At Bicycle Nomad Cafe (in the Velo bike shop in downtown Phoenix), baristas are serving a fun variation on a classic drink. Called the Cocospresso ($6), theconcoction takes the traditional Americano (espresso and water) and gives it a sweet, mildly fruity twist by serving the drink in a whole coconut. Barista Scott Hodnefield says while there may be other versions out there, it was he who introduced the drink at the Velo.
Bicycle Nomad Cafe serves Press Coffee Roasters coffee and local Maya Tea Company teas. There's a refrigerator stocked with chocolate milk and other iced beverages, and at the bottom of the fridge you'll find the Thai coconuts used for this drink.
Once you've selected your coconut, the barista stamps it for you with the Bicycle Nomad Cafe stamp. The next step involves hacking open the coconut with a kitchen cleaver — and don't worry, they do that for you, too. The barista usually pours a little coconut water out of the giant drupe (in case you were wondering, a coconut is neither a fruit nor a nut) so it doesn’t overflow. And the excess doesn't go to waste; you are offered the coconut water sample, reportedly ripe with electrolytes, including sodium and potassium, and natural sugars, making it a healthy way to hydrate.
The coffee part of making the Cocospresso is close to that of a standard Americano. The barista pulls two shots of espresso, but instead of pouring the shots into hot water, the espresso goes into the cold coconut.
The result is a slightly sweet, refreshingly cool espresso drink with a caffeinated kick. It seems the perfect drink to come from a coffee shop attached to a bike shop — high-energy types can conveniently get their caffeine fix while also getting a dose of natural fruit sugar. Who needs a Red Bull when you’ve got nature’s energy drink?
Be warned, however: We don’t recommend more than one Cocospresso per day, unless you really want to get tweaked out. Perhaps it's the electrolytes, but for whatever reason, we seemed to absorb the energy from this drink extra quickly. On the other hand, the Cocospresso provides a buzz that's no doubt addicting and worth returning for. If only because it's fun to drink coffee out of a giant coconut.
Bicycle Nomad Café at The Velo is open Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m., with extended hours on First Fridays until 10 p.m. On Saturdays and Sundays Bicycle Nomad is open 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. For more information check out the Bicycle Nomad Cafe Facebook.
