Christmas Coffee Drinks Worth Making
Six that work at home, without a syrup pump or a cafe's equipment, and the two that are better in theory than in a cup.
Most seasonal coffee drinks are a normal latte with three pumps of syrup, and they taste like it. These are the ones that survive being made properly at home, where you have spices and no syrup pump.
Spiced mocha
The easiest and the most reliable. Melt a square of good dark chocolate into a double shot or a small cup of strong coffee, with a pinch of cinnamon and a much smaller pinch of ground clove. Top with hot milk.
Real chocolate rather than cocoa powder is the whole difference: powder needs sugar to be palatable and chocolate brings its own fat, which is what makes the drink feel rich.
Gingerbread latte, without syrup
Infuse the milk rather than sweetening the coffee. Warm your milk gently with a strip of fresh ginger, a cinnamon stick and one clove for five minutes, then strain it and steam as usual. Sweeten with molasses or dark brown sugar, which supply the treacly note that makes it taste of gingerbread rather than of ginger.
See microfoam if the milk is the part you find difficult.
Eggnog coffee
Replace half the milk in a latte with eggnog and heat gently. Do not let it boil, because it will scramble.
Eggnog is already sweet and already spiced, so nothing else is needed. It is also heavy, which makes this a small-cup drink and a poor breakfast.
Irish coffee, made correctly
The version most people have had is bad, and it is bad for one reason: the cream is whipped stiff and sits there like a hat.
Hot strong coffee, a spoon of brown sugar dissolved fully, a measure of Irish whiskey, then cream that has been lightly whipped only until it thickens and will just float. Pour it over the back of a spoon. It should be pourable, not spoonable, and you drink the coffee through it without stirring.
Cardamom coffee
Not obviously Christmassy in Britain and squarely so in Scandinavia. Crush two green cardamom pods into the grounds before brewing, in any method. It works particularly well in a French press where the pods have time to steep.
This is also how much of the Arab world drinks coffee year-round, and Arabic coffee is the tradition it belongs to.
Orange and clove coffee
A strip of orange peel, pith removed, dropped into the cup with one clove and left for a minute before drinking. Almost nothing to it, and it changes a plain cup of filter coffee more than any syrup does.
The two that disappoint
Peppermint coffee. Mint and coffee fight rather than combine, and the result usually tastes of toothpaste. If you want it, use a very small amount of a real peppermint extract and expect to be outvoted.
Pumpkin spice made from actual pumpkin. The purée adds texture and almost no flavour, and it makes the drink gritty. The spice blend is the part anyone wants: cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, clove. Leave the vegetable out.
Common questions
What is the easiest Christmas coffee to make at home?
Spiced mocha. Good chocolate, a pinch of cinnamon and a smaller pinch of clove into hot coffee, then milk. No syrup, no equipment beyond what you already brew with.
Can I make these without an espresso machine?
Yes. Strong filter coffee or a moka pot works for every recipe here. The drinks are built on flavour rather than on crema, so the base matters less than usual.
How do I make a gingerbread latte without syrup?
Warm the milk with a strip of fresh ginger, a cinnamon stick and a clove for a few minutes, strain, then use it as your steaming milk with a spoon of molasses or dark brown sugar.
What alcohol goes best in coffee?
Irish whiskey for a classic Irish coffee, dark rum for anything with spice, and amaretto if you want sweetness without adding sugar separately.
