PORTLAND, Maine — It’s Monday afternoon and drafts are foaming in downtown Portland.
A tap is pulled and a dark liquid flows into a glass snifter. A creamy cascade gushes, forming a head. But this isn’t Guinness, and I’m not in a pub. I’m in a downtown Portland cafe trying my first nitro cold brew.
“It’s just yummy,” said Bob Garver, owner of Bard Coffee on Middle Street, where nitro coffee is starting to outpace other iced coffee drinks this spring. “It’s another way of enjoying coffee with a slightly different twist.”
That twist, introduced by infusing cold-brewed coffee with nitrogen is setting off an iced coffee frenzy from the Northwest to the Northeast. Nitrogen gives cold coffee body, adds microbubbles and is another reason for coffee lovers to geek out.
Bard Coffee was featured in Barista Magazine’s February and March issue for its nitro, sharing the limelight with heavyweights such as Stumptown Coffee in Portland, Oregon. The seminal thirdwave roaster sells cold-brew infused with nitrogen in cans. On this coast, Bard has been experimenting with the beverage for years.
“People come here especially for it,” said Garver, who added a nitro cold brew tap late last summer and has up to 12 kegs dedicated to the drink. “We view it as a fun and delicious look at something people like, which is iced coffee. Nitrogen creates a body, a real platform for coffee to sing.”
So what is nitro cold brew?
It’s coffee brewed with cold water that steeps for 16 hours until it’s richly concentrated. The concentrate is removed, diluted with water, and infused with nitrogen for up to seven days in a keg. The result is a thick, cold coffee that when served via a Guinness tap, which they do at Bard, tastes fantastic.
“Creamy, dark, chocolate-y,” said Garver. “Beautiful.”
“It requires more planning and attention to detail,” said Garver, who serves his nitros in custom glasses resembling craft beer. He spent years developing the right coffee blend to impart the best taste. He settled on a Honduran mix of two varieties from the same farm. It’s a medium roast called “Bard on the rocks.”
“What we are shooting for is to highlight the chocolate when we roast it,” said Garver, who chose coffee that “marries well” with the creamy mouthfeel of the nitro.
On a hot day, Garver estimates he’ll sell 100 cups of nitro cold brews. It comes with a custom price: $3.50 for 12 ounces or $4 for 20 ounces.
The upshot? It’s not bitter, not acidic; it’s more toned down, and you don’t have to add milk.
“It’s the coffee world meeting the beer world,” said Bard’s cafe manager Brittany Feltovic. “There is espresso in beer, we are taking this the other way.”
Coffee By Design is experimenting with nitro cold brew, and Omi’s Coffee Shop in the West End added two taps a few months ago. This neighborhood cafe serves its nitro brew with coconut simple syrup for a tropical touch.
Customer Sam Haiden, 24, of Portland happily sipped on a just-pulled draft coffee this week. The more concentrated drink is a weekly splurge he has come to rely on.
“It’s a strong, cold-brew, not watered down,” said the medical marijuana caregiver, who did not bat an eye at the price tag.
“I might be paying a premium for it, but it’s worth it,” he said.
