The Best Winter Warmer Drink Recipes – Alcoholic and Non-Alcoholic

  • Updated on: March 7, 2024

Aimee is a coffee enthusiast and has worked in the coffee industry for years. She sources coffee beans from around the world and her coffee journey began in… (read more).

Winter Warmer Recipes

Winter Warmers Recipes

There is nothing quite like wrapping your freezing cold hands around a cosy warm mug during the Winter time. Warmth and deliciousness, a double win!

At Adams and Russell, we love to experiment with coffee beans, flavours and creative recipes, and any gems we find we love to share with you. We have done our research and plenty of taste testing (for quality control purposes, obviously) and we are very excited to share with you the best winter warmer recipes, in our opinion.

What is Mulled Wine?

Also known as Glögi, mulled wine is usually a hot alcoholic drink. It is mainly made up of red wine, fruit and lots of spices.

This combination may sound odd, but trust us, it really hits the spot on a frosty Winters Day. The warmth of the hot wine and spices are a sure way to keep cold at bay.

Best Hot Mulled Wine Tea

Some say mulled wine is like Christmas in a mug (we would agree with them), although it is far too delicious to just enjoy in December.

Now, this is no ordinary mulled wine recipe. We have combined two of our favourite things (tea and wine) and created something truly spectacular, hot mulled wine tea! We got our inspiration from Gastronomer’s Guide.

Mulled Wine Ingredients

  • 705ml of Strongly Brewed Loose Leaf Tea
  • 170g Sugar
  • 1 Orange, peel and juice
  • 2 Sticks of Cinnamon
  • 12 Gratings of Nutmeg
  • 5 Cloves
  • 2 Star Anise
  • 5 Cardamom Pods
  • 1 750ml Bottle of Dry Red Wine

Method:

  1. Add the tea to a pan and bring to simmer. You can choose what tea you would like depending on the flavour, although we recommend a black tea such as our English Breakfast or Ceylon.
  2. Add the orange peel and juice to the pan along with the cinnamon, cloves, star anise, cardamom and sugar.
  3. Simmer gently for about 5 to 10 minutes or until the sugar has dissolved and the white orange rind has turned to the colour of the wine.
  4. Add the wine and bring the mixture to a simmer again.
  5. Serve the mulled wine into your favourite mugs and enjoy! You could even add some cinnamon sticks to act as stirrers if you would like.

If you want to make this recipe non-alcoholic, simply replace the wine with some diluted berry squash.

How to Make Irish Coffee

Another fantastic combination, whiskey and coffee! Known as caife Gaelach in Ireland, Irish coffee is a combination of what might seem like random ingredients, but they work together oh so well.

Irish Central tells us that the drink was created in 1943. Bad weather forced a boat to turn back from New York. Joe Sheridan, a chef/highly skilled bartender, was asked to prepare something for the freezing cold passengers.

He put Irish Whiskey into their coffee and topped with pouring cream. From then on, the concoction soon became world famous.

The hot coffee and aromatic whiskey will warm you up from the inside out and is a perfect treat to unwind in an evening. Irish coffee is very easy to get wrong, so this one required a lot of testing, which was an extra bonus for us.

We decided that our favourite recipe was one of the simpler ones we found from Food Network.

Irish Coffee Ingredients:

  • 1 Cup of Freshly Brewed Hot Coffee
  • 1 Tablespoon of Brown Sugar
  • 3 Tablespoons of Irish Whiskey
  • Heavy Cream (that has been slightly whipped)

Method:

  1. Pour some boiling water in your mug of choice and leave it for a minute or two to preheat it, then empty.
  2. Brew your fresh coffee and pour into the mug so it is about ¾ full.
  3. Add the brown sugar and stir until it is completely dissolved.
  4. Stir in the Irish whiskey.
  5. Pour the slightly whipped heavy cream over the back of a metal spoon on top of the drink to ensure it floats.
  6. Serve and enjoy!

Low Carb Winter Drink – Pumpkin Spice Latte

If mulled wine is Christmas in a glass, you could probably call this pumpkin spice latte Autumn in a glass. This beverage has made quite the name for itself, combining the flavours of pumpkin, cinnamon, nutmeg and clove.

At your favourite coffee shops, it is usually only available in Autumn, which is a tragedy we had to fix. We’ve found the tastiest recipe, so you can drink pumpkin spice lattes all day, every day.

This fantastic recipe is from Ruled.Me. It is such a delicious low-carb drink, only containing 2.49g of net carbs!

Pumpkin Spice Latte Ingredients:

  • 475ml of Strong Freshly Brewed Coffee
  • 240ml Coconut Milk
  • 60ml Pumpkin Puree or Pumpkin Syrup
  • 2 Teaspoons of Pumpkin Pie Spice
  • ½ Teaspoon of Cinnamon
  • 1 Teaspoon of Vanilla Extract
  • 2 Tablespoons of Heavy Whipping Cream
  • 2 Tablespoons of Butter
  • 15 Drops of Liquid Stevia

Method:

  1. Melt the butter, pumpkin puree or syrup, coconut milk and spices together in a pan over a medium-low heat.
  2. Brew 475ml of strong fresh coffee.
  3. Once the pumpkin mixture is starting to boil, mix it together.
  4. Stir in the coffee.
  5. Add the stevia and heavy cream.
  6. If using pumpkin puree, it is recommended to add the mixture to a blender and blend well. If you are using syrup, you can skip this step.
  7. Serve warm and pour into your favourite mug. You can top with some whipped cream and a sprinkle of cinnamon.

British Winter Drink – Hot Spiced Apple Cider

A warm, spiced apple cider is perfect after a long, cold and crisp day to share with friends. It is so simple and is probably one of the easiest recipes we will share with you.

You could probably find a more complex recipe, but we have found this basic one to be the best. We recommend experimenting with flavours, spices and the kind of cider you use. These three things can make a drastic difference to the final result.

Hot Apple Cider Ingredients:

  • 1 Litre of Somerset Cider
  • 4 Tablespoons of Honey
  • The Peel of One Orange
  • 2 Cinnamon Sticks
  • Small Handful of Whole Cloves
  • 2 Teaspoons of Ground Allspice
  • Splash of Brandy

Method:

  1. Put all the ingredients into a pan on a low heat and stir occasionally for around 15 minutes. Keep an eye on the mixture to make sure it doesn’t boil.
  2. Strain the mixture into your favourite glass.
  3. Enjoy, yes it really is that simple!

The Best Winter/ Christmas Vodka Drink

Here are two delicious Winter Christmas recipes that have a generous helping of vodka that is sure to warm the soul on a freezing Winters day.

The first is a Christmas Pudding Vodka recipe from The Hairy Bikers that is fantastically spicy and sweet. It lasts a year so enjoy a little now during these cold Winter days and save the rest for Christmas!

Christmas Vodka Ingredients:

  • 300g of Mixed Dried Fruits of your Choice (sultanas, currants, raisins)
  • 75g Caster Sugar
  • 2 Cinnamon Sticks
  • 2 Teaspoons of Ground Mixed Spice
  • 6 Cloves
  • ½ Whole Nutmeg (Finely Grated)
  • The Grated Zest of 1 Whole Orange
  • The Grated Zest of 1 Unwaxed Lemon
  • 750ml Bottle of Good Quality Vodka

Method:

  1. Mix your dried fruit with sugar, cinnamon sticks, mixed spice, cloves, nutmeg and citrus zest in a bowl.
  2. Pour over the vodka, mix and cover tightly with cling film.
  3. Leave in the fridge for 3 days, but stir once a day.
  4. Line a sieve with fine muslin and place over a large jug.
  5. Pour the mixture into the sieve and allow the liquid to drip through.
  6. Pour into bottles and store in the fridge or freezer.

This next recipe is from What Katie Ate and is a delicious winter cocktail. You can even use the Christmas vodka if you want some extra flavour.

Apple, Ginger and Cranberry Vodka Cocktail Ingredients:

  • 500ml Apple Juice
  • 500ml Cranberry Juice
  • 100ml Vodka (or you can use the Christmas Vodka)
  • 500ml Ginger Ale
  • Ice

Method:

  1. Mix the apple juice, cranberry juice and vodka in a blender and blend until pale and frothy.
  2. Pour into a large serving jug.
  3. Add the ginger ale and a good handful of ice.
  4. Serve and enjoy!
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