Some like it hot

Tis the season for hot drinks to warm up any appetite

By: Talie Tebbi and Amanda Taylor

Posted: 11/19/08

It's that time of year when the temperature takes its inevitable fall and The Hill robes itself in a froth of winter white. It's time to break out the boots and give The North Face some free advertising. But when bundling up isn't enough, it's time to get warm from the inside out.

The Daily Orange takes a tour of warm, wintery drink shops in the Syracuse University area. So grab a mug and get cozy, because baby, it's cold outside.

Unique Tea House

The Unique Tea House is tucked away on the second story of Marshall Street. It has a hip, Asian atmosphere and stays open late, making it a great place for meeting with friends on a winter night. When the weather turns, some of their more traditional menu items are offered hot.

Most Unique Tea House items feature fruity flavors and unusual mix-ins, like aloe vera and tapioca balls. But the almond black tea with milk will do the trick for those looking for something simple and hot.

The almond black tea with milk is a coffee lover's tea. It has a full, nutty taste, like coffee, but it's still light like a tea and sweet. With all the fancy coffee drinks around, it's impressive this simple tea drink holds its own among the best. It's definitely a treat, and the best part is the aroma, like marzipan without the awful texture.

For tea lovers who want something classic, the jasmine green tea is also delicious. It has a fruitier flavor that's lighter and less rich than the almond. Not every winter drink has to be heavy, so a light tea like this offers the comfort of a warm drink without the "comfort food" thickness.

Dunkin' Donuts

Dunkin' Donuts promotes itself as the good ol' American coffee brand, plain and simple. Dunkin' Donuts knows its strength. The plain coffee is a beautiful thing, so when DD gets funky with flavors, it doesn't help any.

If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

Adding a shot of toasted almond flavor to plain coffee doesn't change much. The aroma is slight, the added taste is negligible. Some may not even know it's there. All it does is make the coffee slightly more bitter than usual.

But that doesn't mean Dunkin' can't take a dip into the high-maintenance coffee pool. The cappuccino with a shot of cinnamon is subtle, with more of a kick at the end. The flavor is noticeable, but it needs sugar to really bring it out. Still, since it's already jazzed up, the flavored cappuccino isn't bad.

Starbucks

Starbucks is the heavyweight of the winter drink category. Every year people wait for the classic eggnog, peppermint, pumpkin and gingerbread flavors to resurface in the Christmassy cups, and add to the already behemoth menu.

Actually, the Starbucks menu is infinite, which is one of the perks of the coffeehouse: If you want it, they'll make it. Drinking the plain coffee is a little like gnawing a raw coffee plant, but with all the fancy twists they add to the novelty drinks, the bitterness gives way to wintery goodness.

The gingerbread latte has a strong spiced flavor that's surprisingly not overpowering. The flavor tastes more like a combination of winter spices than actual ginger, and it has none of the nip of a ginger snap.

But (thank goodness) there's more to Starbucks than coffee drinks. Non-coffee lovers can get precious with their own creations. Steamers are milk for grown-ups. Add flavor shots (combine cinnamon and caramel in a soy steamer and it tastes like apple pie) to fancy it up.

But this year it seems Starbucks is pushing its hot chocolates. And they should be. The signature hot chocolate is a dream. It has the texture of drinking chocolate (syrupy rather than watery).

If the coffee tastes like chewing on a coffee bean, the hot chocolate is more like drinking Hershey, Pa. Drinking a venti would be fairly daunting, and the richness might be lethal, but if we have to go sometime, death by Signature Hot Chocolate might not be so bad.

2nd Story

This small coffee shop is often overlooked, as it sits tucked into a corner of the Westcott village between Las Delicias and a Laundromat. The menu offers all the primary drinks that coffee shops should serve - lattes, café au lait, macchiatos, mochas, all of them - but the difference is, at 2nd Story it tastes a bit more pure.

It isn't filled with sugar and other sweetener ingredients, just the bare essentials. Those who order tea don't only get some tea bag suspended in hot water. They get a small personal teakettle with actual loose tea.

Customers can choose from an assortment of 12 real tealeaves. The presentation of the drink is also a winner. It comes in large, colorful, bowl-like shaped mugs.

For those feeling warm-blooded and wanting a cold drink to cool down, the iced drinks come in a jar, adding a mom-and-pop feel to the coffee-drinking experience.

nstebbi@syr.edu
amtayl01@syr.edu