Drinks 2026 | Feature

Bold (and Cold) Brew

Not just a fad, cold brew is a staple at Reno-Tahoe coffeehouses.

written by Claire McArthur

photos courtesy of Laughing Cat Coffee

On grocery store shelves and in coffeehouses across Reno-Tahoe, cold brew has secured a spot among other caffeinated constants, such as the cappuccino or matcha latte. Not to be confused with iced coffee — hot drip coffee served over ice — cold brew is here to stay, no matter the season.

As with many food trends, cold brew is not a new concoction. In fact, in the 1600s, the Dutch were said to have steeped coffee grounds in cold water as a means of transporting the brew on long sea voyages. During this same time, the Japanese already were cold-brewing tea to create a less acidic, sweeter beverage when Dutch trading ships arrived and introduced the cold-brew method for coffee. Eventually, the Japanese Kyoto style of cold brew was invented; cold water is slowly released, one drop at a time, over coffee grounds using a tower of glass carafes — a method still used by some today and often lauded as the peak of artistry in the industry.

In modern times, the rise of cold brew started back in the early 2000s, with coffee pioneers such as Stumptown and Blue Bottle offering cold brew and eventually launching bottled versions of the beverage. The cold-brew trend went mainstream in 2015 with Starbucks rolling it out nationwide, followed a year later by Dunkin’.

HERE TO STAY
In Reno-Tahoe coffeehouses, some devotees drink cold brew exclusively — and year round.

“We have regulars who come in and only get that,” says Steven Horn, owner of Laughing Cat Coffee in Reno. “We’ll ask, ‘Do you want to try an espresso?’ and they’re like, ‘No, I’m good.’”

Horn purchased Laughing Cat in 2023, reviving the specialty coffee roastery that had been in operation since 1990. The former entertainment-industry exec, who has been roasting coffee for more than a decade, added a café, new drinks, and organic beans.

“Cold brew is a staple of most coffee shops now,” Horn notes. “We wanted to do it because it really showcases some of the great characteristics and flavors of the coffee that you can get by concentrating the beans and doing those slow steeps overnight.”

At Laughing Cat, coarsely ground coffee beans are soaked for 24 hours in cold water, strained and diluted with more water, and served chilled. Horn offers two cold-brew varieties: one made from medium-roast, caramel- and chocolate-forward Guatemalan beans, and another using dark-roast Mexican beans that the roastery’s website describes as “mysterious, sultry, shadowy.”

For the avid cold-brew consumer, Laughing Cat offers a growler program with $20 refills of the 64-ounce jug.

Compared to regular drip coffee, cold brew is described as smoother, less acidic, and even sweeter thanks to the cold-water steeping process. Hot water naturally extracts more acids and bitter compounds in the beans.

“I think the cold brew has such amazing flavoring and complexity that you don’t actually need the usual stuff that people put into coffee that they may be using to mask the bitterness. It’s just very drinkable,” Horn explains.

For this reason, Horn believes the drink continues to grow in popularity as people are more mindful of their sugar and dairy intake.

“Cold brew is pretty popular in summer, but we’re seeing more year-round drinkers because [cold brew is just] organic coffee and water. There are only two ingredients,” he adds.

Next Level: Nitro
For true aficionados, the next step in the cold-brew journey is nitro. Just as some stouts, such as Guinness, are nitrogenated to create a foamy head and smooth taste, the same treatment is applied to cold brew.

“We added a nitro machine this past summer and are doing some really silky, really tasty, fun-on-the-mouthfeel nitro cold brew,” Horn says.

Nitro cold brew is rich and velvety in texture with all the same smooth, nuanced flavors of the beans found in the noninfused variety.

Discover how cool cold brew can be at these Reno-Tahoe coffehouses.

Reno

Chrome Coffee Works
Find Chrome Coffee Works on Facebook and Instagram

Hub Coffee Roasters
Hubcoffeeroasters.com

Laughing Cat Coffee Roasters
Laughingcatcoffee.com

Midnight Coffee Roasting
Midnightcoffeeroasting.com

Old World Coffee Roasters
Oldworldcoffeeroasters.com

Sparks

Lighthouse Coffee Co.
Lighthousecoffeeshop.com

Fallon