We’ve seen a resurgence of the espresso martini and other coffee cocktails over the last couple of years, thanks to bartenders and mixologists reinventing the basics when creating craft cocktails. Devin Stoll, director of business development for Southern Glazer’s Wine, Spirits and Beer of Northern Nevada in Reno, has witnessed the evolution of the coffee cocktail with a few modern twists.
Humans have invented a surprising number of ways to extract brown bean water from a coffee berry. To celebrate those innovations (imagine life without them!) and our local coffee lovers, we talked to four well-known locals to find out how they like their cups of joe and how they fell in love with it in the first place.
Decoding your morning brew.
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.
Coffee starts out as a hard green cherry with barely any flavor. The process of roasting transforms it into the aromatic bean that produces our favorite morning beverage.
A beloved coffeehouse can feel like a safe haven. Whether it’s your favorite corner shop or a place where the beans are so delicious it’s worth the trek across town, coffeehouses are about more than what’s served in the cup.
Yerba mate (pronounced ma-TAY) is a plant endemic to Paraguay and Argentina that also grows in southern Brazil, Chile, Bolivia, and Uruguay. Originally cultivated by the indigenous Guaraní, Tupi, and Quechua people, the caffeinated herb was commercialized by the colonizing Europeans after their arrival.
Chapel Tavern in Midtown Reno has been known to push creative boundaries. Now it’s happened once again with the installation of a complex cascading barrel-aging system called a solera (Spanish for “on the ground,” referring to the transfer downward through barrels) designed to produce a custom cocktail experience.
Known for their holistic benefits, loose-leaf tea blends have been enjoyed for centuries, and at Too Soul Tea Co. in Reno, the options are seemingly endless when it comes to combining these soothing ingredients.
Tucked in California’s Sierra Nevada, in a tiny corner of Plumas County called Blairsden, sits The Brewing Lair, a wooded “lair” and mainly outdoor brewery open to the public. On gifted land, Susan and Rich DeLano have built a hideaway in the woods — one that tends to get busy on weekends.