By Evelyn Hoover

There are countless classic holiday items that many companies profit off of every year, such as the St. Patrick’s day Shamrock Shake from McDonalds, red-white-and-blue popsicles for Independence Day and chocolate assortments at Valentine’s day. 

However, in terms of seasons there are back-to-back competitors that java lovers can appreciate. As leaves turn various shades of warm colors, crisp temperatures bring the aroma of pumpkin spice season with it. A month later comes the snow, brightly lit lights and the ultimate peppermint and chocolate flavored drinks. 

With these seasonal drinks returning every year, it may be hard to find the perfect flavor or even harder to find the coffee shop that makes them the coffee delights perfectly. Of course there are big chain coffee shops such as Starbucks, Tim Hortons and Dunkin’ Donuts that are prevalent everywhere you go, but what about the smaller coffee shops? 

In regards to small family-owned coffee shops, Dunkin’ Donuts manager Alina Svanidze says, “…they have more options…they’re smaller so they’re just right there, just five minutes away. But here we just opened up three more new Dunkin’s so they’re everywhere.” 

Dunkin’ Donuts provides a large assortment of winter drinks for the holiday season such as the Peppermint Mocha, Toasted White Chocolate, Cookie Butter Cold Brew and the Chai Latte. Svanidze says seasonal drinks make up about 70% of their yearly profits. Now as these might be conveniently located throughout town, many people enjoy the assortment of drinks offered by smaller coffee shops. 

Emma Alexy, a barista at Brew Ha Ha, a family-owned coffee shop located at 2612 W. 8th St. in Erie, has been working there for about a year and a half. 

“Because we make our syrups in house, it’s something that you won’t find at another restaurant and our manager will come up with his own recipes. So he’ll tinker with stuff in the kitchen and have us all try different flavors. He’s done stuff like Bacon Maple Lattes and Mango Mochas, stuff that you definitely wouldn’t find,” Alexy says. 

So while everyone may love the company created flavors, there may be drinks customers have never heard of to tempt a seasonal pallet.  

Winter drinks will obviously be better and have more variety than autumn drinks and it seems a good portion of people agree with that. Svanidze says that she prefers winter drinks because of the Peppermint Mocha. 

“It’s a lot more fun to order something like a hot white chocolate latte or a hot spicy latte compared to autumn [drinks]. It can be kind of repetitive to order what people can get anywhere else,” says Alexy. 

While pumpkin spice may have the mainstream flavors of pumpkin and cinnamon, winter drinks can be more creative with the use of holiday desserts such as chocolate, cookies, cake, candy canes, peppermint, gingerbread and more. 

One of Brew Ha Ha’s winter drinks is the Cookie Butter Latte to “keep current with what some of the other chain restaurants are doing,” says Alexy. 

Dunkin’ Donuts is doing a similar variation calling it the Cookie Butter Cold Brew. 

Time is something that not everyone has in the morning so it is understandable for people not to care about the quality of their coffee beans on the way to work, but it is also important to recognize that quality can also come from the experience of drinking your coffee. 

Alexy says that small, family environments that local coffee shops like Brew Ha Ha offer create an “inviting opportunity to try something warm and different. To stay in their dining room for a little bit longer and try some hot drinks they might not have heard of before.”