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My younger sister Kristina has always been the goof of my family, so it is no surprise that the award for “Funniest Coffee Drink Name” goes to her.
Lovingly called the “Chumpkin Latte”
(I can’t help but laugh every time I call it that), this drink is a combination of a chai tea latte and pumpkin spice latte. It’s easily the simplest recipe I know, having only two ingredients! Well, more like four if you count your choice of coffee and creamer… anyway, let’s begin!
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Starting off with a little saucepan on my stovetop, I’m going to set the heat to medium high. I am making a larger batch, so that I can have “chumpkin lattes” all week long.
The first of the two ingredients is a special “chai tea concentrate” from the Oregon Chai brand (Trader Joe's sells a similar chai concentrate!) This flavor is a staple here in the Pacific Northwest. It has black tea and all those warm, lovely spices that remind me of my childhood, perfect for this time of year.
After pouring the whole carton into the saucepan and letting it heat up to the point of it steaming, I am going to add the second ingredient: pumpkin puree. The one I am using is from the Thrive Market brand; it’s my favorite! It has a lovely, mellow, pumpkin flavor without that sour bitterness that you sometimes get from canned pumpkin.
I want to cook off a bit of that raw pumpkin flavor that it has, so it’s going into the chai tea concentrate. Together, those are going to be whisked, and heated up, and cooked off.
And that’s it! Honestly, it’s kinda shocking to me that I’m not adding pumpkin spice blend or vanilla extract or something to further doctor this up; but that chai tea concentrate is so complex with flavor and it’s so rich that it really doesn’t need anything more. Except of course, some coffee! This is a latte, after-all, so this time I pulled a couple of espresso shots from my machine, but you can use whatever sort of coffee you prefer.
I also steamed up some milk in my little milk pitcher to top it off with some lovely, velvety foam. Making a large batch meant that my kids could get in on the action, they definitely wanted their own little “Chumpkin Lattes” too!
Any leftovers of the chai/pumpkin flavoring can be put into a mason jar and stored in the fridge for about five to seven days. This drink is so good! Something about real pumpkin flavor is just unbeatable! I hope you will appreciate this drink in name and in taste as much as I do.
Love and Hibiscus Everything,
