Rhythm + Beets Latte
Lucky Penny Coffee Co. 6440 Quinpool Road
The thought of bright pink frothed milk was excuse enough for the coffee lovers at the Lucky Penny to experiment with a beet-inspired latte. What started as a joke between a barista and owner Barb Kaill is now regular menu item at the highly Instagrammable Quinpool coffee shop—Rhythm + Beets, a earthy, smoky meld of beet juice, vanilla, cinnamon and espresso. “A while later we saw an article about beet lattes being the new rage in some Australian cafes, though theirs tend to be more like a steamer, leaving the espresso out,” says Kaill. “We thought there must be something to it, so we set to work with a bottle of beet juice and developed our syrup and then our latte recipe.” Letting the creative (and beet) juices flow at Lucky Penny is a regular occurrence, she says, resulting in some of its most beloved eats and drinks, but when it comes to the unicorn of beverage the experts advise: Use North Mountain’s High-Test espresso and go nuts with almond milk as your dairy substitute.
Ingredients Latte 1 oz beet simple syrup (see below) double shot espresso (we use North Mountain Fine Coffee’s High-Test espresso) whole milk or your favourite dairy alternative, steamed (we like the nuttiness of almond milk) ground cinnamon to garnish
Beet simple syrup 1 cup pure beet juice 1 cup almost boiling water ½ cup white sugar ½ cup brown sugar 1 tbsp vanilla extract 2 cinnamon sticks
Method Start with 1 oz of beet simple syrup at the bottom of a warmed mug. Add freshly pulled double shot of espresso. Top with steamed milk and finished with a layer of creamy milk foam.
Garnish with ground cinnamon.
Feel the rhythm, feel the beet!
