SOHO — As temperatures plunge, Everyman Espresso on West Broadway is offering a new way to stay warm.
The Snow Day is the cafe's newest coffee "cocktail," an espresso-based take on a classic hot toddy for those seeking a little extra warmth on cold winter days.
"The flavors that it brings to play are really classic, warming winter flavors," said Sam Lewontin, 30, the general manager at the store, who came up with the recipe. "All the flavors that you love and associate with the holidays — citrus, baking spices."
The concoction — espresso, lemon, honey and pimento bitters — is the newest drink in a series of specialty coffee "cocktails" dreamed up by Lewontin and the store's owner, Sam Penix.
Other items on Everyman's recently launched winter drink menu include Hong Kong Style Milk Tea, made from Hojicha green tea, steamed milk and honey; and a House Chai, made with Dona chai tea, steamed milk and Angostura bitters. A hot chocolate made from Mast Brothers chocolate is also available.
Lewontin said the coffee drinks are based on a cocktail template, using an espresso base instead of alcohol and then adding citrus, sweeteners and bitters to match the bean.
"We spend a lot of time thinking of different coffees as different ingredients providing different flavors," Lewontin said.
The Snow Day, on sale for $5, contains an Ethiopian bean with a lemony, tea-like quality, accentuated by the added citrus and rounded out by the clove, cinnamon and anise flavors in the wintry pimento bitters.
"Because it's made with espresso and sweetened with honey, it has a nice weight to it," Lewontin said. "There's a comforting, tactile quality to it."
