Brewing holiday cheer

MARY REICHARD, HOST: Today is Tuesday, December 17th.

Thank you for turning to WORLD Radio to help start your day.

Good morning. I’m Mary Reichard.

NICK EICHER, HOST: And I’m Nick Eicher.

Coming next on The World and Everything in It: Fa, la, la, la, la, la, la… lattes.

Eggnog may be the classic Christmas beverage, but gingerbread lattes and peppermint mochas are much in demand this time of year, too. Baristas can let their creativity loose over the holidays.

REICHARD: Today, WORLD Senior Writer Kim Henderson brings us along to some shops serving coffee and other libations that’ll leave you craving a cuppa your own.

AUDIO: [Sound of marching band and crowd]

KIM HENDERSON: Brookhaven, Mississippi, has about 15,000 residents. A good portion of them are here at the annual Christmas parade.

AUDIO: [Sound from parade]

It’s 40 degrees outside—that’s cold down here in the South. Parade goers are bundled up in heavy coats and scarves. Some have cups in their hands, a sure sign they visited one of the local coffee shops on their way to the parade.

A few blocks away, the Wild Fox Coffee Shop has a special holiday menu just for December.

CUSTOMER: The Yeti, The Snowglobe…

CUSTOMER: Chai Sugar Cookie. Chai, that’s interesting because chai’s like tea, right?

CUSTOMER: I want the “Drink that Stole Christmas.” [Worker: Hot, iced, or frozen?] Hot.

Behind the counter, employee Abbi Burgess fills the order.

BURGESS: So we’re going to put the matcha in first. One pump of white chocolate. I personally like to put the raspberry in the milk and it makes it a nice color, and then we steam it to 160 degrees.

What do the customers think? Is everything merry and bright?

CUSTOMERS: It’s very good. I normally don’t like matcha, but I like that one. Yeah, it’s not an overpowering green tea taste, but you can taste it.

But the hottest commodity on the menu is a recipe dreamed up three Christmases ago. It’s called “The Festive Fox.” Here’s store manager Desiray Boswell.

DESIREE: I believe the boss lady came up with this one. And it is a play on, um, a regular Mocha, mint, dark chocolate. But instead of that, we use white chocolate infused peppermint and white chocolate.

It’s the most wonderful time of the year. Customers like the holiday menu so much they don’t want to see it go in January.

DESIREE: I will have people come in July and ask for Festive Foxes, and I'm like, “We don't have anything, really.”

SOUND: [Live music — “Noel”]

Back at the parade, the live music is pretty good. But there are bigger towns with bigger parades and bigger coffee shops not so far from Brookhaven. But Brookhaven manages to collect more sales tax than any other municipality in the region. Local Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Garrick Combs attributes that to a vibrant shopping climate.

COMBS: From furniture to gifts to jewelry to different things that are all locally owned and have been here forever and ever, and our people support.

He says the coffee shops and their special December menus are part of that. They build community spirit.

COMBS: Those winter time and Christmasy concoctions. It gets everybody in a festive mood and lifts everybody's spirits for the holiday time.

Across town at PJ’s Coffee, employee Alex Merrell is whipping up a Cookie Butter Latte.

ALEX: That was the cookie butter syrup. I put three pumps in there for our small size, and now I'm going to drop our two-ounce shot of espresso…

That’s a new pick on their menu, along with the butter rum latte. Demand keeps Merrell and other employees at PJ’s hopping.

ALEX: People who don't normally come during the year, they'll come out and get the Christmas seasonal drinks.

Ramping up business is important this time of year, according to PJ’s owner Angie Lambert.

LAMBERT: This is our, I guess, our time to shine, because it's coffee season. It’s what I like to call it. Summers are hard for the coffee industry, so once we get that first cool snap, we get excited.

Lambert says their top limited-time offering is peppermint bark, hot or even frozen. They call the frozen option “velvet ice.”

LAMBERT: It's white chocolate and Hershey's chocolate and peppermint sprinkles. So it's like Christmas in a cup.

But what about folks who aren’t fond of coffee? Brookhaven has a festive option for them as well.

NANCY: Hi, there. How are you? What can I get you this morning?

Nancy McKenzie is taking orders at Sipps. It’s a drive-through soda shop that blends a base soda with flavored syrups and other goodies.

Like the coffee shops, Sipps pushes the boundaries on signature holiday drinks, too. Employee April Norton explains how Candy Cane Lane is made.

APRIL: You start with the Dr. Pepper and you add vanilla, peppermint, vanilla cream, whipped cream, and peppermint flakes on top.

Starting in December, Sipps posts pictures of their holiday drinks on social media. Customers get excited when a new item drops.

MCKENZIE: People see it and they come by and say, “I want that drink that was on Facebook.”

It’s fun. And the community’s holiday spirit grows.

APRIL: (shakes drink) Here’s your Jingle Bell Rock. Thanks for sipping. Have a good day.

MUSIC: [Mariah Carey — All I Want For Christmas is You]

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Kim Henderson in Brookhaven, Mississippi.

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