Banana Milk Coffee Is Fall's Must-Have Beverage

Step aside, pumpkin spice latte: a challenger for best fall drink has emerged. Banana milk coffee, the brain-child of Brooklyn's J+B Design & Cafe, could be this fall's newest must-have beverage (but does it have its own chat bot? Didn't think so). Much like other coffee trends this year, such as Stand Coffee's Almond Palmer lemonade-espresso coffee hybrid and the new Starbucks Chile Mocha, banana milk coffee blends a typical cup of joe with a unique, decidedly unconventional ingredient to create a flavor that is new and unexpected. But then again, putting bananas in coffee seems like an efficient way to eat breakfast on the go.

J+B Design & Cafe's banana milk coffee debuted about a year ago, but the drink only began getting major attention this week as summer turned to fall. The beverage, which pairs an entire ripe banana with a slight amount of milk, drinks more like a milkshake than it does a cup of coffee. Its flavor profile is sweet, creamy, and thick—and although it doesn't quite taste like a banana milkshake, it does end up tasting like a more balanced cup of coffee than you'd usually get with milk alone. The added banana helps cut some of coffee's natural acidity, lending itself to a more balanced, mellow drink.

Since banana milk coffee ends up drinking more like a latte than anything else, it could be a healthier alternative to the calorie rich full-fat frothed milk you'd usually rely on instead. In fact, some reviewers say a cup of banana milk coffee is easier to swallow than a Starbucks Frappuccino, which can clock in at 410 calories per serving.

If you can't make it out to Brooklyn to get your own banana milk coffee, don't fret. There's a way to make the beverage at home as well. J+B Design & Cafe doesn't use any kind of specialty, one-of-a-kind coffee blends, so any solid coffee ought to do the trick. Plus, you don't have to make banana milk yourself; the Denver-based WhiteWaveFoods, as well as South Korea's Binggrae company, both offer cartons of banana milk that can be found at most fancy grocery stores. In fact, some folks have already taken a stab at recreating banana milk coffee at home:

So if you're willing to create a banana milk coffee and risk the possibility of never going back to your regular cup of joe again, just know that this drink might be dangerously addictive. At least your potassium levels are going to be taken care of in the process.