With the price of coffee threatening to rise in the very near future, it’s no surprise that coffee makers are finding creative ways to cut costs. The latest coffee sensation is both cost-effective and trendy. And it also seems to have struck the proper balance between disgusting and shareable, so overall, a win-win.
While we’re accustomed to tossing a wedge of lemon into coffee’s best friend, tea, you might be surprised to learn that these days people are doing the same with their morning cup-a-joe. Or, at least, something close to it. 2016’s latest drink trend very well may be coffee lemonade.
It’s the rich, acidic blend you never imagined possible!
The concoction above is called the “Almond Palmer” and is served at Stand Coffee in Brooklyn’s Smorgasburg outdoor market. The drink’s inventor, Nate Long, told Eater that the drink evolved from an interest in Russian culture, which includes the country’s “coffee with lemon,” and those days in college when he’d mix coffee with orange juice. We’re sorry… coffee and O.J.? Is that a thing people do? Let us guess, this is after you brush your teeth, isn’t it?
While this may be the first time you’re hearing about how well coffee and lemons mix, the drink has actually been on Stand Coffee’s menu since 2015. It’s composed of lemon and vanilla simple syrup, cold brew coffee, and a splash of almond milk.
Okay, maybe we’re being a little hard on this drink. It does look good as hell next to that donut. And, apparently, people have been pouring espresso and lemon over ice for quite some time to provide customers the extra kick in the pants that their regular coffee just doesn’t achieve.
Lemon brews have actually been a mainstay for years now at places like Brooklyn, New York’s Smith Canteen, where espresso and fresh squeezed lemonade over ice is called the Thunderbolt. At Gothenburg, Sweden’s Da Matteo cafes, their longtime kaffelemonad is a cool, tangy lemon and coffee mix served in a highball glass. Earlier this year, Bushwick newcomer Supercrown Coffee Roasters hopped on the bandwagon with their Laura Palmer: a Japanese-style iced coffee brewed hot over ice (a method that preserves a coffee’s body and acidity far more than an overnight cold brew) with house-made lemonade.
We’re hoping this all just comes full circle and everyone ends up drinking lemonade and real Arnold Palmers by accident.
(Via Eater)
