Our Favorite Drink Recipes
Whenever we travel, we always try to check out the local coffee shops. This way we can try out trends in different areas of the US and get inspiration for new drinks to offer. After being in the business for nearly two decades, we have tried our fair share of drinks! We thought we would compile a list of some of our favorite drinks so you can try to make them! **We do not serve all of these drinks at our shop. Some of them are seasonal drinks that are offered for a few months, and some are drinks we have tried from shops around the country.**
Desert Pear
This one isn’t so much a drink recipe as a favorite flavor. Coffee shops often have a wide variety of syrups you can add to your drink. We’ve definitely tried our fair share of flavors, but one underrated flavor that stood out to us is Desert Pear. We add this in iced tea, pair it with sparkling water for an Italian ice, or add it to water for flavored water. It’s a very subtle flavor that is smooth and sweet but not overpowering.
Gingerbread Frap
This drink is a little ironic given that it’s a cold, holiday drink. While most people prefer to sip on a hot cup of coffee on cold, wintery days, this drink is all of your favorite holiday flavors in a cold drink. To make the Gingerbread frap we put 3 pumps of Gingerbread Syrup, a scoop of chai powder, a cup of ice, and milk to volume in a blender. Once everything is blended together, we like to top it with a bit of cinnamon to add another classic holiday flavor. Though we prefer to drink this as a frap, you could consider adding espresso or even making this a hot drink also.
Cookies and Cream Frap
This drink was crafted to taste just like a cookies and cream milkshake. When we originally made the recipe for this drink, it did not contain any espresso although you could add a shot for an extra kick of caffeine. In a blender, combine white chocolate and vanilla syrup. We added a scoop of vanilla frap base then a cup of ice and milk to volume. Once the frap is fully blended, we added a small handful of chocolate chips. We then put the drink back on the blender and blended it on low for a few seconds. This makes the chocolate pieces easier to drink out of a straw. Once the drink is done you can enjoy our take on a cookies and cream milkshake!
Chai Tea Latte - (⭐available at Copper Canyon)
This is one of the simpler recipes, but it is a morning staple here at Copper Canyon. You can use any chai base, but we prefer David Rio’s Tiger Spice Chai or Elephant Spice Chai. The Tiger Spice has more of the typical chai flavor while the Elephant Spice is a vanilla based chai. We recommend using 2-3 heaping tablespoons of the mix with around 14 ounces of steamed milk. If you’d prefer not to use milk, you can also brew the chai base with water.
Mexican Mocha
This is our take on Mexican Hot Chocolate. Typically, Mexican Hot Chocolate features cinnamon and bittersweet chocolate. We wanted to keep this spicy chocolate flavor so we combined Spicy Cayenne Syrup with our usual mocha. At Copper Canyon we use 2-3 pumps of chocolate sauce, 1-2 pumps of cayenne syrup, a double shot of espresso, and steamed milk to volume. We serve this as a 16 ounce drink. The cayenne syrup has a decent bite to it so we like to start off with only 1 pump and customize the drink to our customers’ preferences. If you would prefer this drink without the espresso, you can shift it towards its Mexican Hot Chocolate inspiration and remove the coffee for hot chocolate with a bite.
Honey Latte - (⭐available at Copper Canyon)
This is a sweet and simple take on the classic latte. While we aren’t trying to reinvent the wheel with this drink, it is a morning staple here at Copper Canyon. We like to add a small amount of Route 66 Honey in the bottom of a cup before making our usual latte. At the end, we mix the honey in so the entire drink has a natural sweetness to it.
Tea - (⭐available at Copper Canyon)
In addition to coffee, we also drink a fair amount of tea at Copper Canyon Coffee. One of the staff favorites is Thai Lemongrass Ginger with a little bit of cream and honey. This particular tea is a Rooibos base, so it is caffeine free. We blend all of our own teas, and we have 47 different blends you can choose from!
Over the years, we have tried hundreds of drinks, and these are just some of our favorites. Do you have a favorite coffee shop recipe?