5 Vegan-Friendly Drinks For Fall
Nothing says autumn quite like sipping from a hot mug on a chilly morning. Hot drinks, affirms The Guardian, help wake you up, get you through the workday, provide you relaxation at home, and prepare you to rest.
But for vegans, finding a cruelty-free fall drink can present a challenge, as plenty of store-brand and chain coffee shop hot drink mixes include non-vegan ingredients like dairy. A prime example: Starbucks' Pumpkin Spice Latte. Here we've gathered five colder-weather vegan beverages to keep you cozy all season long.
London Fog Tea Latte
A twist on a classic, Nourished by Caroline's London Fog Tea Latte starts off as a cup of British earl grey tea before getting the North American fixings: frothed milk and vanilla flavoring.
To make your own vegan London Fog, stick with nut milk over oat milk — nut milk doesn't separate when heated. Try Elmhurst 1925's barista pistachio milk for a special treat. Its rich, buttery flavor perfectly compliments the crisp, citrus flavor of the bergamot in the tea, and the "barista" in the product name guarantees this non-dairy milk froths like its animal counterpart.
Clevr SuperLattes
Clevr's to-die-for creamy, vegan-friendly oat and coconut milk SuperLattes are loaded with immunity-boosting probiotics, stress-relieving adaptogens, and mood-enhancing mushrooms. The barista-style powdered mixes contain no added sugar, making them good for you, animals, and the planet. No wonder Oprah named Clevr SuperLattes as one of her Favorite Things.
Indulge in Clevr's classic coffee and matcha flavors, or spice things up with the chai and golden SuperLattes. For an evening in, try the rose cocoa or sleeptime. Simply blend with water, and let Clevr work its magic. You won't be disappointed.
Vegan Hot Cocoa
Say auf Wiedersehen to your Swiss Miss memories. Minimalist Baker's 5-Minute vegan hot cocoa puts other vegan cocoa recipes to shame. Plus, you can easily make it using ingredients you've already got in your pantry (with an option to add peppermint flavor — yum!).
Feel free to experiment with different types of plant milk bases for the consistency and flavor of your hot chocolate. If you're not keen on the taste of vegan-friendly stevia the recipe calls for, try another vegan sugar alternative like Purecane, which doesn't have the same metallic aftertaste.
Four Sigmatic Mushroom Coffee
Why settle for a regular cup o' joe when you could have Four Sigmatic's organic and Fair Trade coffee mixed with adaptogenic mushrooms? Designed to balance and refresh your body and mind, Four Sigmatic's plant-based formulas come in whole beans, ground coffee, and instant coffee mix — perfect for a hot drink on the go.
If you haven't developed a palate for drinking black coffee, add Hope and Sesame's sesame milk. This unique, fragrant barista blend foams like a dream and pairs perfectly with the coffee's notes of nuts and brown sugar.
Vegan Caramel Apple Cider
Take that bag of apples from the discount bin and transform them into a sweet and spicy autumn drink that will have your whole house smelling good all day long. Foodal describes its slow cooker recipe for dairy-free caramel apple cider as tasting "like liquid fall." Who can resist that?
As the apples, cloves, cinnamon, and allspice mull together, whip up some almond milk caramel sauce or snag Not Just's vegan coconut sugar caramel in a sustainable glass jar. Add a shot of bourbon and call this cider a nightcap!