Each month our cafe menu changes, highlighting our new and delicious specialty coffee offerings. So we asked our National trainer, Josey Markiewicz, to take us through what’s new on-the-bar for July.
If you’re anything like me, you’ve often thought, “Yo, it would be so rad if we had an OAT MILK Latte on draft!” Well, guess what? The time has come.
Plant-based, alternative milks are more than just some passing craze. They’ve become a truly respectable vehicle for the addition of espresso. Some milks perform better than others in this arena, but one has recently risen above the rest. Milk made from the humble OAT.
DRAFT LATTE
With the advent of Draft Latte, good ol’ La Colombe went and revolutionized the idea of the cold, milk-based beverage. We used whole ingredients to create a texturized, portable coffee beverage that is naturally sweet and delicious. Every packaged coffee before it was pumped up with artificial fillers and flavors (Looking at you, Frappuccino). Well, not Draft Latte. Draft Latte is unassumingly simple, just milk and coffee. The espresso portion of Draft Latte is cold-brewed, but what makes it “espresso”? Well, our everyday Nizza is ground coarse, then steeped in room-temperature water under 3 bars of pressure for approximately six hours, which is about a third of the time it takes to make traditional cold-brew. (Gotta love that pressure!) The resulting coffee concentrate is strong enough to withstand the introduction of milk. Ah, balance. Speaking of milk: by “stretching” milk using compressed air (N2O), we assure that the beverage is produced entirely without the influence of heat. A true first: a cold coffee experience from start to finish. And now here we are, the landscape forever changed.
OATLY
Oatly oat milk recently stormed the coffee scene, making such a fuss that everyone from Sprudge media to the New York Times wanted to sing their praises. Who would have thought that one day a grain-based milk would rival the popularity of whole milk? Well, that seems to be exactly what trends are forecasting. It’s almost as if cow’s milk and oat milk share a nostalgia. Like they inhabit the same place in our dreams. Milk and cereal, Saturday morning cartoons. Oat milk is a great vehicle for espresso. Its flavor is neutral enough to let the coffee speak for itself, it’s creamy and silky, and it’s manufactured by a company who swears to do good with their privilege. And they actually give a damn about their carbon footprint. What’s not to like about that?
SILVERTON
The only coffee-related changes this month will be occurring at the pourover station, where we will be reintroducing Iced YIRGZ to the bar along with a brand new Workshop blend…
So what does Philadelphia trainer Ben Contois have to say about it?
“This coffee is sweet, sweet, sweet. The acidity is approachable, the sweetness is distinct, the aroma toasty, cozy, and warm. I feel like this blend is super versatile and will work great in any style brewer or espresso machine.”
Continuing on silverton this month are fan favorites from June. Iced Yirg Z is the same peachy-lemon bomb you’ve always loved, prepared with a bit more strength to withstand the melting of ice. Can’t forget about CASCARA or “Coffee cherry tea”, which is the most popular silverton item to-date and will remain a refreshing option through these dawg days of summer.
Written by National Manager of Training and Quality Assurance, Josey Markiewicz
