Before becoming a resident Nashvillian (or Nash-hole as I like to call us), I used to spend a lot of time in Music City due to my previous career in the music industry. Sometime in 2015, I was in town working on a record and took a break from the studio to visit the newly opened Steadfast Coffee. I decided to try their in-house “coffee soda” which they branded and sold as Matchless Coffee Soda. One sip in and I was hooked. Over the next year, several other shops in the area began serving it, and eventually I heard wonderful news: they were canning and distributing it online.
This began a years-long love affair between me and Matchless. I would have cases of it shipped to my house, friends would buy packs of it and have them delivered to me on my birthday, and every time I was in Nashville, I would make a coffee crawl around town just to have several cups of this sweet/bitter/bubbly/velvety elixir. Coffee, sugar, and citric acid. It was *chef’s kiss*.
Fast-forward to the end of 2019. My wife, daughter, and I finally moved to Nashville, and while I was excited about many aspects of this city, nothing excited me more than having instant access to my favorite refreshing summer drink whenever I wanted. It was a dream come true.
This dream came to a screeching halt when Matchless went out of business in March of 2020 due to Covid, along with all my hopes and dreams of unbridled coffee soda access.
Which brings me to today. I’ve been working for the last 4 years to create a drink that I enjoy as much as I once enjoyed Matchless. Does it taste the same? No. But at this point, my endeavor has led me to a deliciously refreshing drink that scratches the coffee soda itch, and I (MIGHT) even like it a little better. Most days, when I’m working from home, you’ll find me in my kitchen around 2 o’clock preparing this drink to make it through the final push of the work day.
So, without further ado, I present to you Scott’s Unmatched Coffee Soda.
Tools:
- Measuring cup or jigger
Mixing glass and spoon
Ingredients:
- 6oz of flash-brewed coffee
- 5oz of good quality tonic (I prefer Fever Tree Light)
- .5oz of simple syrup*
- A few dashes of orange bitters (optional)
- Orange peel for garnish
- Ice
Instructions:
1. Flash brew your coffee (brew over ice), preferably using a Chemex. (I use 13g of fresh lightly roasted coffee and 120ml of water). Place 60g of ice in the bottom of the Chemex. (side note: you don’t have to be this fancy…if I’m being honest, half of the time, I’ll make this after lunch and just use whatever cooled-off leftover coffee is left in the carafe from that morning)
2. In a mixing glass, mix your coffee, simple syrup, and bitters, then pour over ice.
3. Top off the glass with tonic then garnish with an expressed orange peel.
4. Take it back to your office after lunch to help get you through the afternoon slump, and enjoy!
*For the simple syrup, you can alter the drink profile by playing with different flavored syrups. For this, I use a homemade 3:2 smoked vanilla clove syrup (cane sugar, cloves, lapsang souchong tea, and vanilla extract) which gives it layers of depth. But I’ve tried several others, as well as a basic 1:1 simple syrup, and they’re all delicious as well. Keep in mind that the type and amount of tonic will impact the sweetness, so adjust accordingly.
Scott is a senior designer at FoxFuel Creative. He can provide you with seven pages on how to make the best cup of coffee but only one sentence on his impressive music career.