Fall is upon us once again. This is a season that comes with a lot of new flavors— after all, we’re ditching the refreshing iced coffee and settling into more warm and fuzzy flavors for the colder days.
With that said, Fall has got to be one of the seasons that has the most recipes of all. It may or may not be a tradition that started with the pumpkin spice latte, or simply a consequence of colder days which means more people drinking (more) coffee.
Either way, the reality is that Fall is synonymous with delicious coffee beverages, one after another, no end in sight. To help you narrow down the list of recipes that you just have to try this Fall, we’ve narrowed it down to just five of the best coffee recipes.
5 best fall coffee recipes
Salted Caramel
That’s right, number one is the salted caramel flavor because, really, who doesn’t absolutely love salted caramel everything?
The theory behind salted caramel is quite simple: it is neither sweet nor salty, but a little bit of both. Every single sip is as enjoyable as the last one because both flavors reset your palate so that you don’t become used to any one of them. As a result, salted caramel foods and drinks tend to be thoroughly enjoyable from start to finish.
In the world of coffee, there are quite a few salted caramel recipes to choose from.
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Salted caramel coffee: the basic recipe. Traditionally, it consists of brewed coffee, milk, and caramel syrup. It is then topped with whipped cream, caramel sauce, and salt. It is a simple beverage that can easily be recreated by anyone at home.
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Salted caramel mocha: a bit of a classic. Many coffee shops have this exact recipe on their menu. It is made using espresso and heavy cream as a base, and the flavor profile is created using a mix of nutella, chocolate syrup, and caramel sauce. Sea salt is used for the salted part.
- Salted caramel with honey: one simple twist to make things even more fun. The salted caramel coffee is already sweet enough, but the addition of honey into the mix takes it to a whole other level. Honey, some argue, is the ultimate sweet ingredient.
Pumpkin Spice
If we’re talking about fall coffee, we just have to talk about pumpkin spice. This was a coffee introduced by Starbucks back in the 2000s as part of a Fall line of beverages. Suffice it to say, the drink —pumpkin spice latte— was a raging success.
Even now, more than fifteen years later, pumpkin spice lattes are part of most coffee shop’s menus.
There are, by the way, many ways to enjoy pumpkin spice when it comes to coffee:
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The classic pumpkin spice latte, which is a regular latte with plenty of foam which is then sprinkled with abundant pumpkin spice on top. This drink may or may not also have whipped cream depending on the person drinking it.
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The modern pumpkin spice latte, new and upgraded, which has actual pumpkin in it. The flavor is very similar to the classic except that the addition of pumpkin adds a certain flavor quality that makes it richer, better tasting.
- The smoothie: all the goodness of pumpkin spice and coffee in a blended drink. A lot of milk and cream is used as well as pumpkin purée to create an unbelievably thick smoothie that you can’t help but love. A lot of pumpkin spice is used to flavor it and it can be sweetened with honey, dates, and so on.
Mocha
Mocha is the perfect Fall drink for a single reason: it is one of the most versatile drinks. Mocha is probably the one drink that is a 10 both iced and hot. And Fall can play with our expectations a little: one day it’s hot, the next it’s freezing… and seeing as how we like to commit to a drink, this kind of climate makes it really hard.
So, the mocha offers a perfect solution for this. Whenever it’s hot, you can have it iced. Whenever it’s cold, have it hot! Both versions are super tasty and both versions are valid.
The mocha is actually quite an old beverage, and there are several ways to make it:
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The old mocha, which is a centuries-old recipe. It uses brewed coffee, preferably from a French press, milk, and cocoa. These three ingredients are mixed, sugar is added, and then it is topped with a little bit of whipped cream on top. This was the peak of decadence in 17th century Europe, most probably.
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The Starbucks style mocha, which is made by using espresso (two shots) and then a good amount of your milk choice. Then, instead of cocoa, mocha sauce is used, which is simply chocolate sauce. The drink is then topped with whipped cream and chocolate shavings are added on top.
- White chocolate mocha. The mocha is essentially the combination of coffee and chocolate. Once white chocolate was created, it gave way to a new drink: the white chocolate mocha. This is made just like the Starbucks mocha, with white chocolate sauce instead.
Chai
Interesting fact, “chai” means “tea”, which makes “chai tea” quite a redundant expression. The combination of tea and coffee isn’t anything new and can be seen around the world. But chai tea is a unique type of tea because it doesn’t actually have any tea leaves in it, but it is more an infusion of different spices.
And coffee loves spices. The flavor of coffee is incredibly welcoming to spices of all sorts, and the spices in chai tea have been used in coffee for centuries.
Here are a few ways that chai is incorporated in coffee:
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Chai latte. This is your usual latte but with chai tea added. It also contains black tea. More often than not, the chai mixes in this type of coffee will also contain vanilla, a spice that isn’t traditionally used in chai but that goes perfectly with it.
- Chai frappuccino: it is essentially the same as the chai latte but comes as a blended drink. There’s also plenty of cream here to make for a creamier drink.
Chai drinks are often enjoyed with coconut milk which is both the traditional way and (arguably) the best way to enjoy chai, as the coconut flavor compliments perfectly the spices in the chai mix.
Hazelnut
Hazelnut is particularly popular in Fall and Winter because of its warm flavor. Fall is when hazelnut starts making its way back into coffee lover’s lives as the days grow colder which, in all honesty, is the perfect excuse for making certain recipes.
One of those recipes is hazelnut coffee. This type of coffee uses the flavor of hazelnut not as a topping but as the main flavor, along with coffee, of the whole drink.
Hazelnut coffee can be made in one of two ways:
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With hazelnut syrup. This is a simple syrup that can be bought at the store (Starbucks carries one) but it’s also easily made at home with just a handful of hazelnuts, water, and some sugar. Coffee is brewed, milk added, and then the drink is flavored and sweetened at the same time with this syrup.
- With hazelnut milk. The way of adding hazelnut flavor to your drink. Hazelnuts are very rich in fat, and fat is pure flavor. This doesn’t transfer to syrup, but hazelnut milk is the perfect way to add a whole bunch of flavor to your coffee. Hazelnut milk can also be made at home with just hazelnuts, water, and a straining cloth.
