Halloween Morning: A Spiced Espresso Recipe

Dark coffee, warm milk, and a little autumn spice.

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I love a Massachusetts fall. The leaves start showing off, the air gets cooler, and suddenly I’m thinking about Halloween and a good cafecito.

I grew up Puerto Rican in New England. My dad left Puerto Rico at seventeen because work was getting hard to find. He left everything he knew, settled in Massachusetts, and eventually met my mom. So those fall memories are home to me.

I was seventeen, too, when a friend introduced me to a café, the “Bucks of Stars,” you know the one. Back then, that place felt iconic to me. I’d get a spiced latte and feel like the world was bigger, and there was room for me in it. I loved how the whole place got into the season. You could see it, smell it, taste it. As I moved from city to city, that familiar cup gave me a little piece of home and something to keep dreaming toward.

Years later, I’d make a spiced latte to go before taking my nephews trick-or-treating. We’d walk around the neighborhood, and I’d sip that warm coffee with cinnamon, nutmeg, and a little clove. That latte brought the feeling along with us: the warmth, the spice, the excitement of Halloween.

And here I am, almost two decades later, still reaching for that same cup. The minute October starts, sometimes even in mid-September, I’m ready. I live in Southern California now, far from the East Coast, and when I need that feeling, I make this latte. It takes me back to those walks, those seasons, those moments with my family. The cup travels with me.

It’s a little wild that coffee can do that. My first coffee memory is being around five years old with my abuela, drinking sweet coffee and dipping Cuban bread into it. So when I look back, it makes sense. That feeling of home has been in the cup all along.

So that’s Halloween Morning. I make it with two shots of our Café de Mujeres “Dark Matter” espresso roast, warm milk, a little cane sugar, and those three spices. Make yourself a cup, use the milk you love, and enjoy a little October with me.

Make Halloween Morning

Makes: One serving

Ingredients

• 2 shots of espresso, made with Castor & Pollux Dark Matter
• ¾ cup milk of your choice
• 2 teaspoons cane sugar
• ⅛ teaspoon ground cinnamon
• A small pinch of ground nutmeg
• A tiny pinch of ground cloves

Make it

1. Warm the spiced milk. Add the milk, cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves to a small saucepan. Heat gently until steaming, stirring as it warms. Do not boil.
2. Pull your espresso. Brew two shots into your mug. Stir in the sugar until dissolved.
3. Bring it together. Pour in the warm spiced milk and stir. If you like the foamy finish in the photo, froth the warmed milk before pouring.

Make it yours

Use the milk you enjoy and adjust the sugar to your taste. Any granulated sugar works if that’s what you have. Go easy on the cloves. A tiny pinch is plenty. Ground spices won’t dissolve completely, so give the milk another gentle stir before pouring.

I wrote the recipe down, too. Save it for your next cafecito.

Ready to make yours? Shop Dark Matter whole bean if you grind at home, or choose Dark Matter ground coffee and select Espresso from the grind options.

DRINK IT LOUD.