I make my own Espresso, courtesy of a per-cup Espresso machine I picked up at a garage sale for 2 bucks. Sometimes I add a drop of vanilla extract for those days I really need to get buzzing, sometimes I take a baking caramel, freeze it during the day, then put it into the refrigerator over night, and shave it with grater into my espresso (if you don't freeze it, the middle never gets hard enough to shave).
Shaved chocolate bars and mini-chocolate chips work too.
Also, I use about 1 fluid ounce of heavy cream (about 6% milk mixture); skim milk just tastes like discolored water to me, so there isn't much of a point.
For espresso brands...it depends on what I have access to or what's on sale at the time.
The regular coffee in my stores suck. ;(