Brewing up some November Specialties

Since we had such a fun time creating Halloween-themed coffee drinks, we decided to keep the momentum going and make a few Fall and Thanksgiving-inspired drinks this month!

I will share two with you and how they were made in case you want to try them out for yourself! For the pumpkin crunch cold brew, I added some cinnamon sticks for an extra cozy touch (especially considering I was still using a spooky mug versus a Thanksgiving mug!). The result of this one was fantastic. The taste was very smooth, sweet, and refreshing—especially cold served. The second one was a cinnamon apple coffee. Just a heads up this was an extremely strong one, probably because it involves espresso shots. To me I love strong coffee, so ultimately, I really enjoyed the flavor!

Pumpkin Crunch Cold Brew

Ingredients:

• 2 cups ground coffee (pumpkin pie–flavored)

  We used Panther Coffee from Guatemala: notes of milk chocolate, cherry, caramel, and baking spices that would enhance that velvety and sweet taste.

• 8 cups cold water

• ½ cup heavy cream

• ¼ cup milk

• ¼ tsp cinnamon

• ¼ tsp nutmeg

• 2 tbsp maple syrup or pumpkin pie simple syrup

• Ice

• Crushed pecans for garnish

  

Cinnamon Apple Coffee

Ingredients:

• 2 oz apple cider

• 2 oz milk

• 1 tsp cinnamon

• 1.5 tsp caramel sauce

• 2 shots espresso

Made with Portrait Coffee, which has flavor notes of green apple and bright berries—perfect for this recipe.

• Whipped cream

Not only did we experiment with our own fall coffee drinks, but we also made a quick stop at Starbucks a while back. Due to a mix-up, we ended up with a free Pumpkin Spice Latte they made by mistake and let us keep. I’d tried this specific fall coffee a few years ago and thought it was fine, but a bit “essential-oil-ish” at the time—not quite living up to the hype for me. This time, though? It was delicious! Much better than I remembered, and I can finally understand the excitement.

After those coffee experiences, now you know what to expect next month! I can’t promise everything will be Christmas-themed coffees, but there will definitely be some new Christmas hot cocoa creations coming—and of course I’ll share those too. It may not be coffee, but you can still sip it out of a coffee mug, so it counts!

What is your favorite fall drink and preparing for next month, what is your go-to Christmas treat?