Seasonal Lattes?

by Theresa Szentendrei

Oct 10, 2012

I'm sorry if there is already a thread pertaining to this but I couldn't quite find one...

Do you serve seasonal flavored lattes in your shop? Or any specialty flavored lattes?

The owners of the bakery I work for are pretty pumped about "some kind of fall drink". We have a very basic, classic espresso menu, we don't offer many flavored syrups (house made vanialla, monin almond and hazelnut) and we make our mocha with bittersweet ground chocolate...so I feel like any kind of pumpkin spice thingy wouldn't fit in well...and besides, I don't want to offer that.

But, my boss is my boss, and I must try and come up with something "fall drink"y, while also not compromising quality.

We are offering hot apple cider which is nice, and your standard oregon chai tea (I'd like to make our own chai eventually but for now this is what we are doing). I'd also like to offer parisian style drinking chocolate as it gets cooler..any recommendations on a fall-ish coffee drink? I tried making a local maple syrup latte, but the maple flavor is totally lost...argh

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    Theresa Szentendrei

    Thanks for the feedback! We tried a few variations of a spice drink, either adding ground spices right into the drink or making syrups, and we are most fond of a syrup made with cardamom, black pepper, ginger, and star anise...I want to try adding orange peel but maybe that's too much! It's sorta inspired by Chinese five spice. We really wanted to do something a little different from baking spices, especially as we have so many pastries using those spices...I also think spices like cinnamon and nutmeg are sort of bitter and overpowering. I really like the subtle heat from the black pepper and ginger root, and the anise sweetly complements the coffee and milk. 

    fwiw, we experiment with syrups all the time and I'm stoked to share recipes! We have a housemade vanilla that is in my opinion off the chain...we use our simple syrup, vanilla beans, and housemade vanilla extract. It's delicious!

    Nov 23, 2012

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    Mackenzie Lars Chrisman

    In my experience, shaving dark chocolate and adding a small amount of finely ground cayenne to it works very well when added to the milk before steamed. Make sure that it is put in first so that it does not float to the top of the pitcher during the steaming process. Once finished, stir vigorously so that the consistency becomes the same throughout the beverage. Unfortunately this recipe does not allow for easy latte art, which is why you can have fun by filling cup3/4 full and topping it with steamed breve so you can accomplish at least a basic Rosetta.

    12 ounces requires 8 ounces milk and 3/4 cup of shaved chocolate/Cayenne Pepper mixture (estimate, results are based on how fine the shaved chic is)

    The same can be accomplished with dry peanut butter or cinnimon

    Marie Cullinan said:
    We do a pumpkin pie latte using our own house made pumpkin sauce. Folks love it. I'm looking for a good spicy hot chocolate recipe if any one is willing to share. I need a dry mix that I can steam into milk.

    May 23, 2013

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    Beth Hobson

    At my bakery we make our own homemade caramel. Mostly to top off our caramel apple rolls but it works very well on our macchiatos. And we also have a customer who swears it's the best thing in the world to add cinnamon and nutmeg in the milk as you steam it and she usually has a shot of hazelnut along with that.

    Sep 19, 2013