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Our seasonal board changes four times a year, and every version of it starts the same way: Esther and I stand in the kitchen in the last week of a season, taste whatever the roaster has just brought in, and argue about fruit. The rule we have settled on is that a seasonal drink should taste like the month it is sold in, and it should not bury the coffee underneath it. That second part is harder than it sounds.

What is on the board right now

Summer is the easy season for drinks and the difficult one for pastry. Butter misbehaves above 75 degrees, so the case gets lighter and the cold bar gets busier.

• Honey lavender latte — our own lavender syrup, steamed whole milk, and a natural Brazilian shot that can stand up to it.
• Salted maple cold brew — eighteen-hour steep, a spoonful of maple, and enough flake salt to make the sweetness read as caramel.
• Cardamom bun — Esther’s laminated dough, hand-knotted, brushed with cardamom syrup straight out of the oven.
• Iced pistachio cortado — the one the staff drinks. Two ounces of milk, no more.
• Sour cherry galette — sold by the slice, gone most days by two.

Why the syrups are made here

Every syrup on our bar is made in the shop, usually on a Tuesday, usually by me. Commercial syrups are engineered to be tasted through milk and ice, which means they are aggressively sweet and often carry a vanilla base they do not tell you about. When we make our own, we control the sugar down to the gram, and we can cut it back hard when the coffee behind it is delicate.

A seasonal drink is not a dessert with espresso in it. If you finish the cup and cannot say what the coffee tasted like, we got the recipe wrong.

Make our spiced honey syrup at home

This is the one we get asked about most. It keeps three weeks in the fridge and works in everything from a latte to iced tea.

Ingredients

• 1 cup honey, something mild — clover or orange blossom
• 1 cup water
• 4 green cardamom pods, cracked
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 2 strips orange peel, no pith
• A pinch of salt

Instructions

1. Combine the honey and water in a small saucepan and warm over low heat until the honey dissolves. Do not let it boil — boiling honey dulls it.
2. Add the cardamom, cinnamon, orange peel, and salt. Hold at a bare simmer for five minutes.
3. Take the pan off the heat and let everything steep for a full thirty minutes as it cools.
4. Strain into a clean bottle and refrigerate.
5. Use half an ounce per eight-ounce latte. Start there; you can always add more.

Seasonal events

The board is only half of it. Each season we run a tasting night in the back room — twelve seats, four cups, and whatever Esther has been testing that week. Summer’s session pairs cold brew against three different natural-process lots, which is a more dramatic comparison than most people expect. Fall’s is entirely about spice, and it sells out first every year.

We also do a standing Thursday morning cupping that anyone can drop into, no ticket required. Bring a friend, come before the rush, and plan to stay about forty minutes. If you would rather see the full lineup before you come in, the events page lists what is scheduled next.

One last note on timing

Seasonal items do run out, and we do not carry them over. When the sour cherries stop coming in, the galette comes off the board, and it does not return until next June. That frustrates a few regulars every year, and we understand it — but it is also the reason the first one of the season tastes the way it does. Come early, ask what just landed, and let the person behind the bar talk you into something.