1. Iced Coffee
Coffee is a staple for everyone. There's even a large contigent of people who love iced coffee. But I've noticed that once it hits winter, most people ditch the beloved cold brew for a hot cuppa. Not me. I am 100% loyal to iced coffee regardless of weather or season or climate. It just tastes better. Plus, since coffee is dehyrdating, making sure that there's some ice in there melting helps me rehydrate all the while! Voila, magic.
2. Seltzer
The unimitable fizz. The addition of lime, lemon or even orange if you're feeling zesty! The slight crackling of bubbles. The feeling of specialness that seltzer has that water will never have. These are all the reasons I have sworn by seltzer all year. I also like to give it the special cute nickname of "seltzy" because that feels fun and girly. Hi haters!
3. Bloody Mary
Bloody Mary, aside from having a historically violent nickname is one of the most calming and assuring beverages I've encountered this year. Delightfully spicy, a snack in its own right, and a signature hallmark that #brunch is about to arrive. Plus the wide variety of ingredients, garnishes and glasses! Will it be a pint? A bourbon-tinged half-pint? Served up in a dozen jalapeno-infused shot glasses? Really, it is the most flexible and flavorful beverage of right now. A drink that you can add hot sauce too? That's a thing of beauty.
4. Extra Dirty Vodka Martini
No, this is not meant to be sexually suggestive. I just really like martinis with a lot more olive juice in them than even the label "dirty" because I hate the taste of vodka. Vodka is really gross, that's why I usually add a ton of spices and tomato juice to it when I drink it (see Bloody Mary, just above), or so much salty, briny olive juice that it tastes like a yummy deli item. This is not #sponsored but my favorite vodka to use in martinis is Titos, it's a little more buttery and less stringent than some of its counterparts.
5. Orange Juice
I probably don't get enough vitamins because the main food groups I order from are pizza, buffalo wings and romaine lettuce with blue cheese, cherry tomatoes and grilled steak. I also eat bagels almost daily. So sometimes I get this insane craving for a cold, icy glass of orange juice, most likely due to the fact that I'm very Vitamin C deficient. Ehhh it happens. There are two best ways to drink it: 1) Straight from a large jug of it that you keep in your refrigerator only for yourself. 2) In a big pint glass that's been just ever so slightly shaken up with ice. Use a straw. Ask for a wedge of orange on the side. It's a restaurant! You can be bratty, it's your prerogative. Just make sure to tip a strong 20% at any and all times.
6. Four Roses Yellow Label Bourbon
You guys, this is the best whiskey. It tastes so good. My ever-beloved favorite bar in Red Hook called Fort Defiance uses this as their well whiskey because they believe in quality and brilliance over things like the bottom line and cheapness. So it tastes good in any well whiskey drink at Fort Defiance, like the Kentucky Nightcap for instance. I like to drink it at home after a hard day's work or during the final hour or so that I'm still writing before bed. I drink it with a few ice cubes or, if I have some on hand, a dash or two of Angostura. Basically a mini-Manhattan on the rocks because I don't really like the taste of sweet Vermouth anyway.
7. Thai Iced Tea
As usual, every race but white people are making things waaaayyy better than we do. The "iced tea" that exists in heteronormative white society is so utterly bland I won't waste more than this sentence on it. (Ed note: This excludes southern sweet tea, sweet tea gets a pass). But in Thailand, they decided that iced tea should be a thing fit for the gods. It is a wonderful orange color that evokes a supernatural world and this is mixed with some sort of thick, sweet cream that makes this beverage equivalent to the brief graze of an angel's wing across your tongue. The best I have found in New York is at Joya on Court Street in Carroll Gardens. BUT if you happen to find yourself in McMinnville, Oregon I still swear by Thai Country Restaurant on 3rd Street. Shout out to Katy Stromme (OOOPS Steele hi marriage) for first introducing me to this heavenly libation.
8. Soy Chai Latte
Oh right Soy is super out now because it has tooooo much estrogen or something? Or like it might make men less manly? Why is that bad again?? Just kidding, if it isn't good for us then I mean it just joins the ranks of other things I love the taste of still like corn syrup, french fries and bacon. But anyway I used to work at the coffee shop in the student center of my college (It was called the HAWC, Pepperdine where you at?) and while I worked there I concocted a perfect soy chai latte. I have even taken this so far as to tell it to Starbucks baristas—they make me call it a steamer or something weird. What you do is take a chai tea bag and put it with a bunch of hot soy milk and 2-3 pumps of sugar free vanilla (girlish figure, etc etc.). Then you will have the most delicious, spicy hot drink that you will tell yourself is still pretty low-calorie because the vanilla syrup is sugar free. If you have it or you find a nice barista then you ask for cinnamon and nutmeg on top too, for optimal fanciness.
9. Cappuccino
Is there anything that makes you feel more cosmopolitan, European-chic or luxurious than ordering a Cappuccino? Just saying the word warms me up. It rolls off the tongue with the same foamy fluffiness that the drink itself is! Now that is synergy. The best is when you get it from a place where you're getting it "for here" and theydraw hearts or trees or designs on it for you. Then you can sit and drink it and write in a cute notebook or stare out the window mysteriously or put on your headphones and listen to your latest lazy, warming up album. I recommend The Lone Bellow's self-titled album for this activity.
10. Coffee Cocktails at Amor y Amargo
The basis for this list could probably be attributed to the coffee cocktails that Amor y Amargo have been serving up. Considering it is half coffee drinks and half alcohol, it's apparent why the combination of the two is so awesome to me. On weekends during their brunch hours, the little brightly-tiled bar features "Double Buzz" aka coffee & amaro cocktails that are truly decadent. I have to give credit to Kyle Kramer for discovering this and taking me there. It is the best of both worlds in every sense—delicately balanced liqueur-based drinks mixed with the finest Counter Culture brews. 11 AM-4 PM at 443 East 6th Street, Go!