Warm it up

As summer smoothie menus disappear from restaurant windows, coffee shops and eateries excitedly replace them with autumn-friendly drinks. For students who aren’t satisfied with the usual coffee and lemon tea, there are plenty of other options to keep them warm as the weather gets colder.

The hot chocolate at Café Bagutta on 121st Street and Amsterdam is a standard fall/winter classic. The taste isn’t far from what could be made with some instant cocoa packets and hot water in a dorm room, but the cozy atmosphere of the café makes it worth the trip. Homey wooden tables and chairs are surrounded by windows lined with cushioned seats and decorative pillows that make the café a nice place to study, lounge, and sip hot chocolate or another drink of choice.

Artopolis Espresso—located at 114th Street and Amsterdam—is best known for the highly caffeinated drink in its name, but for those looking for a break from coffee, the café’s Mighty Leaf Tea is a delicious alternative. The caffeinated herbal tea comes in a variety of appealing flavors—Bombay Chai, Orange Dulce, Vanilla Bean, and Chamomile Citrus, just to name a few. The Chamomile Citrus in particular has a delectably rich flavor of orange tamed by the chamomile, making it a perfect and healthy option for those looking for a boost of energy in herbal form.

Ambitious students who have made it down to 104th Street and Broadway have surely smelled the heavenly aromas of pastries coming from Silver Moon Bakery. What isn’t so easily smelled is their equally delicious hot apple cider, the perfect fall season drink. Very sweet and piping hot, Silver Moon’s apple cider is a classic October treat.

Community Food & Juice’s (113th Street and Broadway) Hot Buttered Cider puts an emphatic juice in the restaurant’s name. It boasts cinnamon and maple, but the butter overpowers them both. This incredibly rich, buttery drink isn’t weighed down by the condiment. Rather, it combines with the apple flavor to make for a deliciously indulgent meal in itself. This ultimate autumn drink-dessert hybrid is the best bet for a truly decadent fall delicacy.

A bonus find for those of you looking to get your caffeine from a different source than Starbucks or Café East is the newly arrived Joyride Truck, which parks on the corner of 115th and Broadway. This frozen yogurt and Stumptown Coffee truck hopes to make this corner its permanent Friday location, and its “buzzed” (with caffeine) frozen yogurt is a great reason to try out this new addition to the neighborhood. Joyride’s yogurt is the perfect way to load up on caffeine—since there is three-fourths of a cup of coffee in the small—without sacrificing any of the celebrated tartness of Pinkberry-esque fro-yo.