Pumpkin Spice Latte

You don't need one. This recipe uses 120 ml of strong brewed coffee for two mugs, and a French press, a moka pot or a drip filter will all do, as long as you brew it stronger than usual. If you do have a machine, pour 1 shot of espresso (about 30 ml) into each mug instead, or 2 shots if you like more coffee in the cup. Decaf works exactly the same way. For a version with no coffee at all, make the tea separately for each mug: steep 2 chai tea bags in 120 ml of very hot water for a few minutes and use it in place of that mug's 60 ml of coffee. Our chai latte shows how to brew the spiced tea from whole spices if you would rather not use chai bags.

Pumpkin pie spice is an American blend of ground spices made for pumpkin pie filling. It is usually cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger and cloves, sometimes with allspice, and there is no pumpkin in it. This latte mixes its own from a quarter teaspoon each of cinnamon and ginger and a pinch each of nutmeg and cloves. If you have a jar of the ready blend, use half a teaspoon for the two mugs and leave the four single spices out. If cloves are the one thing missing from your cupboard, make it with cinnamon, ginger and nutmeg only.

Yes. Swap the 360 ml of whole milk for the same amount of oat, almond or soy milk and follow the recipe as written. Oat milk gives a slightly thicker latte than the others. Since the sweetener here is maple syrup and there is no whipped cream, the drink is vegan once the milk is plant based. Heat it the same way, to steam and small bubbles at the edge, and take it off before it boils.

You can cook the pumpkin base in advance: the pumpkin and spices from step 2 with the maple syrup stirred in. Let it cool, put it in a closed jar and keep it in the fridge for up to 3 days. For each mug, whisk half of the base (about 3 tablespoons) into 180 ml of milk, heat it until it steams, take it off the heat, stir in half a teaspoon of vanilla extract, and pour it over 60 ml of hot strong coffee. A finished latte can also go in the fridge in a closed container, but it loses its foam, so whisk it again after reheating.

Cook the pumpkin with the spices for 2 minutes as in the hot recipe, stir in the maple syrup and vanilla, and let the paste cool. Shake it in a jar of at least 1 liter with the 360 ml of cold milk and 120 ml of cooled strong coffee until it foams, then pour it over two glasses filled with ice. Cold brew coffee can replace the cooled coffee in the same amount, undiluted. Don't skip the cooking step for the iced version, because cold milk does nothing to bring out the pumpkin or the spices.