My Autumn/Winter Coffee "Recipe"

It's finally feeling a little like autumn in RVA and I woke up just wanting to feel cozy today. I got out of my bed into a freezing cold room, put on my comfy flannel and some sweatpants, and went downstairs to make my morning coffee with a wintery twist. I personally think this technique works best if you grind your own beans, but pre-ground beans would probably work fine if that's all you have (although I do suggest grinding your own beans for an improvement in your morning coffee's quality).

  

This is pretty simple and by no means an innovative recipe (if you can even call it that), but I think it helps my mornings have the right amount of festiveness, where it's not too in-your-face, but it's cozy and warm and plain delicious.

There's really only one step to this: pick your spices. If you're like me and you grind your own beans, I suggest adding them to your coffee grinder. I like winter spices, so I tend to add nutmeg, cloves, and cinnamon. Ginger can work if you're going for a pumpkin vibe, but that's not my style. Everything is to-taste, so just add however much you like. For me, it's usually about a one and a half teaspoons of whole cloves, about a teaspoon of cinnamon, and one hefty portion of freshly grated nutmeg. Then I add my beans, grind everything together, and begin my pour-over process and voila! you've got yourself a festive drink in less than a minute. Since everything is freshly ground into my beans, I feel the spices are much more apparent than when you simply buy an autumn or winter blend at the grocery store.

Feel free to tweak the recipe in any way you see fit, and let me know what you like to do to start feeling the autumnal vibe.

xxx