Holiday Coffee Drinks: What's in Each One (And How to Order It)

The Short Answer

Almost every holiday coffee drink is a drink you already know with a winter flavor added.

A peppermint mocha is a mocha with peppermint syrup in it. A gingerbread latte is a latte with gingerbread syrup. An eggnog latte swaps the steamed milk for steamed eggnog. The espresso underneath does not change and the barista is not doing anything exotic — the seasonal part is usually one bottle and one topping. Which means that if you already know whether you like a latte or a mocha, you can predict any of these before you order it.

Here is what is in the main ones, when they show up, how much caffeine they carry, and how to order one that is not a dessert.

When Holiday Drinks Actually Arrive

The first week of November, more or less industry-wide.

Starbucks sets the calendar the rest of the industry reacts to, and for 2026 it put its holiday menu on November 5 — the Peppermint Mocha, Caramel Brulée Latte, Sugar Cookie Latte and Gingerbread Chai returning, plus a new Tiramisu Velvet latte and cold brew.

Independent shops are less predictable. Some go up the same week to catch the demand, some wait until after Thanksgiving, and plenty never run a formal holiday menu at all — they just put a syrup or two on the bar. The flavors generally run through the end of December and into early January.

Early November is also when the pumpkin spice latte comes off the board. If you have a favorite on either side of that changeover, that is the week it moves.

Peppermint Mocha

The most popular of them, and the one a shop is most likely to have if it has anything at all.

It is a mocha — espresso, chocolate, steamed milk — with peppermint syrup added and usually whipped cream on top. Tasting Table's account of the origin describes the Starbucks version as espresso, mocha sauce, peppermint syrup, whipped cream and dark chocolate curls, and dates its debut to 2002, developed by a ten-person group called the Starbucks Liquid Lab and inspired by how much peppermint candy is around at Christmas. The recipe has barely moved since; it used to be finished with red sprinkles.

Peppermint is not a Christmas invention. Dictionary.com defines it as "an herb, *Mentha piperita,* of the mint family, cultivated for its aromatic, pungent oil," and first records the word in 1690–1700. The holiday association comes from the candy cane, not the plant.

In the cup, the chocolate does most of the work and the mint reads as cool rather than cold. If you like a mocha you will like this; if you already find mochas too sweet, this one is sweeter. Our mocha vs hot chocolate comparison explains why the bitter espresso in a mocha cuts the sugar — that is what keeps a peppermint mocha from tasting like syrup.

Gingerbread Latte and Gingerbread Chai

Gingerbread is the other long-running holiday flavor, and it has quietly changed drinks.

Tasting Table dates the gingerbread latte to 2000, two years ahead of the peppermint mocha. For 2026, though, Starbucks named a Gingerbread Chai rather than a gingerbread latte — a real difference rather than a rename, because a chai is spiced black tea with steamed milk, not espresso with steamed milk.

The word is far older than either version. Dictionary.com defines gingerbread as "a type of cake flavored with ginger and molasses" or "a rolled cookie similarly flavored, often cut in fanciful shapes," and traces it to 1250–1300, from Middle English *gingebreed*, a variant of *gingebrad* — "ginger paste." Ginger and molasses are still what the syrup imitates.

The practical consequence of the chai switch is caffeine: tea carries roughly half of what coffee does volume for volume. Our chai latte guide has the figures, and the fix if you want more is to order it dirty — a shot of espresso added to the chai.

Eggnog Latte

The oldest holiday coffee drink there is, and the only common one that changes the milk instead of adding a syrup.

Tasting Table dates the eggnog latte to 1986 — sixteen years before the peppermint mocha. The build is simple: steamed eggnog in place of steamed milk, espresso, and usually a dusting of nutmeg. No syrup, which is why it tastes like a custard rather than a candy.

Two things are worth knowing first.

There is no alcohol in it. Dictionary.com defines eggnog as "a drink made of eggs, milk or cream, sugar, and, usually, rum or wine," and calls the word "An Americanism dating back to 1765–75" — but the dairy-case eggnog a coffee shop steams is the non-alcoholic kind. Eggs, cream, sugar and spice; no rum.

It contains eggs as well as dairy, which makes it the one holiday drink that usually cannot be made dairy-free or vegan. Non-dairy eggnogs exist in grocery stores, but most shops stock one carton of the regular kind for six weeks a year and that is that.

The drink is centuries older than coffee shops. Smithsonian Magazine traces eggnog to posset, a medieval British drink, quoting Time's Elizabeth Dias: "By the 13th century, monks were known to drink a posset with eggs and figs. Milk, eggs and sherry were foods of the wealthy, so eggnog was often used in toasts to prosperity and good health."

The Dessert Lane: Caramel Brulée, Sugar Cookie, Toasted White Chocolate

The sweet end of the menu, and structurally all one drink: a latte with a dessert-flavored sauce or syrup and usually a topping.

• Caramel brulée — caramel pushed toward burnt sugar, which gives it a slightly bitter edge plain caramel syrup does not have.
• Sugar cookie — vanilla and almond notes standing in for a cookie. One of the sweeter options on any board.
• Toasted white chocolate — a white chocolate mocha with a caramelized note added. Sweeter than a regular mocha, because white chocolate has no cocoa solids to balance it.

Honest advice on this group: order them small. The flavor is front-loaded, so a small gives you the whole experience while a large mostly gives you more sweetened milk. They also go better with something savory than with a pastry, for the reason our food pairing guide explains.

They Are All Four Drinks Underneath

Strip the seasonal flavor off and the whole menu collapses into a short list:

• A latte — espresso and steamed milk. Gingerbread, sugar cookie, caramel brulée.
• A mocha — a latte with chocolate in it. Peppermint mocha, toasted white chocolate mocha.
• A chai — spiced black tea and steamed milk, no coffee at all. Gingerbread chai.
• Cold brew or an iced latte — the same flavors over ice, which sells better in Texas in December than people outside Texas expect.

So the useful question at the counter is not "what is a caramel brulée latte," it is "is that a latte or a mocha, and how sweet is the sauce." Our guide to espresso drinks covers the bases one at a time, and latte vs cappuccino covers the milk-and-foam difference behind how any of them feels.

How Much Caffeine Is in a Holiday Drink?

The same as the drink underneath it. The flavor adds none.

Caffeine tracks espresso shots, not drink names. Using USDA FoodData Central figures and the sizes we pour — a small (8 oz) on one shot, a medium (12 oz) and a large (16 oz) on two:

• Small holiday latte or mocha (one shot) — about 64 mg
• Medium or large (two shots) — about 127 mg

A chai-based holiday drink lands lower, because black tea carries roughly half the caffeine of coffee volume for volume and much of the cup is milk. Decaf is the same drink with the caffeine taken out. The full ladder is in how much caffeine is in a latte.

What does change between a plain latte and a holiday latte is sugar, not caffeine.

How to Order One That Isn't a Dessert

The default recipes are built sweet on purpose, and every adjustment below is a normal thing to ask for.

• Fewer pumps of syrup. Half is a sensible starting point. The biggest lever, and it costs nothing.
• Skip the whipped cream. It goes on last, so saying no is easy.
• Go smaller. A small at full flavor beats a large at half strength, and it is cheaper.
• Add a shot. If the drink tastes milky and flat, more espresso fixes it faster than more syrup will.
• Order the base drink and ask for a dash. "A mocha with a little peppermint" is a different, less sweet drink, and any bar can make it.

If phrasing that at the counter feels awkward, how to order coffee is the whole script.

Non-Dairy Holiday Drinks

Oat milk is the usual recommendation for the spiced and caramel flavors — it steams well and its natural sweetness sits with cinnamon, ginger and caramel rather than fighting them. Almond is lighter and nuttier, which suits a plain mocha more than a heavily spiced drink. We put the two side by side in oat milk vs almond milk in coffee.

Two cautions: the eggnog latte generally cannot be made dairy-free, and the sauce can be the problem rather than the milk — so ask about the bottle too.

Holiday Drinks at Revival Coffee

Our straight answer, the same one we gave about pumpkin spice, because we would rather be honest than sell you a maybe: we rotate seasonal specials throughout the year — iced drinks through the summer, warm specialties in fall and winter — and we do not publish the winter lineup in advance. So if you are after a specific holiday drink, ask us or check the board when you come in. In October, that beats a promise we cannot guarantee.

What is always there is the base every holiday drink is built on. From our menu: a mocha at $5.50 (espresso, chocolate and steamed milk, topped with whipped cream), a latte, cappuccino and flat white at $5.00 each, an americano at $4.00, drip coffee at $3.00, cold brew at $5.00 and an iced latte at $5.50, with oat milk, almond milk and other non-dairy alternatives on the bar every day. For the non-coffee drinker there is tea and hot chocolate — the hot chocolate is not on the online price list, so ask at the counter, and where to get hot chocolate in Richardson covers what separates a good one from a packet.

That mocha is the closest year-round relative of the holiday menu: most of what makes a peppermint mocha feel like December is the chocolate and the whipped cream, and both are on the board every month of the year.

We are at 1251 S. Sherman St. Ste. 112, open 7 AM to 3 PM Monday through Friday, with weekend hours still being finalized. The visit page has the current schedule and directions.

Come Find Your Winter Drink

Whether you want the peppermint, the spice, something chocolate, or just a very good plain latte in a warm room — tell us how sweet you like things and we will work from there.

Find us at 1251 S. Sherman St. Ste. 112 in Richardson, near the Spring Valley DART station and easy to reach off US-75. Browse the menu, read up on what makes a coffee shop cozy while you decide, or keep going through the rest of our coffee guides.