How to make a pumpkin-spiced latte at home: it's surprisingly easy

Starbucks is not bringing the seasonal drink to the Middle East this year, but you can take matters into your own hands

If you were one of the many pumpkin-spiced latte fans who were devastated to hear that Starbucks is not bringing the seasonal favourite to the Middle East this year, we may have a solution for you.

A DIY pumpkin-spiced latte is easier to make than you'd expect. You just need to make your own syrup, which is the bulk of the work, and then you can add it to your coffee, as and when you like.

The syrup is simply a combination of the most autumnal and wintry flavours you can think of (nutmeg, cinnamon and ginger), combined with pumpkin, as the name implies, water and sugar.

In a nutshell, you make a spice-infused water, and then combine the mixture with sugar and pureed pumpkin to make the syrup.

When you have made the syrup, you can add it to any coffee you make at home, whether it's spicing up an Americano, an iced coffee or in a latte, as it was originally intended.

The recipe below makes around 400 millilitres of syrup, which you should store in the fridge.

Here, we breakdown how to make your own pumpkin-spiced syrup ...

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  All of the ingredients to make your own pumpkin-spiced syrup: fresh ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg, sugar, pumpkin puree and water. Farah Andrews / The National

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  1. Start by adding the fresh ginger, cinnamon and nutmeg to your water. Farah Andrews / The National

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  2. Bring it to the boil, then reduce the heat and let it simmer for about 20 minutes – make sure you keep the lid on, to ensure the liquid does not reduce too much. It will smell very autumnal, very quickly! Farah Andrews / The National

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  3. Take the pot off the heat, and strain the mixture through a clean cloth, tea towel or a coffee strainer into a bowl – you just want to make sure there are no bits or pieces of spice in the liquid. Farah Andrews / The National

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  4. Clean the pot and put the strained spice liquid back into it and add the sugar and mix on a low heat. Farah Andrews / The National

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  5. When the sugar has dissolved, add the pureed pumpkin and mix well; this will take two to three minutes. Farah Andrews / The National

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  6. When there are no longer bits of pumpkin, stop mixing and let the mixture simmer on a medium heat. Farah Andrews / The National

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  7. It will take 10 to 15 minutes for the mixture to thicken into a syrup. Farah Andrews / The National

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  8. It is done when it is a syrup-like thickness, it will be rich medium-brown in colour. Farah Andrews / The National

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  For reference, this is the pumpkin puree we used for the recipe, available in UAE supermarkets. Farah Andrews / The National

Ingredients

• 600ml water
• 1 tablespoon of ground nutmeg
• 3 cinnamon sticks
• 15g fresh ginger – you can slice it or keep it whole
• 250g caster sugar
• 100g canned pumpkin

Method

1. Start by adding the fresh ginger, cinnamon sticks and nutmeg to your water.

2. Bring it to the boil, then reduce the heat and let it simmer for about 20 minutes – make sure you keep the lid on, to ensure the liquid does not reduce too much. It will smell very autumnal, very quickly!

3. Take the pot off the heat, and strain the mixture through a clean cloth, tea towel or a coffee strainer into a bowl – you just want to make sure there are no bits or pieces of spice in the liquid.

4. Clean the pot and put the strained spice liquid back into it and add the sugar and mix on a low heat.
5. When the sugar has dissolved, add the pureed pumpkin and mix well; this will take two to three minutes.
6. When there are no longer bits of pumpkin, stop mixing and let the mixture simmer on a medium heat until it thickens into a syrup – this will take 10 to 15 minutes.
7. It is done when it has a syrup-like thickness, it will be rich medium-brown in colour.
8. When you have your syrup made, store it in an air-tight container and add it to coffee at your leisure.

The finished product, pumpkin-spiced syrup (left) and a DIY pumpkin-spiced latte, made at home. Farah Andrews / The National