How to make "Pumpkin" Coffee at home with regular coffee

"This comes pretty close to the pre-sweetened seasonal coffee you get in the store."

"Pumpkin" Coffee

1 measured cup of brewed coffee

1 dash of ground ginger

2 dashes of ground cinnamon

2 teaspoons of Monastery Creamed Almond Honey

 or 4 teaspoons of regular honey - more or less to taste

Milk or cream 

Stir and enjoy!

I always get disappointed when I read a recipe that calls for some obscure ingredient like Monastery Creamed Almond Honey. Certainly, you can use regular honey and it will still be enjoyable. However, almond honey does make the coffee taste better, and a trip to the Abbey to buy the almond honey makes life better, too.

I live near the calm oasis of Mount Saint Mary's Abbey, a beautiful place in Wrentham, Massachusetts. There is a lovely chapel here where you can sit down and find a few moments of peace.

The Chapel at Mount Saint Mary's Abbey, Wrentham, Massachusetts

I began visiting the abbey after the birth of my son almost 20 years ago. The nuns used to bake bread and sell it twice a week in a small vestibule that you would enter through a large medieval-looking wooden door. With an infant in my arms, I would do as the sign said:  "Ring the bell before entering and wait for the sister to come to the turn". Sister would appear in a booth-like structure, slide open the window, and greet you. If you asked for bread, she, in a calm and deliberate fashion, would proceed down a flight of stairs to the kitchen, retrieve the loaves, then walk back upstairs, and place the loaves, warm from the oven, into a paper bag.

Quite a refreshing change from the crazed outside world.

Although the nuns no longer sell bread, they do offer their wonderful candy that they make on the premises and sell in the gift shop. You'll also find the delicious Monastery Creamed Honey - in several flavors - made by the Monks of Holy Cross Abbey, Berryville, VA.  There are Trappistine jams and jellies, too, books and cards of a religious nature, and other lovely gift items available in the shop.

Inside the box of candy is a tiny brochure with the following:

With regard to those who live in a calm and deliberate manner, I invite you to spend a few minutes listening to Buddhist monk, Thich Nhat Hanh, speaking on mindfulness.

If you listen all the way to the end, you will learn that the practice of mindfulness can even lead you to getting more enjoyment out of a cup of coffee.

Peace.