Trending drinks to try

Researched

Explore café-style matcha, seasonal espresso martinis, autumn cocktails and alcohol-free soda ideas. Each selection below links to a complete recipe and dated notes explaining why it caught our attention.

Alcohol-free café pick

Banana Pudding Matcha Latte

Iced matcha, milk and a spoonable banana-pudding topping.

Why we picked it

Dessert-topped matcha is appearing in current café coverage and community drink discussions.

  • Community Goods LA (2026-10-07)

    A café describes the dessert-topped matcha format circulating on TikTok.

  • Reddit / r/matcha_ph (2026-10-24)

    A recent community discussion supports continued interest; it is not a global popularity measure.

  • Charm.io (2026-09-22)

    The data provider describes the continuing appeal of visually distinctive matcha preparations.

Autumn coffee cocktail

Pumpkin Spice Espresso Martini

Espresso and coffee liqueur with a pumpkin-spice finish.

Why we picked it

Seasonal espresso martini riffs are appearing in social-video coverage and October bar menus.

  • The Daily Pour (2026-09-16)

    Coverage embeds Moose & Oak's social posts, including a pumpkin variation. Our recipe is shaken, not a recreation of the soft-serve drink.

  • Restaurant Rotisse (2026-10-07)

    An October restaurant feature adds a current European seasonal example.

Café-to-cocktail pick

Matcha Martini

A creamy vodka cocktail made with matcha powder and coconut milk.

Why we picked it

Matcha has crossed from café drinks into this autumn's cocktail menus.

  • P.F. Chang's (2026-09-16)

    The restaurant introduced a matcha martini for its September-November seasonal menu. Our powdered-matcha recipe is a different home version.

  • Charm.io (2026-09-22)

    The data provider describes the continuing appeal of visually distinctive matcha preparations.

Autumn citrus cocktail

Apple Cider Margarita

Tequila, apple cider and fresh lime over ice.

Why we picked it

October home-cocktail posts and seasonal menus are revisiting cider margaritas.

  • Reddit / r/cocktails (2026-10-24)

    A recent home-cocktail discussion, supported by the seasonal event menu below. Our proportions are our own version.

  • Louisiana Motor Transport Association (2026-10-13)

    An October event menu featured an apple cider margarita and an alcohol-free cider drink.

Alcohol-free social favourite

Dirty Dr Pepper

A creamy coconut-and-vanilla soda with a little lime.

Why we picked it

Custom soda remains an ongoing make-at-home favourite rather than a new October breakout.

  • Rising Trends (2026-10)

    Dirty soda remains an ongoing search-led trend, with mixed momentum across variations. It is not labelled a new October breakout here.

Seasonal flavour pick

Lychee Martini

A chilled, spirit-forward vodka and lychee-liqueur martini.

Why we picked it

Lychee appears in current Halloween flavour insights; this is our existing recipe for exploring it.

  • Ground Signal (2026-10-20)

    The provider reports seasonal strength for Zombie/tiki drinks and lychee flavours using social, menu and sales-related data. This does not rank individual lychee martini recipes.

Halloween tiki pick

Zombie

The archive's fruit-forward rum variation with citrus and apricot.

Why we picked it

Zombie and tiki cocktails stand out in recent Halloween occasion data.

  • Ground Signal (2026-10-20)

    The provider reports seasonal strength for Zombie/tiki drinks and lychee flavours using social, menu and sales-related data. This does not rank individual lychee martini recipes.

The coffee-cocktail starting point

Espresso Martini

The vodka-and-espresso classic behind the seasonal variations.

Why we picked it

Start with the coffee cocktail that seasonal pumpkin and dessert riffs build on.

  • The Daily Pour (2026-09-16)

    Coverage embeds Moose & Oak's social posts, including a pumpkin variation. Our recipe is shaken, not a recreation of the soft-serve drink.

How we chose these drinks

This dated selection brings together recent public drink discussions, reporting on social videos, café and restaurant menus, and drinks-industry insights. Open a recipe's source note above to see the specific reason for its inclusion. Seasonal flavours, an ongoing social favourite and a new café format are different kinds of signals; these drinks are not ranked by worldwide popularity.

Some recipes are DrinkSpin home versions of a wider drink style. A source that explains the trend does not necessarily supply the recipe's proportions. The recipe pages identify their references and preparation notes.

Halloween picks leave the homepage after October 31. This collection retains the October research date so you can revisit its recipes without mistaking it for a live social-media chart.

Recipe images are AI-generated illustrations. Read our recipe and image policy. For more ideas, try the ingredient finder or browse alcohol-free drinks.