Coffee Station: A Great and Easy Way to Entertain for the Holidays

As a working mom I don’t have a lot of time to cook elaborate meals, but I still like entertaining. Thinking about my childhood, I remembered one of the things that always united the family: a little cafecito. Every day in the late hours of the afternoon, it was cafecito time at my grandma’s house, and you did know there would always be some homemade grated cheese, some plátano asado (oven-cooked plantain) and some delicious fresh coffee.

So for the holidays, I thought a cafecito – coffee station would be the perfect way to host people and not go crazy with lots of cooking, and still enjoy a wonderful moment together with family and friends.

A coffee station is a perfect way to entertain because well– who doesn’t like coffee? But all joking aside, a coffee station is a great idea for the following reasons:

1. Minimal prep: All you really need to do is brew coffee and make sure you have cute mugs and a nice presentation, and all the ingredients, which you can pick up in any store. If you don’t want to brew coffee, you can use something like Nescafé.
2. Customize for your guests: Of course, after you add the coffee, you need to have treats! This is where you can shine by offering lots of options, you can make things homemade (if you like to bake) or you can stop by your favorite bakery and grab an assortment of cookies and pastries. Personally, I love to have my non-Latino friends taste the yummy treats from Latin America, so I often have cookies and treats from Ecuador and other countries. Some of my faves are pan de yuca (cheesy bread- which is also gluten free!) also called pan de queijo (the Brazilian version) which you can buy in the frozen food section at many supermarkets with ethnic product options (or, you can make it yourself following my recipe!)
3. Self-serve: Everyone can make their own coffee and you don’t need to serve every single person at your gathering. Win for the hostess with the mostest (You!)
4. Cost: A coffee station for a large group won’t break the bank!
5. Great for vegan/non-vegan families: In my family, there are vegans and non-vegans. So, for those moments when I have vegan family members over, a coffee station is still something the whole family can enjoy together, just include non-dairy options as well as vegan treats.

There are ways to get fancy with your coffee bar: you can include several types of coffee flavors for example: hazelnut, vanilla, mocha. You can add espresso if you have an espresso machine.

I mentioned that in my family we have vegans and non-vegans, so I like to keep some Coffeemate in my pantry because I don’t really buy a lot of milk anymore—Coffeemate is great because I don’t have to worry about wasting the milk, or it spoiling.

How to Stock Your Coffee Station

Here is what my coffee station has:

One or two pots of coffee

Brown sugar

White sugar

CoffeeMate

Almond Milk

Coconut Milk

Cinnamon

Powdered chocolate

Sweet treats

Share with us! What would you include in your coffee station? Leave in the comments below or tweet @dianalimongi I’d love to know!

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