Espresso Soda (Homemade)

A homemade version of a bottled espresso soda like Brooklyn’s Manhattan Special: sweetened espresso, diluted and carbonated, served ice-cold. It tastes like a sugared iced espresso with the fizz of a cola.

The proportions are the coffee writer James Hoffmann’s “Coffee Soda #1” (2019), with a small pinch of salt and a dash of chocolate bitters to round the bitterness. The important rule is to carbonate plain water only in a SodaStream-type machine and add the coffee afterwards.

Untested: not yet made in this kitchen. It is here for the Manhattan Special and Coffee Sodas page.

Ingredients

• 50 g espresso (a double shot), filtered through a paper filter
• 35 g rich simple syrup (2 parts sugar to 1 part water by weight)
• 1 g chocolate bitters (a few dashes), optional
• 2 drops 20% salt solution, or a tiny pinch of salt
• 235 g (1 cup) very cold carbonated water, or plain water to carbonate

Directions

1. Pull the espresso and pour it through a paper coffee filter to remove the oils and fines, which make the soda foam over and turn cloudy.
2. Stir in the syrup, bitters and salt, then chill the concentrate until very cold, at least 30 minutes.
3. With a soda machine, carbonate plain, well-chilled water only, as the maker directs. Without one, use a bottle of very cold soda water or seltzer.
4. Pour the cold concentrate into a chilled glass, then add the carbonated water slowly down the side of the glass. Stir once gently and drink at once.

Notes

Where this recipe came from James Hoffmann, “Coffee Soda #1” (jameshoffmann.co.uk, 27 November 2019): 50 g paper-filtered espresso, 235 g water, 35 g 2:1 simple syrup, 1 g chocolate bitters and 0.7 g of a 20% saline solution, chilled, carbonated and rested an hour. Hoffmann carbonates the mixture in a dedicated setup; for a SodaStream he carbonates the water alone and mixes afterwards, which is the method here. Soda machines SodaStream says only water should be carbonated in its machines, that other liquids risk damaging them, and that doing so voids the warranty. Sugar and coffee in the bottle foam violently when the gas goes in. Variations Pour it over a scoop of vanilla ice cream for a float, or add a splash of cream for a fizzy iced latte. For a decaf version use decaf espresso. Without an espresso machine Use 50 g of very strong moka-pot coffee or 1 tablespoon instant espresso dissolved in 50 g hot water. The photo A bottle of Manhattan Special, the commercial espresso soda this imitates.