Local coffee shops offer seasonal treats for the holiday season

Dunkin Donut's coffee coolata and holiday star donut.

With the holiday season approaching, some local coffee shops have unveiled their seasonal menu items, offering customers foods, snacks, and beverages.

This year, Starbucks Coffee Company, Spot Coffee, and Dunkin’ Donuts are offering customers new menu items, in addition to past seasonal favorites.

At 235 Delaware Ave., Starbucks Coffee Company is offering customers the opportunity to choose from a wide array of seasonal beverages such as caramel macchiato, pumpkin spice latte, salted caramel mocha, and white chocolate mocha. Starbucks also has its much-anticipated seasonal favorites, which are brought back every year.  

 “We currently have our four drinks that come back every winter, which are the caramel brulée latte, peppermint mocha, eggnog latte, and gingerbread latte,” said manager, Jenny Stanek.

Each holiday beverage comes in three sizes: tall ($3.75), grande ($4.55), and venti ($4.75).

In addition to its seasonal drinks, Starbucks Coffee offers promotional sales and specials each year. This year, Starbucks is bringing back its iconic red cup, which signals the arrival of the holidays.

 “We get red cups every Christmas to celebrate the holidays,” said Stanek. “On Nov.15 to 18 from 2 to 5 p.m., customers will be able to buy one holiday drink and get one free.”

 “We also have 12 days of gifting,” added Stanek. “Every day for 12 days we run a different product on sale, starting Dec. 1.”

Starbucks offer seasonal treats such as gingerbread loaf, cranberry bliss bar and snowman cookies.

 “We usually recommend pairing one of the holiday beverages with the holiday foods,” said Stanek. “Our gingerbread loaf, cranberry bliss bar, and snowman cookie also comes back every year.”

SpotCoffee at 227 Delaware Ave., is offering customers seasonal beverages and foods. This year, Spot Coffee’s most popular seasonal beverages are hot chocolate made with steamed milk, ghirardelli chocolate and whipped cream ($3.25) and chaider made with ½ chai, ½ apple cider, steamed with two cinnamon sticks, and your choice of milk ($3.95).

“For seasonal drinks this year we’re doing chaider, which is chai and cider mixed together to get a spicy, apple tea beverage that’s warm,” said manager, Rob Fussell. “We’re also offering hot chocolates with cayenne pepper, which gives it a little more spice.”

In addition, Spot Coffee has seasonal lattes, sandwiches, and salads.

“We’re offering our seasonal lattes, which are peppermint, gingerbread, and pumpkin spice,” said Fussell. “We’re also offering a Thanksgiving turkey sandwich, made with cranberry cheese spread, salami, turkey, and tomato served on focaccia bread. We’re also going to start doing a Greek salad for the winter.”

Dunkin’Donuts, a popular coffee and baked goods shop has introduced new seasonal foods and beverages. It has also brought back popular favorites, featuring pumpkin and apple flavors.

Under the slogan “Tis the season for sharing,” Dunkin’ Donuts is offering customers seasonal donuts such as red velvet drizzle, red velvet munchkin, pumpkin donuts, and holiday star donuts.

Vasabha Weevasinghe, manager for Dunkin’ Donuts at 1264 Main St., said each season offers new menu items.

“Every year, we have something new,” said Weevasinghe. “For this season, we have red velvet donuts, pumpkin donuts, and holiday star donuts. Coming up, we’ll have the Christmas donuts which will start the last week of November.”

The red velvet donut is glazed with a cream cheese icing drizzle. It is also available in munchkins donut hole form. The holiday star donut is a star-shaped Bavarian creme-filled donut that is finished with green icing and white star sprinkles. The pumpkin donuts are glazed and can be enjoyed as a munchkin donut hole treat.

Each donut is sold for 89 cents.

“The pumpkin was originally for Halloween, but it will last from the Nov. 1 to 31, since we still have a lot of it coming back,” said Weevasinghe. “We also had apple orchard donuts and munchkins from September to October.”

Dunkin’ Donuts’ seasonal beverages includes apple cider, coffee coolatta, mint hot chocolate, and pumpkin packaged coffee. Each beverage comes in three sizes, which are small (2.59), medium (3.29), and large ($3.89).

“We are offering apple cider, which is served either hot or iced, and coffee coolattas made with coffee or neutral base flavors such as strawberry, orange, lemonade,” said Weevasinghe. “Our pumpkin packaged coffee comes in an 8-ounce size and offers customers the choice of making their own coffee at home.”