an electric coffee maker. Never have, come to think of it. Something about how water passing momentarily through a barrier of coffee grounds just doesn’t quite get my taste buds all a flurry. I’d rather have my coffee grounds steep in water for a few minutes and really let the complex flavours of the coffee permeate through the water.

So… While the water is boiling in the kettle, I use my coffee grinder to grind just the right amount of coffee beans, about 5 tablespoons (lately we’ve been enjoying Z-Wrangler a lot). I pour the ground coffee into the French Press, then add the boiling water and leave it alone while I prepare the mugs.

I’ve been drinking Almond Fresh (by Earth’s Own) for almost a year now and just can’t get enough of it. It may not be everyone but if my meat-loving dairy-drinking boyfriend can enjoy it without complaining, so can you. Just try it!

I pour about 1/3 cup of Almond Fresh into our mugs and sweeten it a little with either some maple syrup or some agave. I like Madhava and Wholesome Sweetener Blue Agave but honestly, all agave nectar tastes the same to me. I just use it because it’s pure and natural and is low on the Glycemic Index (which means it doesn’t spike your insulin levels, which is bad for the endocrine system). I then place the mugs in the microwave to heat up the almond milk.

Using this $7 battery powered frother I got for Christmas, I fluff up the hot-ish almond milk as high and as thick as I can get it and believe me, Almond Fresh froths really well (the only one that doesn’t froth very well is their Chocolate flavour, but the Unsweetened, Original and Vanilla flavours can achieve great frothy heights)!

Lastly, I slowly pour the coffee into the mugs, always in the same spot so as to not disturb the froth too much, which I have found behaves like a soufflé if you’re not careful (same for regular dairy milk).

And that’s it!

Want to know the best parts? The organic and fair trade coffee is roasted in Canada, the almond milk is made in Canada using US-grown almonds, the mugs you see pictured are even made in the USA and most agave nectars are made in the USA too.

So next time you go food shopping, do yourself the favour of checking the country of origin labels and buy a few locally made products you’ve never tried before. You’ll be pleasantly surprised and happy you did! Come back here and tell me what you got!