Cool Down with Summer Cold Brews and Coffee Cocktails

With the weather heating up, it’s time to cool your java down. And, you don’t have to settle for plain iced coffee this summer. With our cold-brewed innovations, you can taste a different chill caffeinated thrill every day of the week.

Cold brew, which steeps in room-temperature water, is much less acidic and bitter than hot coffee poured over ice. Because it’s more concentrated, it also has a higher caffeine content.

Offerings at our Clintonville and Upper Arlington coffee houses range from Kyoto tower coffee, brewed one drop at a time, to a series of Nitro cold brews and coffee cocktails.

Demand has skyrocketed since we introduced Nitro cold brew to Columbus in 2014. This effervescent iced coffee is infused with nitrogen under pressure and served from a keg tap – giving it the texture and mouth feel of a fine milk stout.

Current-season Nitro offerings include our award-winning Wayfarer Blend, which took second-place honors in the America’s Best Espresso competition at Coffee Fest New York in March. It has cupping notes of strawberry, coffee blossom and black current. Cocoa Nib Nitro  melds the flavors of coffee, cocoa, vanilla beans and citrus into a slightly sweet and deliciously frothy drink.

We’re also serving up several summer signature selections. The nonalcoholic Lavender coffee cocktail mixes Nitro cold brew with lavender, cane sugar and cream.

“Our coffee cocktails mimic a gin fizz,” said Coffee Sourcing and Education Manager Brandon Bir, who created the drinks. “We shake up the cocktail until the half and half creates tiny stable air bubbles,” he explained. “We then pour our beverage into custom glassware, where it settles into two layers.”

Our Nawlins (New Orleans) cold brew is a refreshing mixture of coffee, chicory, cane sugar and milk. The Slow Drip Shandy includes Kyoto tower cold brew, lemonade, cane sugar and soda water.

For tea lovers, we offer the Earl Gray Cocktail, a mixture of Earl Gray tea, lavender and milk poured over ice.

Our summer signature cold brews will be available through the end of the season at both Crimson Cup Coffee Houses – 4541 North High Street in Clintonville and 2468 Northwest Blvd. in Upper Arlington.