You love coffee and you love orange juice, but would you ever think to drink them together? Believe it or not, the two miraculously meld in the OJ Tonic ($3.25), a breakfast super-beverage from Lakewood’s Caffeine that packs an early-morning punch.
Anatolii Shtyrka and Roman Knysh, co-owners of the organic-focused cafe, set out to create something fun and different for their menu, finding a surprisingly winning combination when they layered orange juice, tonic water and espresso from Rising Star Coffee Roasters.
“The orange juice works perfectly with the espresso,” Shtyrka says. “I don’t know how, but when it’s mixed together, it’s not one or the other. It’s just some different, fruity taste.”
Indeed, the bubbly, two-toned pick-me-up (which is, by the way, extremely Instagrammable) tastes like a cross between a coffee drink and a cocktail, with the sweetness of the citrus cutting the strength of the espresso.
And though the drink attracts its fair share of skeptics, word-of-mouth works wonders: the regular customers who work in neighboring office buildings have become Caffeine’s best form of advertising.
“We say you just have to try it,” Shtyrka says, “and you won’t regret it.” 14701 Detroit Ave., Lakewood, 440-857-0320, caffeinelakewood.com
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Best Of CLE: Orange Juice Tonic
A coffee and orange juice mixture from Caffeine is the morning drink you never knew you needed — or even wanted.
