Aside from the obvious, pulling-at-my-heartstrings kind of stuff that I’m really missing during lockdown, one that is still close to my heart but I think I can (possibly) live without for the duration of all this is my beloved Starby’s (as my littles like to say.) I know, the famous coffee chain is a love it or hate it type of thing for many people. I’m definitely in the former category. But not just because their coffee. I used to not even like the flavor of it unless it was masked in one of their fun seasonal offerings like the eggnog latte, psl (pumpkin spice latte) or the cinnamon dolce (a fav of my mom & dad’s.) But now, besides having a favorite drink amongst every rotation, while living in Istanbul, it has become so much more than that.

When I first started coming to Yeşilköy, a quaint little seaside town overlooking the Marmara where my husband grew up, and where we live now, there was no Starbucks. There were many scattered about Istanbul that we’d make a pit stop at when I needed something a little more familiar than Turkish çay (black tea.) And it was always amazing to me, how once inside, you could forget you were in a totally different country so far from home. That’s a trick I think some of these big global chains have such a knack for doing. Making their brand so consistent from the inside out, that you can spot a location from miles away or just upon looking through it’s doors without seeing the name of where you’re at.

But it’s not just genius marketing that brings me back for more. Not long before we ended up moving to Istanbul, Yeşilköy, got it’s own little Starbucks in the town center and I couldn’t have been more grateful for that. In those first days and months of feeling like such a fish out of water and trying to navigate “mom life” in a foreign land after having built such a village and finding somewhat of a groove in LA, the Seattle based coffee house became a welcomed familiar sanctuary for me. Without a car, my adventures with a stroller (weather permitting) were limited to the sweet little park at the end of our street and our seaside walks. (It is a beautiful seaside so this was a daily treat.) And lucky for me, after about 15 minutes of walking and taking in the breezy air and pointing out all the boats and street dogs and cats to my curious little partner, there lies the super charming Yeşilköy merkezi (or center) and Starbucks.

It became a bit of a routine and treat for Miss Sparkle and I to make a stop for coffee either at the beginning or end of our outdoor adventures. And just for a moment, I’d forget what part of the world we were in and could literally (& figuratively) have a taste of home. It became our own little Cheers if you know what I mean. And to have that familiarity abroad was really quite nice. One of the perks of being a yabancı (foreigner) who stands out is that people not only remember you, but also memorize your not so common name. And as the line goes, ….”sometimes you want to go where everybody knows your name.” Even better if they know your coffee order too.

So, in an effort to bring a little Starbs back into our lives and miss it just a little less, I decided to re-create one of my most recent coffee obsessions, the Burnt Caramel Latte. I put my spin on the syrup that makes this caffeinated beverage unique. And it”s pretty darn good. What I like about the BCL, is that the burnt-ness of the caramel makes it not too sweet. And since I generally customize my order (which our local baristas know to a T,) you won’t find this syrup so sweet either. My go to style is “half sweet” or with only 2 pumps of the syrup instead of 4 and no whipped cream or extra sauce on top. It allow’s it to still be just sweet enough to taste like a treat without feeling overly indulgent. I love it. And I hope you will too.