Espresso Tonics

They’ve been dubbed (by some) as the drink of Summer 2023. So what’s the deal with them?

The espresso tonic is an interesting beverage. Specialty coffee tends to be roasted lighter than commodity coffee as keeping bitterness to a minimum is one of the prized characteristics of specialty. The darker the roast, the more bitter the coffee. How does that relate to the espresso tonic? Well, in our experience, having tried dozens of different espressos, each with many different tonic waters, we’ve always found that the tonic water, while adding a little sweetness and juicy acidity to the espresso, always ends up emphasizing the worst attributes of the espresso, leaving you with an extremely earthy, bitter but kind of bubbly beverage. Some people enjoy that bitter profile and more power to them! We aren’t judging. That said, it does seem as though general public opinion agrees with us, as the most popular espresso tonics always have a sugary syrup added to them to cut down on that bitterness.

This need to add quite a lot of sugar is what got us thinking that there must be a better way to make a cold, coffee-based, bubbly summer beverage. We played around with several different ideas and eventually stumbled upon the iced coffee tonic. This is nothing more than 2/3 iced Ethiopia pourover and 1/3 tonic water. Ethiopian coffee is naturally fruity and floral, so adding the tonic water to it makes it kind of like a coffee version of a gin & tonic. A refreshing drink for the summer!

What do you think? Are you team Espresso Tonic? Or are they too bitter for your liking?