Fresh Genie of Bel-Air

Fresh Genie of Bel-Air

BY KYIA HUDSON Queen City Grounds (Charlotte, North Carolina)

My manager and I were trying to figure out what to do with a jasmine and vanilla sugar that had been infusing for three months. It was around the same time as the new Aladdin trailer dropped, so we knew we had to incorporate the film into the drink. But we couldn’t stop there as we pride ourselves on our artistic aesthetics. We added butterfly pea powder to give the latte a blue hue to signify Genie. The Will Smith part was actually a joke that we didn’t fully intend on including, however, we’re glad we did.

INGREDIENTS

Milk of choice

1 tsp butterfly pea powder

Jasmine/vanilla syrup (see below)

Will Smith stencil and cinnamon (optional)

JASMINE/VANILLA SYRUP

INGREDIENTS

450 g sugar

500 g 175-degree water

10 g jasmine tea leaves

1. Create a simple syrup using water and sugar.

2. Steep jasmine tea leaves for 4 minutes.

3. Strain mixture and bottle.

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Pull a double shot of espresso.

2. Mix espresso with 1 oz jasmine/vanilla syrup.

3. Steam milk of choice.

4. Add butterfly pea powder to milk pitcher after steaming. Stir.

5. Pour. (Optional) Top with cinnamon using Will Smith stencil.