It’s beginning to taste a lot like Christmas.
Starbucks is serving the Christmas Tree, a peppermint dark mocha drink with green-tea whipped cream topped with red and green sprinkles. It is a rich a drink that ushers the holiday mood, along with the French Vanilla Nougat and the classic Toffee Nut Crunch lattes.
Pair these drinks with the Christmas ham croissant with egg white and Edam cheese, or the roasted rosemary turkey and chicken cranberry sandwich with bacon.
For something warm and festive, have some ham and egg on a brioche bun, or a spicy chicken fajita roll.
“Christmas is a special season for Starbucks,” marketing head Keith Cole said. It’s when the coffee house rolls out a lot of chocolate goodies. This year we have Truffle Brownie Cheesecake, Chocolate Toffee Nut Loaf, Rocky Road Cookie and Chocolate Pudding in small cups.
The Chocolate Crepe Cake with alternating layers of crêpe and Belgian chocolate cream is just luscious as well as the Belgian Chocolate Strawberry cake with chocolate frosting.
Coffee at home
Serving coffee in gatherings calls for some whole-bean Christmas Blend, an aged Sumatra with vibrant cedar spice notes (also comes in Espresso Roast variety).
Tea lovers, meanwhile, can enjoy the Teavana Joyful Medley Tea, a tin can of 12 fragrant tea sachets filled with black tea, jasmine green tea and oolong.
Starting Dec. 4, Starbucks also will be selling the Hacienda Alsacia, a special blend from Costa Rica with complementary flavors of nuts, citrus and cocoa.
Of course, one could always go to the store for the Holiday Featured Beverages which signal the Starbucks planner season—a tradition that coffee lovers know by heart. Collect 18 stickers by buying 18 drinks, and redeem a planner until March 8, 2018.
The Starbucks 2018 planner has a repurposed leather sleeve and a delicate design inspired by the Kape Vinta, the whole-bean coffee from the Asia-Pacific region.
It is the 20th anniversary edition, and add-ons include coupons, a quirky stencil ruler, a pop-up “cup” calendar and a Limited Edition Starbucks Kape Vinta card.
Reload the card from Jan. 1-30, register it online at starbucks.ph, and get a chance to win one year’s worth of Starbucks drinks.
Collectibles
Check out the store for gift ideas. We love the “You are Here” holiday mugs with red and gold accents which are popular among collectors.
The blue drink wares and coffee press with bedazzling snowflakes remind us of Queen Elsa in “Frozen.”
And the Bearista stuffed toys add a plushy vibe to any home’s holiday decor.