Falling in love with fall drinks: A guide to Spokane’s fall flavors
By Bella Averett
The pumpkin spice extravaganza has taken the world by storm. These days many essentially claw out each-others eyes to be first in the Starbucks drive through ready obtain their very own pumpkin spice drink, but Starbucks is not the only place capitalizing off societies need for fall vibes to fill its cup.
I went on a quest throughout Spokane attempting to seek out the best of the best in the fall drink category. As someone who in the past always had a Starbucks pumpkin chai in hand, it was time to test out some new autumn options! Through countless minutes of sitting in drive-throughs anxiously waiting for that first sip, I learned a lot about what makes the tastiest fall drink.
Starting of strong I tried the fall themed drinks from Jacob’s Java! Jacob’s put out an elaborate fall menu that explored the classic pumpkin spice as well as some other seasonal flavors. To feel the utmost fall flowing through me I began with the candied pumpkin spice latte! I have never been the biggest coffee fan, always leaning towards a chai or a matcha, but I thought this was very well executed. It had a stronger coffee flavor rather than some sweeter pumpkin drink alternatives, but that is not a dreadful thing. The pumpkin cold foam and drizzle was so cozy and perfect for a fall drink!
Jacob’s Java also had some other cozy drinks including a pear spiced lotus, apple pie chai, and a brown buttered honey matcha. Although not the pumpkin that many crave when the days get shorter and the leaves shift color, these drinks had a cozy vibe of their own. As a lotus lover I was ecstatic to have a fall themed lotus in my hands this autumn and Jacob’s carried-through! I do not know how much it literally warmed my fall loving heart, but I enjoyed it. The apple pie chai on the other hand was the perfect incorporation of an alternate fall flavor in a drink! The apple flavor may have been cold in the iced chai, but the warmth that it brought my soul was undeniable thanks to its pure deliciousness. The matcha on the other hand may have been great for some people, but my big, sweet tooth could not accept the lack of sweetness in this matcha. It was a most definitely a creative take on the immensely popularized green drink, but it did not follow my (objectively silly) standards of exceedingly sweetened matcha.
An additional coffee shop that withheld some fall themed drinks was White Dog. White Dog Coffee took a different approach with their fall drinks and themed them to popular pieces of fall media! At the beginning of the fall season, they debuted their Gilmore Girls menu. The coffee crazed characters in the show that has taken over the fall season made a perfect backbone for a themed menu. These drinks were not automatically my favorite in the flavor-wise, but they most definitely deserve creativity points!
The “Lorelai” which was a salted caramel latte base with maple spice cold foam was a sweet coffee with an enjoyable after taste. The “Rory” was also a sweet, iced coffee, but it had a more intense flavor thanks to the white coffee and almond base, the cherry cold foam and the dark chocolate drizzle. I struggled to enjoy the stark contrast between the cherry and the coffee flavors, but the drink was a 10/10 on the aesthetics scale. As good as those were, they did not compare to the “Stars Hollow Harvest.” This was the type of drink that I was seeking out on my coffee shop scavenger hunt. The “Stars Hollow Harvest” was a breve with pumpkin pie sauce and butter pecan syrup and with this drink it did not matter of you were team Jess, Dean, or Logan, anyone could enjoy the pumpkin pie goodness in this coffee!
To think that I could be done evaluating fall drinks created by White Dog Coffee would be wrong because they continued their fall drink bash with a release of a Harry Potter menu. As a Harry Potter fan and a fan of a local sweet drink I ran to check out the Harry Potter themed drinks and White Dog delivered.
Starting off strong, White Dog cultivated a gaggle of Hogwarts house themed drinks with the drinks for Gryffindor and Hufflepuff standing out. The Ravenclaw blueberry and white chocolate latte is an adequate choice for a coffee outing but is blown out of the water by the honey, cinnamon, and white chocolate latte of Hufflepuff. I tried it as hot latte, and it warmed my heart as well was my taste buds. The cinnamon was a magnificent addition to the already comforting autumn coffee. The Gryffindor lotus was about as opposite as you could be from the idea of a fall drink, but the execution fit the aesthetic of the magical series, and the taste was perfect for anyone with an affinity for everything sweet! The strawberry and cherry flavors in the gold base of the lotus practically transported me to the middle of a Gryffindor quidditch match.
They did not stop there; they released a butter-beer latte and a “polyjuice potion” lotus. The butter-beer latte contained the classic butterscotch and caramel flavors as well as toffee to create a replica of the beloved themed drink in a fairly successful manner. The “polyjuice potion” lotus was another lotus that did not exactly replicate the autumn feelings that pumpkin spice would, but it captured the vibe are the acclaimed fall series triumphantly. The kiwi cold foam mystically topped the “mysterious potion” that had a mix of blue lotus base, blue raspberry, and passionfruit. This lotus perfected captured the mysterious look while achieving a deliciously tasting lotus.
Indaba also came out with a myriad of fall drinks! They released their own version of a pumpkin spice latte that from my perspective was better than many alternatives. I do not hold much background knowledge on what makes a good coffee do to my slight distaste towards it, but using both my own preferences and the expert opinions of my parents I gathered that this latte was the best pumpkin spice latte in Spokane. My preferred fall drink is a pumpkin or apple chai, so I was overjoyed to have the opportunity to try the “apple chaider” from Indaba. I am not easily disappointed, so I knew I would enjoy this drink, but it exceeded my expectations. The mix of chai and apple cider flavors was utter perfect and a quintessential representation of fall.
Spokane, thankfully, withholds endless coffee shops that you can go to to engage in the fall spirit. I could not even get close to hitting them all, but from the ones I did manage to visit I learned that it is a tough race between the best fall drinks. To be honest, I cannot even begin to rank the coffee shops fall selections, but what I can say is that Starbucks is not the only possibility for when you are yearning for that authentic fall feeling.
The search for the best traditional pumpkin spice latte can end at Indaba while there are better options for autumn themed energy drinks at white dog and if you are dying for a chai you might stop at Jacob’s! From themed drinks to classics, Spokane has all everyone could need for fall flavors.