CUP O' JOY
Cup o' Joy
Served hot, with a side of sweet
By Jenna Biter • Photographs by Tim Sayer
Welcome Old Man Winter’s cold, dark days and nights the delicious way by sipping hot drinks and nibbling tasty treats in the great indoors. We asked eight local coffee and bake shops to warm our souls with piping-hot drinks and seasonal sweets from their winter menus. They delivered like Santa on Christmas morning.
Agora Bakery + Café
Red and green. Ribbons and wrapping. Tinsel and tree lights. This holiday season, Agora is celebrating with another classically Christmas pairing: booze and eggnog. Co-owner Ginny Tran baked up a bourbon hot chocolate twist on the café’s quintessential, two-bite-size macaron. Front of house lead, Ali Yap, concocted a silky-smooth eggnog latte to wash the crunchy confection down.
Buggy Town Coffee
Just like that, owners Darryl and Meg Russell are celebrating a decade of Buggy Town Coffee. It’s another December, and the café’s festive favorites have reappeared on its winter menu. Enjoy a practically plate-size molasses ginger cookie finished with crystallized ginger bits. For optimal levels of cheer, dunk chunks into a steaming hot mug of velvety eggnog latte. Dip, sip, repeat.
Crossroads Coffee Co.
133 Main Street, Vass
Sing your way to Crossroads for a Christmas carol in a cup. Owners Kasi Caddell and Mollie Jolly (also celebrating 10 years in business) are striking the harp and joining the chorus with the return of their beloved Fala Latte, a holiday harmony of gingerbread and maple. Warning: Consumption could result in decking the halls and spontaneous caroling. Between singing and sips, enjoy the nostalgic taste of a Little Debbie Christmas Tree Cake reimagined as a cake pop.
Amor Ciego Coffee Co.
Carolina Holguin Leal likes to bring flavors from her native Colombia to her customers at Amor Ciego. This winter, she’s baking milhojas, Spanish for “a thousand leaves” and aptly named for the dessert’s layers and layers of puff pastry. Leal’s take on the Latin American favorite with French roots features a pastry cream filling, a smooth and glossy smear of caramel-like arequipe and a coconut flake garnish. She’s pairing the dessert with a naughty-and-nice returner, the spiced bourbon latte.
DeLucia’s Bake Shop
4245 Seven Lakes Plaza B, West End
A Yule log was a select piece of timber burned in the hearth on the winter solstice, the longest night of the year. With its scratch-made chocolate sponge cake, mascarpone whipped cream filling, chocolate ganache topping and sugared rosemary and cranberry garnishes, DeLucia’s dessert-ified Yule logs can keep your sweet tooth satisfied all season long. Slice off a sliver and enjoy it with a chestnut praline latte.
The Fox Brew Coffeehouse
The Fox Brew is celebrating its first Christmas in business. Owner and operator Denna Schreiner is marking the occasion with a whole lot of gingerbread, minus the cumbersome house-making. Cut into a hot and fresh gingerbread waffle drizzled with a cream cheese glaze. Continue the festive fun with a Gingerbread Man latte, featuring notes of hazelnut, vanilla and of course, gingerbread.
Maisonette
Maisonette is making your holiday season merry and minty. Sip on a Salty Snowflake Latte, a back-by-popular-demand oat milk drink inspired by those classic white chocolate-covered peppermint pretzels. To go with the drink, head chef Monica Bryan created a Whoopie Pie from cakey chocolate cookies and a white chocolate and peppermint buttercream filling. A little salty, a little sweet, a lot of yum.
Pine Scone Cafe
116 Brucewood Road, Southern Pines
905 Linden Road, Pinehurst
At Pine Scone, the Grinch steals more than just Christmas; he runs away with the month of December. Owner, operator and recipe creator Rae Anne Kinney and her coffee-slinging crew are back serving No. 1 seasonal best-seller, the Grinch scone, a triangle of crumbly baked goodness, featuring crème de menthe, white chocolate and candy canes. Double down on mint and pair it with a peppermint mocha (white or dark chocolate, take your pick) with crushed candy canes sprinkled on top.
