Coffee Lemonade And Where To Find It

Why coffee and lemonade are made for each other

In today's edition of sounds weird, tastes good: Meet coffee lemonade.

The combo of acidic coffee plus tart citrus might not sound great, but cold brew's fruitier, less bitter taste lends well. And what better way to summer-fy your already-iced beverage than to add the ultimate summer drink: lemonade?

Think Arnold Palmer, but with stronger caffeine. To start, look where all hip trends are born: Brooklyn. Smith Canteen in Carroll Gardens brought back its seasonal drink called the Thunderbolt, which is espresso with lemonade (in a mason jar, no less). Supercrown Coffee Roasters in Brooklyn started making a drink called the Laura Palmer, which uses a two-to-one ratio of Japanese-style cold-brew coffee and homemade lemonade. It's an ultra-refreshing formula you can replicate at home if you don't live nearby the bright Bushwick shop.

Thunderbolt | Photo: Courtesy of Smith Canteen

The refreshing drink can be found outside of Brooklyn, too. At HEX Coffee in Charlotte, North Carolina, they're serving a shandy, which is cold brew with soda water, fresh mint, simple syrup and lemon juice. And at all 10 Stumptown coffee shops around the country, you can get the Duane Sorenson cold-brew soda, named after the company's founder. It combines cold espresso, soda water and oleosaccharum, the citrus syrup beloved by cocktail geeks.

As everyone beelines for cold brew and rosé, keep your cool with this refreshing drink instead. Even the Swedes are doing it.