Cold Weather Beverages: Milk Tea & Pumpkin Spice Coffee

Well the weather has gone from 25 degrees on the weekend to hovering around 0. It's even tried to snow a little (that lousy wet kind of snow, which fortunately doesn't stick). I wasn't sure how much I needed to wear for my walk to work yesterday; unfortunately I forgot my rain jacket back in BC, so settled for my pea coat and an umbrella rather than my winter parka which, although waterproof, would have been too warm. The weather should warm up by the end of the week; but in the meantime, here are two cosy drink recipes:

Milk Tea

• 1 Earl Grey tea bag
• boiling water
• milk
• sugar

I put about 0.5 - 1 tsp of sugar in a large mug, add an Earl Grey tea bag, and pour hot water over it until the cup is about 80% full. After letting it steep for a couple minutes, I fill the remainder of the cup with milk, stir, and let it steep for another couple minutes. I think "real" milk tea recipes require blending the concoction; I don't bother. Adjust the proportions of sugar and milk to your liking. I make milk tea at least once a day!

Pumpkin Spice Coffee

• a mug of black coffee
• milk
• 2 tbsp pure pumpkin
• spices: baking all spice, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves
• rum extract (optional)
• honey

I'll perpetuate the meme that pumpkin is the be-all-end-all in fall recipes with this pumpkin spice coffee recipe. I mixed the above ingredients into a big hot mug of black coffee for a satisfying fall concoction (adjust proportions to your liking). I'm not sure how well this resembles ones that you might buy at coffee shops (I've never actually bought a pumpkin spice latte).

What are your favourite cold weather drinks?