Skip to content

Hauls · 🍂 Autumn · Coming into season

The spiced drinks arriving early

The syrups, pods and coffee-shop menus turning autumn — and whether it's worth joining in yet.

Editorial · 3 min read · 3 min read

A spiced latte in a glass mug with cinnamon on a wooden table

The spiced-drink season now starts in late August, which is a marketing decision rather than a seasonal one. That doesn't make the drinks bad — it just means there's no hurry.

Here's what's actually worth having in early, and what costs almost nothing to make instead.

Worth having in

  • Whole spices — cinnamon sticks, star anise, cloves. Cheapest in the world-food aisle, by a distance.
  • A jar of decent honey or maple syrup, which does the job of any flavoured syrup.
  • Good cocoa, if hot chocolate is a household fixture.

Worth leaving

  • Flavoured syrup bottles in August. They're on offer in October and you'll get through half.
  • Limited-edition pods bought in bulk before you've tasted one.
  • Anything described as a 'seasonal blend' with no indication of what's in it.

The home version

  1. Warm milk with a cinnamon stick and a teaspoon of maple syrup for five minutes.
  2. Pull or brew your coffee as normal and pour the spiced milk over.
  3. Grate a little nutmeg on top. That's the whole £4 drink, for about 40p.

Coming into SZN

Keep this now and it'll resurface on the first properly cold morning — which is when it actually tastes right.

My SZN editorial inspiration — our own seasonal idea, not a listing for a verified external event.

You might also love

A spiced latte in a heavy mug beside cinnamon sticks and star anise

Drinks · Coming into season

The spiced drinks nearly upon us

One syrup, made now, that turns into every autumn drink you'll want in September.

Autumn · makes 10 drinks