So here I sit in the downtown core looking at the blizzard outside my window. Brrrr. Not much would budge me from my toasty heated apartment… but there are a few incentives to brave the snow with my neighborhood Bridgehead just around the corner.
As fall gives way to these snows of winter we Ottawans have to bid farewell to not just the greens of summer and the autumn's golden leaves. Noper, we're also saying toodles to pumpkin spice latte, pumpkin spice cookies, pumpkin spice muffins, pumpkin spice perfume, pumpkin spice shampoo, pumpkin spice luxury yachts, pumpkin spice formal wear and pumpkin spice spice pumpkin pumpkin spices.
Okay, I admit it, I got a little carried away there but even the most stuffed up of noses can smell when fall, errr, falls into town. If we can spice it you bet your Auntie Roger's prize winning poodle that we will pumpkin spice it! The food and drinks, of course, and not the poodle but it’s probably only a matter of time. Watch out Foofi!
As a guy who drinks a daily average amount of coffee roughly akin to the size of the Caspian Sea, around the first week of November I'm get totally spiced out. Looking at pretty well anything orange churns my stomach. Thankfully, while some of us saying adios to pumpkin spice for another year we get to vibrantly wave hello to something else whilst we salivate. Oh yes, my friends, it’s time for those Seasonal Drinks. Call ‘em Christmas bevies, or call ‘em Holiday warm ups, no place in town does ‘em better than Bridgehead. Bonus: no controversy over what their cup looks like this year, either! You hear me, coffee show that rhymes with Marmucks?
It all started 10 days ago. Move over pumpkin and let peppermint fill my mug of goodness!
Matcha latte is just two awesome words to say together. Come on, give it a whirl. Say it three times fast. Now add some peppermint and you have one of my favourite seasonal drinks at Bridgehead. It’s even green. Get a bunch of mugs together and you have yourself a fine drinkable wreath. Let’s see Home Sense top that!
Maybe you’re less matcha and more mocha. Mo moblem… errr, no problem! Nip in from feeling nippy with a peppermint mocha. There's also or peppermint hot chocolate. The people who discovered how to improve upon chocolate by melting it down and putting into a mug should be canonized. Bridgehead mixes in the right blend of mint and tops it with whip cream. The kiddies love this one, too!
Want to up your Holiday drink game? Cocoa chai is another great way to melt that snow dandruff from your scarf and stoke your inner hearth. Chai tea just has an aroma that relaxes me but when you add cocoa to it the combo makes me just float on a winter wonderland of deliciousness. I like to dip in a bit of ginger snap into this bevy for added spice to my December.
You know Christmas is around the corner when your neighbour is wrestling with his light display, the radio won’t stop playing that damn Maria Carey song and when eggnog latte makes an annual coffee shop cameo. This is the Holiday Season in a cup right here. If only the fine Bridgehead baristas could somehow make the cup out of gingerbread with a candy cane handle and have it come with a free Santa hat!
Now, you folks who loath anything except good ol’ fashion coffee, there’s a gift under the Bridgehead tree for you! The Merrymaker Holiday Blend comes from COMSA in Honduras and is a specially selected blend from several farmers. There’s tasting notes of plum pudding and chocolate and has a taste that will turn the Grinchiest of coffee connoisseurs into a puddle of merry mush.
Yes indeedy, here I sit looking out the window at the blizzard outside my window. It does give cause to shiver but Bridgehead has a quick fix for that. Bring on my first winter warm-up!