Dark Stars
Tall, dark, and potent. We reveal the five best iced coffees in town.
Uptown Espresso The South End’s prettiest café filter-brews a very-dark-roast blend of Sumatran and Costa Rican beans at regular strength. The resulting drink has some of espresso’s depth but enough dilution for languorous sipping, which is especially pleasant in Uptown’s gorgeous sunroom or on its serene outdoor deck. ($1.50, 563 Columbus Ave., Boston, 617-236-8535)
1369 Coffee House The baristas at this Cambridge stalwart use the Toddy method, steeping coarse-ground medium-roast Costa Rican coffee overnight in cold water. Popular in New Orleans but rare in New England, cold brewing produces an exceedingly mellow cup with very low acidity: a less assertive style that makes for a light, refreshing hot-weather quaff. ($2.15, 1369 Cambridge St., Cambridge, 617-576-1369; 757 Massachusetts Ave., Cambridge, 617-576-4600; 1369coffeehouse.com)
Xinh Xinh Tastier than any frappuccino, the ca phe sua da at this Chinatown Vietnamese storefront is made fresh by the cup with a steel filter and French-roast Café du Monde. Its espressolike intensity is softened by chocolaty overtones of roasted chicory and the silken, syrupy sweetness of condensed milk. ($2.50, 7 Beach St., Boston, 617-422-0501)
Sweet Finnish This aesthetically spare J.P. bakery does a regular-strength filter brew of Colombian beans in a 50/50 mix of light and dark roasts. Its fresh-tasting, light-bodied rendition nicely suits a vanilla pulla, one of several flavors of the bready Finnish pastry. ($1.90, 761 Centre St., Jamaica Plain, 617-522-5200, sweetfinnish.com)
True Grounds A coffee fanatic’s haven, True Grounds uses Howell’s beans, filter-brewed slightly strong. Despite a lightish roast, the finished product is incredibly rich and complex. It’s a quiet stunner, and an eloquent argument for Howell’s efforts. ($1.65, 717 Broadway, Somerville, 617-591-9559, truegrounds.com)
1369 Coffee House The baristas at this Cambridge stalwart use the Toddy method, steeping coarse-ground medium-roast Costa Rican coffee overnight in cold water. Popular in New Orleans but rare in New England, cold brewing produces an exceedingly mellow cup with very low acidity: a less assertive style that makes for a light, refreshing hot-weather quaff. ($2.15, 1369 Cambridge St., Cambridge, 617-576-1369; 757 Massachusetts Ave., Cambridge, 617-576-4600; 1369coffeehouse.com)
Xinh Xinh Tastier than any frappuccino, the ca phe sua da at this Chinatown Vietnamese storefront is made fresh by the cup with a steel filter and French-roast Café du Monde. Its espressolike intensity is softened by chocolaty overtones of roasted chicory and the silken, syrupy sweetness of condensed milk. ($2.50, 7 Beach St., Boston, 617-422-0501)
Sweet Finnish This aesthetically spare J.P. bakery does a regular-strength filter brew of Colombian beans in a 50/50 mix of light and dark roasts. Its fresh-tasting, light-bodied rendition nicely suits a vanilla pulla, one of several flavors of the bready Finnish pastry. ($1.90, 761 Centre St., Jamaica Plain, 617-522-5200, sweetfinnish.com)
True Grounds A coffee fanatic’s haven, True Grounds uses Howell’s beans, filter-brewed slightly strong. Despite a lightish roast, the finished product is incredibly rich and complex. It’s a quiet stunner, and an eloquent argument for Howell’s efforts. ($1.65, 717 Broadway, Somerville, 617-591-9559, truegrounds.com)
Originally published in Boston magazine, August 2007
