LOVE IS SWEET

So you've got the coffee bar down. You've choosen the look, branded the sugar and sleeved up the cups, but you still feel there is just something missing in making your bar the most epic wedding coffee bar in the history of coffee bars. This probably means you haven't yet added coffee syrups to your list of must-haves. Imagine on your wedding day how impressed your guests will be when they can select a delicious syrupy flavour to add to their coffee. Mmmmm yum!

I'm a huge fan of sneaking a little vanilla syrup into my coffee when I am in the mood and a wedding is the perfect time to slip a bit of extravagance into your normal cup of joe. Your guests will have such a ball trying to decide which flavour shot to add or maybe even going crazy and mixing it up. Here in South Africa, Yuppie Chef stocks a range of syrups.https://www.yuppiechef.com/ab-products.htm?id=8325&name=AB-Products-Hazelnut-Syrup-240ml&ref=search, which really makes it easy to have syrup at your coffee bar. Thanks Yuppiechef!

But you don't necessarily have to get your syrup from a supplier. You can actually make it yourself. This will not only save on costs, but having your personal touch will also make the syrups that much more special. To help you out, Jessica Merchant has a couple of great syrup flavour recipes on her blog, so just take a look and get syruping: http://www.howsweeteats.com/2014/07/four-homemade-coffee-syrups-and-my-favorite-cold-brew/

Once you've made or purchased your syrup you may want to consider how to display it. Perhaps you are happy with the bought version just as is (they do have a good squirt system), but you may want add your own personalised label. If you feel the need to decant or if you have made your own syrup there are a number of containers you may want to consider. Certainly one of the more ingenius ways is to pop a drinks pourer on a sauce bottle. It looks really professional and is such a simple easy way to achieve an effective pouring device for your syrups.

It might suit you more to go for an old school syrup bottle that you can pour the syrup from. If you are going for a vintage theme then this will tie in beautifully.

Another clever idea is to make use of olive oil and vinegar bottles. Either pick up some inexpensive ones so they all match or just borrow from friends so you have a variety. They come in so many forms you'll really have a wide array to choose from. I love the idea of using frames to declare the different flavours and what's especially great about this is you can choose frames to go in with your look. However placing tags or stickers on the bottles can be just as effective and unique.

You may not be satisfied with just having the syrups at your wedding for your guests to use. You may want to take it one step further and let your guests take home a little bit of sugary delight with them. A small bottle of syrup makes the ideal gift and you can really dress them up beautifully. These lavendar themed ones are just done magnificently.

So there you have it, syrup is really the cherry on the top of any coffee bar. It just adds that extra magic that takes it from awesome to spectacular.