Today was meant to be the day for my new style/mood post, as I haven’t done one in a while. But when I woke up, it was dark and raining and cold, so no chance for even half-decent pictures. I don’t like to complain about the weather, but this spring in Brussels has been miserable and the craziness at work is not helping (I’ll come back to my work-survival techniques at some point).

So instead of lounging in the garden with an iced tea, I’ve been shivering inside and drinking chai: Mariage Freres Chandernagor or Alexandra David-Neel, mostly. But even that is not always enough, so I have gone back to one of my winter favourites and prepared coffee with rose water, vanilla and cardamom.

I am pretty sure this would work well with black coffee, but as I drink black coffee only when there is no milk/cream/strange white powder around and I’m dying of lack of caffeine, I don’t really know. What I do is make some strong coffee, take a small amount, warm up the milk with some rose water, cardamom and vanilla and add a lot of it to the coffee. I cannot give you exact quantities, as it really depends on your taste. I can handle remarkable amounts of rose water (especially in coffee that has a strong taste as well), but there are people who think it tastes like soap – so proceed with caution.

When I make only one cup of this, I use ground cardamom and vanilla paste (make sure it’s the real thing!), as it’s practical. For a bigger batch, crushed cardamom pods and vanilla seeds are nice. I also plan to try making this with almond milk – I have nothing against dairy, but this could be a good option for those who aren’t fans.

For an enhanced effect, I highly recommend pairing rose and cardamom coffee with a spicy rose perfume like Amouage Lyric or Serge Lutens Santal Majuscule or Tom Ford Café Rose. Or, alternatively, the cardamom-y loveliness that is Olfactive Studio Lumiere Blanche, my scent of the day.