Winter Recipes: Celebrate the season in style

This season, we gave our talented team of coffee experts, along with our in-house barista, Junior Vargas, the challenge to put together some wintery and Christmas-sy recipes that we know our coffee-loving community will get a kick out of. 

They came up with the ultimate Espresso Martini and an eggnog-fuelled Espresso Bombardino. Both will have you humming on a happy warm and cosy cloud this winter. Junior’s (who is also a National Barista Champion) a renowned pro for working magic with coffee in cocktails.

We also drew several tips out of our team of coffee experts on how you can go about making your own Christmas coffee creation.

You never know – what you come up with may be the next viral thing on social media. Oh, and while we’re talking about social media – tag us in your pics when you post your creation on Instagram, or it didn’t happen.

If you’re going to shake up a cocktail, make coffee the main ingredient

All cocktails containing coffee should use coffee as the main ingredient, meaning that no other ingredient should overpower the flavours of the coffee.

Consider carefully the measurements in your coffee cocktail mixology

When thinking about coffee mixology, you’ve got to pay close attention to the volume you’re making. For example, if you’re mixing a short drink, use a shot of espresso, while if it’s a long cocktail, use filter coffee.

Experiment with spices in the brewing process

Adding the flavours of this holiday season – spices like cloves, cinnamon or cardamom – is one obvious way to make just a normal coffee into a Christmas cuddle in a cup (yep, as you can tell, we’re already in the festive spirit).

Simply add the spices to your grounds and brew it all up in a portafilter, or french press. This will make for one delightful smelling and tasting coffee creation that will fill you, or whoever you’re serving it to, with a festive high.

Whip it, whip it real good!

OK, so this tip is not from Junior as (we assume) no barista coffee nerd would ever suggest you level up your coffee creation by adding whipped cream, or whipping your drink.

However, judging by the coffee creations that have inspired the world on socials in recent years, adding a creamy, extravagant element is one sure way to making a winning recipe.

The so-called ‘whipped coffee’ became popularised by the dalgona coffee in 2020 and ever since, people have been whipping up all sorts of coffee concoctions in attempts to try and replicate the dalgona’s overnight fame. The whipped coffee is essential when somebody mixes a bunch of (typically sweet) ingredients with coffee and blends it all up, making a creamy and tasty masterpiece.

Whatever creation you come up with, add a tower of whipped cream on top (this will also make it pop aesthetically on social media) – sprinkles to relive your childhood are optional, but recommended.

The festive season is the time of year to treat yourself, and you definitely deserve it!

Pimp your coffee with peppermint

While peppermint and coffee both possess powerful flavours, when they’re paired together, they bring the best out in each other.

Simply add 2 to 3 tablespoons of peppermint extract to a regular-sized coffee. Once again, we’d highly recommend capping it off with a spiral of whipped cream, and a smattering (we’ve always wanted to use this word in a recipe) of chocolate sprinkles.

Jazz up your coffee with gingerbread

You either love gingerbread or you hate it. If you’re a fan, we highly recommend you make this your secondary ingredient in your coffee creation. Gingerbread syrup can be drizzled into any coffee brew, while you could consider whipping some actual gingerbread cookies up with the coffee and whatever else you throw into your whipped coffee.

Be sure you serve up gingerbread cookies. Who doesn’t love the savage act of dunking in a gingerbread man’s leg and biting it off?