Holiday Drink Menu 2024
We love the onset of the holiday season. The joy and good spirits that fill the air is always palpable, which is one reason we delight so much in transforming our cafes into a festivious retreat each year. This year, we are excited to celebrate the season with Tala Kalikimaka, a tropical paradise holiday right at home on the North Shore. Our cafes are a beautiful arrangement of colorful, and playful holiday decor that instantly brings you into a feeling of relaxation. A trip to a cafe is not complete this time of year, of course, without trying one of our new holiday specialty drinks. We have your favorites returning (don’t worry!) and some unique new creations—one for each cafe!
Gingerbread Latte
Skip the attempts to build a festive gingerbread house that will never look as good as it does on Pinterest. Instead, lets us craft you one of these holiday favorites that tastes even better than it looks on Instagram. Made with espresso, ginger, holiday spices, brown sugar, and steamed milk. “Gingerbread latte? Oh, snap!”… get it?
The Sleigh Ride
When we originally created the Sleigh Ride, we knew only two things: we wanted to name a drink Sleigh Ride and we needed it to have egg nog—I mean honestly what says the holiday season more than egg nog? We finally came around to try egg nog with chai (after many trails of egg nog + miscellaneous ingredients). The combination of chai and egg nog makes an ultra creamy, festive treat unlike any other. This year, we took the same principle and added a little extra excitement to the mix.
The candy cane lane
This holiday delight comes together with in-house made peppermint syrup, mocha, espresso, steamed milk, and garnished with candy cane bits. The perfect drink that even makes waiting in line for Santa enjoyable.
Lump of coal latte
Whether you’re on the naughty list or the nice, you need to give this drink a try. Activated charcoal makes a gray canvas, but don’t let that fool you, because this latte is packed with flavor. Cardamom-infused maple, espresso, steamed milk and cracked black pepper come together for the perfect specialty latte.
Cafe Exclusives
We had so much fun having our staff at each cafe come up with a unique-to-their-location fall drink, that we decided to continue featuring a cafe-exclusive drink each season. See what you can expect at each cafe, and plot where you’ll go first to get a taste of the goodness!
Biscoff Latte
The Highwood team decided on a Biscoff Latte, made with Biscoff Cookie Butter, caramel, and spices.
“Sugar cookie was the immediate suggestion when we began thinking about holiday drinks. We thought a specific and iconic flavor like Biscoff would hold up against the espresso while giving that holiday cookie feel.”
-Bri, assistant manager at Highwood
Juniper Latte
The Libertyville team landed on a Juniper Latte, made with juniper and pine bark, brown sugar, and orange.
“The idea came from capturing the taste of a Christmas Tree, trying to incorporate more earthy flavors to celebrate winter, and juxtaposed our sweeter holiday lineup”
-Marissa, barista at Libertyville
The MAriah Carey
The Winnetka team wanted to highlight the most classic aspects of a holiday palette that were missing from our current holiday menu, which led them to a slightly more savory approach. This pecan-rosemary latte incorporates classic flavors that remind you its time for the season to begin, much like the drinks namesake, Mariah Carey.
“Enjoy her hot or iced, because she’s both naughty and nice.”
-Lucy, barista at Winnetka