1 Part Liqueur, 1 Part Irony. Mix.

It’s a part of the University condition. You wake up one morning in a rush, throw on a pair of leggings, your best comfy plaid, maybe a scarf and a nubbly hat and as you rush out the door to class, suddenly, you realize the unthinkable.

Today, I am a hipster.

It’s happened to the best of us. We love to poke fun at our bushy-mustache having, vinyl-loving friends, but the fact of the matter is that for the most part, campus and hipster styles have become one and the same. It’s so mainstream, in fact, that the tag of “hipster” is almost an insult now (how’s that for ironic?). After all, who wants to be lumped into a stereotype caricatured by closed-minded pretension and an all-consuming need to be cool?

If I’m sounding a bit critical, don’t worry. I can say that, some of my best friends are hipsters.

In all seriousness, this post is not a vaguely sarcastic commentary on hipsterism. And it’s not a narrative of my eventual acceptance that for all my love of pencil skirts and high heels, I’ve likely been categorized as one more than once or twice. Actually, it’s the story of a drink, a delicious drink born more from thriftiness than style. During a particularly meager weekend last winter, my roommate and I found ourselves out of grounds when making our standard pre-pre-drink Irish coffee.

I think a moment of silence is required here for the unlikelihood that a University apartment would ever be out of coffee.

…Done? All right. Desperately searching through the kitchen to find something hot to mix with Bailey’s, we came across our tea cupboard. Or maybe not so much “came across” as “was the obvious place to look for hot drinks”, but regardless, we grabbed a fully-loaded box of chai tea, and the proverbial light bulb went off above out heads.  With no idea what to expect, we brewed up a pot, hesitantly added our precious liqueur, and…heaven. The Yuletide Hipster was born.

For your enjoyment, here is the recipe just as it’s been made on Scully Street since the beginning of time (or alternately, last December).

Posted by: Meghan