Welcome to the fourth of a six-part collaboration between Mint and Brewing Happiness. I’m Haley, the girl behind Brewing Happiness – a blog about celebrating the small healthy choices we make in our lives, complete with recipes for everybody!

In the first few articles I covered tips on making healthy groceries affordable, cutting food costs while traveling without sacrificing, plus a 7-day meal plan for under $150! Today I’m switching gears and providing three “fancy” Coffee recipes you can make at home. There’s no need to spend $5 a day at your local coffee chain when you can make something delicious at home. Plus, all of these recipes are much healthier than the processed stuff you’ll buy.

These are some of my favorite recipes to make at home, because they only require a blender and a couple of minutes. Plus over the course of a month the switch to making “fancy coffee” at home can save you tons of money! If you are looking to save money in the Coffee Shop section of your monthly budget, this is the way to do it.

3 Easy Ways to Make Coffee Shop Drinks at Home

Easy Non-Dairy Vanilla Creamer

INGREDIENTS

1 cup water

2 tablespoons natural nut butter*

2 tablespoons maple syrup

¼ teaspoon vanilla extract

a pinch of salt

DIRECTIONS

• Add all ingredients to a blender. Blend on high until smooth and frothy.
• Pour into your coffee and store the extra in the fridge, shaking before use.
• DRINK UP.

Recipe Notes:

I used unsalted and unsweetened almond butter. If you use a nut butter that is salted or sweetened, reduce the amount of maple syrup or leave out the salt.

Cinnamon Clove Coffee

INGREDIENTS

1/8 teaspoon cinnamon

a tiny pinch of cloves

1 teaspoon honey

1 cup freshly brewed black coffee

a splash of Easy Non-Dairy Vanilla Creamer (optional)

DIRECTIONS

• Add cinnamon, cloves, and honey to the bottom of a coffee cup. Pour some freshly brewed coffee over the top of the cup. Stir vigorously.
• Add in creamer or milk if you like and DRINK UP.

Recipe Notes:

Feel free to skip the creamer or milk all together in this recipe, and just drink it black. It’s delicious that way as well!

Healthy Vanilla Blended Iced Coffee

INGREDIENTS

½ cup cold coffee

2 tablespoons maple syrup

2 tablespoons nut butter

¼ teaspoon vanilla extract

10 ice cubes

DIRECTIONS

• Add all ingredients to a blender. Blend just until the ice is crushed.
• Pour into a glass and add a straw.
• DRINK UP.

Recipe Notes:

You can adjust the amount of maple syrup based on how sweet you like your blended iced coffee. Or if you are more of a plain iced coffee person, feel free to blend all of your ingredients except the ice and simply pour over ice before drinking!

For a bonus recipe check out my French Press Chai Latte recipe on Brewing Happiness.

Let’s take a look at the cost breakdown of making your fancy coffee at home versus buying it in a coffee shop. An average medium “fancy” coffee at a coffee shop costs about $3.95. If you buy coffee at a coffee shop five days a week, you’d be spending about $87 dollars a month.

By using the cost estimates below, my creamer will cost you $2.09, and will make about 4-8 servings. My Cinnamon Clove Coffee will cost you $0.94 per cup, including the creamer! And the blended iced coffee will cost you $1.54 per cup. If you drink a combination of these over the course of a month, you’d spend about $37.62. That would save you about $49.38 per month!

• Almond butter – $0.73 per 2 tablespoons
• Maple syrup – $0.53 per 2 tablespoons
• Vanilla extract – $0.10 per ¼ teaspoon
• Coffee beans – $0.16-$0.18 per cup
• Honey – $0.17 per 1 teaspoon
• Cinnamon – $0.07 per 1/8 teaspoon

Switching to making your fancy coffee at home versus buying it in a coffee shop is an easy way to save money every month. You’ll still have great coffee, and you’ll save money at the same time. I’d call that a win-win situation.

Follow along!

Over the next couple of months I’ll be covering tons of ways to be healthy on a budget. So keep an eye out for those and head over to Brewing Happiness for healthy recipe inspiration in the meantime!