If you are anything like me, you have spent too much of your paychecks on fancy drinks at coffee shops. It is nice to treat yourself to one at Starbucks every once in a while, but when it becomes a consistent habit, you can just feel your money disintegrating with each sip. With a few simple tools and ingredients, you can achieve a latte at home that will provide you with the convenience and money saving you desire.

The first, and most important, item you need is a Moka Pot. For well under fifty dollars you can be making stovetop espresso from the comfort of your own home. As a beginner at-home barista, having a full espresso machine is unnecessary. A Moka Pot is all you need to make your homemade lattes. Not only is the price right, but due to the size of it, it can easily fit anywhere in your kitchen. The same cannot be said about your average espresso machine.

Second, you'll need to buy some finely ground espresso. If there is a specific coffee shop you enjoy the coffee from, you can buy your espresso straight from them to get the taste of yours as close as possible. If you don't have a favorite espresso to buy, I have linked an affordable one you can buy straight from Amazon. I really enjoy the Italian Ground Espresso from Trader Joe's. The most important thing to note is the grounds you are buying are ground specifically for espresso, not for drip coffee or french press. This will effect the way your espresso brews.

Next, if you are a fan of lattes like me, you need to buy milk. After a lot of trial and error with a variety of brands, I have found that the Full Fat Oat Milk from Oatly tastes the closest to what I enjoy from a local coffee shop. If you want your coffee to taste close to Starbucks, they use the Oatly Barista Oat Milk. In my opinion, having the right milk is at times even more important than having the right espresso. If you prefer americanos, or espresso used in other ways, you can skip this step completely.

This step is the most fun because it's your chance to get creative! I linked one of my favorite Torani syrups I use all of the time. If you are trying to cut down on costs, you can instead recreate the brown sugar oat milk shaken espresso with ingredients you already have in your cabinet. With just brown sugar and cinnamon, you are ready to go with that drink. If you want to spice things up, both Torani and Monin have incredible syrup with plenty of options to choose from.

My favorite iced latte to make at the moment uses the marshmallow Monin syrup and chocolate syrup to create a s'mores latte. It is super easy to make and I have yet to tire of the combo.

Lastly, this is another optional purchase. I love using jars for my iced lattes because I can easily close the jar and shake it like a bar drink to incorporate all of the ingredients. I don't actually buy jars for this. I typically use old pasta sauce jars because they are usually a great size for the sort of drink I desire.

For just $70.48, you can have your own at-home barista bar set-up. The cost of this can be even less if you skip out on some of the unnecessary steps, like the mason jars and specialized coffee syrups. Before you know it, you will be saving money on your fancy lattes and you will have the power to customize them however you please with no embarrassment or extra charges.

Happy coffee making!