17 Ways To Give Coffee A Fall Twist

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I'm sure I don't have to be the one to tell you that coffee hits differently come fall. There's a reason why our favorite coffee chains keep pushing their fall menus earlier and earlier in the year (pumpkin in August? Sign me up). That first sip of a cinnamon-flavored latte or pumpkiny cold brew is what rings in the long-awaited season of cozy sweaters, picturesque foliage, and leaf-scented breezes.

Once the weather starts cooling down, most of us are reaching for the fabled pumpkin spice latte first. Sure, a PSL from your favorite café can hit the spot, but it gets old pretty quick. Once autumn rolls around, a whole new world of coffee customizations to embody the season opens up, many of which you might gloss over in favor of the old tried-and-true pumpkin classic, depriving yourself of a potential new fall favorite.

In this list, I'll use my years of professional barista experience and love for coffee — and fall — to dive deep into some of the best ways to turn your brew into a hot, caffeinated cup of liquid autumn. This list includes a few conventional seasonal drinks and some of my personal favorites that you've likely never tried before. So search for one of these coffees at your local coffee shop, or break out the French press or moka pot and start experimenting at home to create a drink that captures the essence of autumn.

More often than not, when you visit a cafe and order a pumpkin spice latte, you'll be handed a milky espresso drink with a flavor syrup. The syrup typically includes flavors like nutmeg, cinnamon, and clove, and not any actual pumpkin. Don't make a mistake with your homemade pumpkin spice latte and reach for this flavor syrup and call it a day. Use real pumpkin to make your drink taste fresher and more fall-ready.

If you want to take a PSL to the next level, you can incorporate some of the big orange gourd into your homemade recipe along with the drink's trademark flavors as freshly-ground spices. Create a mix of canned pumpkin, your favorite pumpkin pie spice flavors (think cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, allspice, and cloves), and a sweetener (brown sugar or maple syrup are slam dunks) and blend it into your latte. Start off with just a bit of the pumpkin and spice mixture, and then experiment with ratios until you find the combination for your dream PSL made a reality.

If you're not prepared to go buck-wild with canned gourds in your morning brew, you can make an exceptional fall drink using just spices in your coffee, sans pumpkin. I prefer flavoring coffee with spices over syrup so I can give the drink a powerful flavor boost without making it unbearably sweet. I can also add my favorite fall spices and leave out those I don't care for to create the ultimate customized autumn coffee.

Add ground or whole spices directly into the coffee grounds before brewing to ensure that the flavors are incorporated well into the coffee. Start with spices like cinnamon, clove, nutmeg, and allspice, and if it still needs a little something extra to make it taste like fall, incorporate more unique spices. Black pepper, ginger, and star anise give coffee a bit of a bite while adding warming qualities that are perfect for the season. Experiment with different spices until you find a great mix, and then make your own coffee spice blend to flavor your morning brew with ease.

If you're looking for a subtle way to give your coffee a fall makeover, turn to sweetener. Instead of flavoring coffee with spices or funky ingredients, all you have to do is swap out plain sugar for something with more flavor potential. Reach for maple syrup to give coffee the sweetness it needs, plus a subtle hint of a distinct flavor that's indicative of the changing seasons.

Even though maple syrup season (the time when maple sap is harvested to create the syrup) isn't until late winter or early spring, we still associate maple syrup with autumn — probably because it tastes the way a fall breeze smells. It has a unique zesty quality and earthy sweetness that complements coffee's natural profile. Try just a tiny bit of maple syrup in a floral light roast. The coffee doesn't drown out the syrup, and the maple flavor plays well against the floral notes and aromas.

If you're working with some high quality beans and don't want to alter the flavor of your coffee drastically, you can still give it a little autumn boost without tampering too much with its natural essence. Sprinkle a bit of chai spice on top of your latte foam to give it a warm, spicy aroma and mild taste, plus a bonus aesthetic quality.

Chai spice typically consists of cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, cardamom, cloves, allspice, black pepper, and sometimes star anise. Every premade chai spice blend tastes a bit different — with some spicier, earthier, or sweeter than others — so shop around to find your favorite or make your own blend however you like it. Chai spice is famously complex, so don't add too much to the top of your latte if your goal is to enhance your drink only slightly.

At this point, it feels like we've all run the gamut of plant-based milks in our coffee. Most coffee shops offer oat milk, almond milk, and soy milk, and some even host more obscure milks, including hazelnut milk. If you happen to be perusing the menu of a cafe during autumn and spot hazelnut milk, I implore you to give it a try in your next latte for an unlikely source of subtle fall-themed comfort.

Hazelnut milk gives coffee a distinctly nutty, sweet, and rich flavor, no sweetener required (although it certainly doesn't hurt). The bold nuttiness of this milk always makes me think of fall and the earthy flavors that we tend to associate with the season. Toss in some chocolate syrup and a touch of cinnamon to make this drink taste like a cozy, Nutella-inspired dessert.

It sounds a bit bizarre, but you can actually drink a cup of coffee from the shell of an orange. Why? Well, because you can. Simply scoop out the innards of an orange and mix instant coffee and hot water inside the shell. Or, make it more artisanal and boil water and finely-ground, high-quality beans directly in the orange shell by wrapping the underside in foil and sticking it on the stove. Don't forget to squeeze some of the orange into the coffee for a bolded flavor.

The orange shell infuses the coffee with a punch of citrus, but it needs a little sprucing up to make it fall-ready. Add cinnamon and a touch of black pepper (or even cayenne, if you're feeling spicy) to add warmth to zesty citrus. A little maple syrup goes a long way to make this drink taste like liquid autumn. Go all-out and toss in a splash of rum to make a uniquely fruity coffee cocktail that will undoubtedly turn some heads at your next get-together.

If you're looking for a subtle, seasonal upgrade to a cup of coffee that's impossible not to love, reach for two staple flavors: cinnamon and vanilla. This flavor combo works well for both fall and winter, giving coffee a touch of natural sweetness and flavor notes that pair well with just about any coffee, regardless of origin or roast level.

Instead of dropping a teaspoon of cinnamon and drop of vanilla extract directly into your brew, try frothing these ingredients into the milk instead. Frothing spices into milk gives the milk a colored, speckled appearance, making a cup of joe look dressed for the season. Plus, the vanilla and cinnamon blend together seamlessly when frothed, so you don't have to worry about the spices settling at the bottom or floating to the top of the cup. Frothing flavors into the milk means that even your latte foam will have a creamy, spiced taste.

There's nothing like a coffee cocktail to give you a burst of energy and warm your cockles on a cold October evening. Usually, the go-to is an Irish coffee, which is a good winter warmer, but that's just it; it's much more a wintertime drink than a fall-specific one. So instead, make yourself a boozy coffee for autumn with woody bourbon and earthy-sweet fall spices that pair well with both the booze and the brew.

Fall spices are delicious in bourbon cocktails, and when hot coffee is thrown into the mix, it's like the ultimate seasonal drink. Try a splash of your favorite bourbon in a hot black coffee with cloves, nutmeg, and allspice. Or go for an invigorating iced cocktail with bourbon, chilled espresso, and cold foam frothed with cinnamon. For a sweetener, try maple syrup, which tastes delicious with both bourbon and coffee — plus, it ups the seasonal factor even more.

Apple is far from a conventional flavor for coffee, but it's a great choice when you want a drink that screams "autumn," but you're sick and tired of pumpkin (we all get there eventually). If you're looking to give a hot or iced latte some sweet, slightly tart apple flavor, opt for apple butter over apple juice. Apple butter has a decadent texture that pairs well with a milky coffee, and it's far less tart than apple juice, so it won't make your drink taste bitter.

Apple can be a little overpowering in a latte, so pair it with another sweet flavor to make it more creamy and delicious. Mix some butterscotch or caramel syrup into the apple butter before whisking it into a latte. Or drizzle some caramel sauce and add a sprinkle of cinnamon on top if you're serving this drink to guests or customers — I guarantee they'll be snapping some photos.

If you're not trying to craft a photo-worthy autumnal concoction, but still want your morning brew to have a touch of seasonality, try making one simple swap for something that you probably already have in your pantry. Brown sugar is the pantry staple you should add to coffee in lieu of white sugar, coffee creamer, or whatever else you normally use to sweeten your brew.

Since brown sugar is just white sugar with molasses reintroduced, it has hints of the signature robust, deeply earthy flavor of molasses plus plenty of sweetness to guarantee that the flavor won't be too potent in your coffee. Brown sugar tends to highlight the natural notes in coffee while taming some of its bitterness. Try it in a medium to medium-dark roast with notes of caramel and nuts for a fall-themed treat that doesn't require much forethought or planning.

Pecans are one of the fall foods that we often forget about in favor of more iconic flavors like pumpkin and maple. But pecans are typically harvested from September to November, so they're actually more on-brand for autumn than maple, which is harvested in the winter. Introduce some nuttiness into your coffee with a truly underrated syrup made to mimic the flavor of this iconic, buttery nut.

Butter pecan syrup — like this one from Torani — isn't too easy to come by, so it's worth stocking up on if you like nutty-sweet coffees for fall. It also mixes well with a slew of other flavors, from chocolate to maple to blueberry. If you want to make your drink even more dessert worthy, try praline syrup instead, like this one from DaVinci. Pralines are a New Orleans candy that's like peanut brittle made with pecans. This syrup makes coffee even more buttery, creamy, and decadent.

Instead of simply tossing in some spices or buying a flavor syrup, get creative in the kitchen and make an autumn-inspired coffee that you can really be proud of. A little-known coffee secret is that you can make your own creamer in about 5 minutes. Seasonal creamers from brands like Coffee Mate are tasty and have fun themes, but they're usually chock full of excessive amounts of sugar and oils. When you make your own, you can flavor it however you like and control the amount of sugar so your drink doesn't get too sweet.

To make your own creamer, simply mix together milk, sweetened condensed milk (in a ratio or your choosing) and whatever fall flavors are your favorite. Try out a maple-pecan creamer with butter pecan flavor syrup and maple syrup, or go for a classic pumpkin spice with cinnamon, clove, allspice, ginger, and nutmeg. One of my favorites is a warming spicy mocha creamer with chocolate syrup, cinnamon, ginger, and cayenne pepper.

When you're making your own cold brew coffee at home, don't put all your efforts into adding flavors after the coffee is already brewed. When you're preparing to steep your coffee grounds overnight, toss in some whole cinnamon sticks and vanilla pods to give your cold brew some naturally-derived flavors that aren't too potent, but aren't extremely subtle, either.

There's no need to grind up the cinnamon or use vanilla extract. After steeping overnight, the whole ingredients will infuse your brew with plenty of flavor. Use a dark, chocolatey roast to get the best flavor out of this cinnamon-vanilla cold brew. Once it's done, sweeten it with plain sugar or simple syrup so the cinnamon and vanilla isn't masked, or add just a hint of a nutty flavor syrup to make the drink even more complex.

Orange and clove is a criminally underrated fall flavor combo. Zesty, bright orange pairs beautifully with sweet and earthy cloves, and although the two ingredients aren't blatantly indicative of fall, you can't help but think of falling leaves and cool air when sipping on this spicy-sweet flavor.

To achieve a citrus-clove essence in coffee, it's best to keep it subtle. Try tossing some fresh or dried orange peels and whole cloves into coffee grounds before brewing, whether you're brewing with a drip machine, pour over, or in a French press. Adding orange juice and ground clove directly to coffee makes a drink that might be too bitter and a bit overwhelming to most palates, but when the ingredients are added to the grounds, the citrus and clove flavors taste almost like they're naturally present in the coffee. Shoot for a light to medium-roasted brew with citrus and stone fruit notes, and enjoy this coffee black to let the orange and clove really shine.

Although it's a staple in Turkish coffee, you don't often see this spice in coffee drinks in the U.S., which is a crying shame. Cardamom was basically born for coffee, and it's excellent at eliciting fall vibes. It has a uniquely sweet, floral quality that's spicy and earthy at the same time. Talk about complex. Nothing really compares to it, which is why it's begging to be tossed into your cup for a deviation from the seasonal norms.

To give a coffee drink a cardamom boost, simply sprinkle some of the ground spice directly into your cup or into your ground coffee before brewing. Or, pick up a sweet cardamom syrup — like this one from Portland Syrups. This relatively uncommon syrup flavor is especially good in milky coffee drinks like latte or cortados brewed with floral beans, so try it in your next frothy espresso beverage — I recommend using a full fat dairy milk or oat milk.

Ahh, sweet, creamy butterscotch. It doesn't get much more decadent than this tried-and-true confectionery, which is why it's a frequent flyer on café menus as soon as the weather starts turning crisp. Butterscotch is a great choice for a comforting coffee flavor come fall and winter, and it's popular enough that you can usually find a butterscotch syrup without having to go to a specialty coffee supply store or order one online. You can also melt down butterscotch chips to give a latte a richer mouthfeel and more luxurious flavor.

Butterscotch is intensely creamy and sweet, so it's great for taming coffee's bitterness or when you want to enjoy a cozy drink but only have low quality beans on hand. This flavor works best in a rich dark roast with plenty of milk. Top a latte with whipped cream and a drizzle of real butterscotch sauce to enjoy this drink at its full potential.

Chances are high that you've never looked at a container of miso in your fridge and thought "this would be delicious in my coffee!" Miso is king of umami and a staple in Japanese cuisine, but it's been making its way to the West in recent years, even in our coffee drinks. Unlike other varieties of miso, white miso has a delicately nutty and slightly sweet, tangy profile, making it excellent at infusing coffee drinks with complexity and blending earthy fall flavors seamless with the bold, bitter taste of coffee.

Try mixing white miso paste into your homemade fall syrups, whether it be a pumpkin spice, cinnamon, cardamom, or pecan syrup. I've found that miso pairs particularly well with maple syrup, giving it a salty, savory backbone to really let the natural sweetness and vivid nuances shine against rich espresso. Drinks with miso are especially delicious with spicy and earthy ingredients, like black pepper, ginger, or turmeric — just make sure to balance them with enough sweetness.