Recipe of the Month: Pumpkin Spice Espresso Martini 🎃

This October, I make a Pumpkin Spice Espresso Martini and challenge the very notion of propriety, decency, and cocktail gatekeeping.

Photo by Theo Crazzolara on Unsplash

It seems as though, in Octobers past, a battle ensued between the pumpkin spice must-haves and the pumpkin spice must-have-nots. Memes were circulated, social-media posts fired, and families divided.

There were those who lined up at Starbucks every morning to sip their grande pumpkin spice latte (PSL) at nearly 400 calories and 50 grams of added sugar, the equivalent of a large candy bar for breakfast. And those who winced at the idea of slurping down a pie-based coffee drink at any time of the day. Just like the vast divide that has engulfed our country between political factions, so the battle was joined year after year in the world of popular coffee drinks.

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For a time, I sided with the must-have-nots. Pumpkin spice lattes were the nadir of culture, the demise of taste, and a celebration of mediocrity. Ordered in droves by young women in Hans Solo uniforms—a creme-colored sweater, black down vest, black leggings, and high leather boots––they’re the Taylor Swift of coffee drinks: catchy, bland, and ubiquitous.

But then something happened.