Best Winter Coffee Drinks You Can Make with Instant Coffee
Nine hot winter coffee drinks that start with a spoonful of Colombian instant coffee. No machine needed, and most are ready in about 3 minutes.
Iced coffee gets the buzz, but most mugs are still hot. Hot coffee made up 71% of the coffee Americans drank in a day, per the National Coffee Association's Fall 2026 report. With a mug and a good jar of instant coffee, you can make café-style winter drinks in about 3 minutes.
Our co-founder, Andrea Giraldo, made her first trip to Colombia's coffee country when she was eight days old, and she calls Manizales, in the heart of that coffee country, her hometown. The nine recipes below take the same 100% Colombian Arabica that goes into every Giraldo Farms jar and dress it up for the holidays.
Every drink here is alcohol-free. Once your water is hot, most take about 3 minutes. The amaretto coffee takes 1. The dirty matcha takes 4, and the café con leche takes 5 because the cinnamon needs time to steep.
How to make a latte with instant coffee
To make a latte with instant coffee, stir 2 teaspoons of instant coffee into 2 ounces of hot water. Heat 6 ounces of milk until it steams, then froth it. Pour the milk into the coffee and spoon the foam on top. It takes about 3 minutes.
Our product pages suggest 1 teaspoon for a 6 to 8 ounce cup of coffee. With 6 ounces of milk in the mug, 2 teaspoons keeps the coffee flavor up front.
- Dissolve. Stir the coffee into 2 oz of water just off the boil. We suggest 195 to 205°F for coffee at home (our brewing guide).
- Heat. Warm 6 oz of milk in the microwave for about 1 minute, until it steams. Stop before it boils.
- Froth. Use any method in the table below.
- Pour. Hold the foam back with a spoon and pour the milk into the coffee. Then spoon the foam on top.
How to froth milk without a machine
Any of these four ways works. Whole milk makes the richest foam (The Manual).
| Method | How to do it | Time |
|---|---|---|
| Handheld frother | Dip the whisk just under the surface of the hot milk and switch it on | About 20 seconds |
| Jar | Fill a microwave-safe glass jar halfway with cold milk, screw on the lid and shake hard. Take the lid off, then microwave 30 to 45 seconds | 30 seconds of shaking |
| French press | Warm the milk to about 140°F, fill the press a third of the way, and pump the plunger | About 30 seconds |
| Whisk | Whisk the hot milk hard in a bowl | About 1 minute |
With the jar, you heat the milk after you shake it, so skip step 2 above. Always take the lid off before the jar goes in the microwave, and lift it out with a towel because the glass gets hot.
9 winter coffee drinks to make at home
Each recipe makes one mug, about 8 to 10 ounces. Between them, they use every coffee we make.
| Drink | Giraldo Farms coffee | Time | Tastes like |
|---|---|---|---|
| Vanilla Latte | Vanilla | 3 minutes | Creamy and gently sweet |
| Eggnog Latte | Regular | 3 minutes | Holiday custard with nutmeg |
| Peppermint Mocha | Regular | 3 minutes | Chocolate and cool mint |
| Gingerbread Latte | Regular | 3 minutes | Molasses and warm ginger |
| Salted Caramel Latte | Regular | 3 minutes | Buttery caramel with a salty edge |
| Amaretto Coffee with Cream | Amaretto | 1 minute | Sweet almond |
| Hazelnut Mocha | Hazelnut | 3 minutes | Chocolate and toasted hazelnut |
| Colombian Café con Leche | Organic | 5 minutes | Cinnamon milk with soft coffee |
| Dirty Matcha Latte | Regular | 4 minutes | Earthy green tea with a coffee kick |
1. Vanilla Latte (the base recipe)
Every latte on this list builds on this one, the simplest instant coffee latte we make. The vanilla is already in the coffee, so you decide how sweet it gets.
You'll need
- 2 tsp Giraldo Farms Vanilla Instant Coffee
- 2 oz hot water
- 6 oz milk
- 1 tsp maple syrup or sugar (optional)
- Pinch of ground cinnamon (optional)
Steps
- Stir the coffee into the hot water in your mug.
- Heat and froth the milk.
- Pour in the milk, spoon the foam on top, and dust it with cinnamon. Taste, then sweeten if you like.
A warm drink tastes sweeter than the same drink over ice, so you may need less sugar than you think.
2. Eggnog Latte
Store-bought eggnog does most of the work here. It brings the sugar, the cream and the spice, so you won't need any sugar.
You'll need
- 2 tsp Giraldo Farms Regular Instant Coffee
- 2 oz hot water
- 4 oz eggnog
- 2 oz milk
- Pinch of ground nutmeg
Steps
- Stir the coffee into the hot water.
- Warm the eggnog and milk together in the microwave for about 1 minute, stirring halfway. Keep it below a boil so it stays smooth.
- Froth it, pour it into the coffee, and finish with nutmeg.
For a Christmas Eve mug, use our Decaf. It has 97 to 99% of the caffeine removed.
3. Peppermint Mocha
Chocolate and mint in one warm mug. Cocoa mixes in best when the liquid is hot, so it goes in with the coffee.
You'll need
- 2 tsp Giraldo Farms Regular Instant Coffee
- 2 oz hot water
- 1 Tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1 Tbsp sugar
- 1/8 tsp peppermint extract
- 6 oz milk
- Whipped cream and a crushed candy cane (optional)
Steps
- Whisk the coffee, cocoa and sugar into the hot water until no lumps remain.
- Stir in the peppermint extract.
- Add the hot frothed milk. Top with whipped cream and candy cane.
Peppermint extract is strong. Start with 1/8 teaspoon, taste, and add a drop more only if you want it.
4. Gingerbread Latte
All the flavor of a gingerbread cookie, with no oven. Molasses gives it a deep, toasty sweetness.
You'll need
- 2 tsp Giraldo Farms Regular Instant Coffee
- 2 oz hot water
- 1 tsp molasses
- 1 tsp brown sugar
- 1/4 tsp ground ginger
- 1/8 tsp ground cinnamon
- 6 oz milk
Steps
- Stir the coffee, molasses, brown sugar and spices into the hot water.
- Froth the milk and pour it in.
- Top with a pinch of cinnamon.
Ground spices like to sink. Whisk them into the hot coffee first, or froth them right into the milk.
5. Salted Caramel Latte
Don't skip the pinch of salt. Salt cuts bitterness more than it cuts sweetness, so the caramel tastes richer (Breslin and Beauchamp, Nature).
You'll need
- 2 tsp Giraldo Farms Regular Instant Coffee
- 2 oz hot water
- 1 Tbsp caramel sauce, plus a little for the top
- Small pinch of flaky sea salt
- 6 oz milk
Steps
- Stir the coffee and caramel into the hot water until the caramel melts.
- Add the salt, then the hot frothed milk.
- Drizzle a little caramel over the foam.
Use our Vanilla in place of Regular and you have a caramel vanilla latte.
6. Amaretto Coffee with Cream
The fastest drink on the list, with no frothing at all. Our Amaretto coffee has the sweet almond flavor of the Italian liqueur and no alcohol.
You'll need
- 1 1/2 tsp Giraldo Farms Amaretto Instant Coffee
- 6 oz hot water
- 2 Tbsp half-and-half or cream
- 1 tsp brown sugar (optional)
- Whipped cream (optional)
Steps
- Stir the coffee and brown sugar into the hot water.
- Stir in the half-and-half.
- Top with whipped cream if you like.
It's a sweet way to end a holiday dinner, and it's safe to serve to guests who skip alcohol.
7. Hazelnut Mocha
A spoonful of chocolate hazelnut spread melts right into hot coffee. Our Hazelnut has no added sugar, so the spread brings all the sweetness.
You'll need
- 2 tsp Giraldo Farms Hazelnut Instant Coffee
- 2 oz hot water
- 1 Tbsp chocolate hazelnut spread
- 6 oz milk
Steps
- Stir the coffee and spread into the hot water until smooth, about 20 seconds.
- Add the hot frothed milk.
- Shave a little chocolate on top if you have some.
8. Colombian Café con Leche with Panela and Cinnamon
In Colombia, a tinto is a small black coffee, often sweetened with panela, an unrefined cane sugar (Flavors of Bogotá). Ask for a perico and you get coffee with a splash of milk. Café con leche flips the ratio. It's a big cup of hot milk with a little coffee.
We sweeten ours with panela too. Colombia makes more panela than any other country, and it eats the most per person (Wikipedia). For the coffee, we use our USDA Certified Organic, shade-grown jar.
You'll need
- 1 tsp Giraldo Farms Organic Instant Coffee
- 1 oz hot water
- 8 oz milk
- 1 cinnamon stick
- 1 to 2 tsp grated panela or brown sugar
Steps
- Snap the cinnamon stick in half and warm it in the milk in the microwave for about 90 seconds. Let it sit for 2 minutes so the cinnamon flavors the milk.
- Stir the coffee and panela into the hot water in a large mug.
- Take out the cinnamon stick, froth the milk, and pour it in.
Want it stronger? Use 2 teaspoons of coffee and it lands closer to a latte. Want more cinnamon? Add a pinch of ground cinnamon to the milk.
9. Dirty Matcha Latte
A matcha latte with coffee poured on top. As with a dirty chai, "dirty" means coffee joins the drink.
You'll need
- 1/2 tsp matcha powder
- 2 oz hot water, plus 1 oz for the coffee
- 6 oz milk
- 1 tsp honey (optional)
- 1 tsp Giraldo Farms Regular Instant Coffee
Steps
- Let boiled water rest for 2 to 3 minutes. Whisk or froth the matcha into 2 oz of it until no clumps remain.
- Heat and froth the milk with the honey, then pour it into the matcha.
- Stir the coffee into 1 oz of hot water. Pour it slowly over the top for a layered look.
Resting the water matters. Boiling water can make matcha taste bitter.
Small tricks for a better winter mug
Taste before you add more sugar. Warm drinks taste sweeter than cold ones, according to research published in Nature. It's the flip side of the tip in our iced coffee guide.
Warm the mug. Fill it with hot water while the milk heats, then pour that water out. A warm mug keeps your latte hot longer.
Use filtered water. Tap water can add off-flavors, so we use filtered or bottled water for every cup (our brewing guide).
Switch to Decaf after dinner. Any recipe here that calls for Regular works with our Decaf, so an eggnog latte at 9 p.m. carries almost no caffeine.
What a homemade latte costs
A 12 oz hot latte averaged $5.44 on the coffee shop menus Joe tracked in the second quarter of 2026 (Joe). The coffee in our Vanilla Latte costs about 89 cents to $1.14, based on our jar price and cups per jar. With Regular, it's 57 to 74 cents. Add milk and most mugs on this list come in under $2. Our mugs run a little smaller, at 8 to 10 ounces. Ounce for ounce, a Vanilla Latte made at home still costs well under half the café price.
Frequently asked questions
What are the most popular winter coffee drinks?
In December 2025, US searches for "eggnog latte" reached about 49,500, according to keyword data from DataForSEO. That's far ahead of peppermint mocha (about 8,100) and gingerbread latte (about 4,400). All three are on this list, and each takes about 3 minutes with instant coffee.
Can you make a latte with instant coffee?
Yes. Stir 2 teaspoons of instant coffee into 2 ounces of hot water. Heat and froth 6 ounces of milk, then pour it in and spoon the foam on top. It takes about 3 minutes and needs no espresso machine. Freeze-dried coffee like ours dissolves completely in hot water in seconds.
How do you froth milk without a frother?
Use a microwave-safe glass jar. Fill it halfway with cold milk, screw on the lid and shake hard for about 30 seconds. Take the lid off and microwave the milk for 30 to 45 seconds. The foam rises to the top. A French press or a hand whisk works too.
What are good non-alcoholic winter coffee drinks?
Every drink on this list is alcohol-free. The eggnog latte, peppermint mocha and gingerbread latte give you holiday flavor without liqueur. Our Amaretto coffee tastes like the almond liqueur but has no alcohol, so it works for any guest at the table.
Can I make these winter drinks with decaf?
Yes. Any recipe here that calls for Giraldo Farms Regular works with our Decaf. It has 97 to 99% of the caffeine removed, so an eggnog or gingerbread latte works late in the evening.
How much caffeine is in a dirty matcha latte?
Our version has roughly 80 to 150 mg. Matcha has 19 to 44 mg of caffeine per gram (Healthline), and 1/2 teaspoon is about 2 grams. One teaspoon of Giraldo Farms Regular adds about 44 to 59 mg. The FDA cites 400 mg a day as an amount most healthy adults can have without negative effects (FDA).
What water temperature is best for instant coffee?
Use water just off the boil. We suggest 195 to 205°F for coffee at home. If you don't have a thermometer, let the kettle sit for about 30 seconds after it boils. Filtered or bottled water keeps off-flavors out of your cup.
