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“The ratio is a little bit more lemonade than cold brew. The combination of coffee and lemonade — it’s kind of an interesting one that’s the most out there in flavor ... but we found that the lemonade actually really brings out a lot of flavor in the coffee that you might sometimes miss,” said David Warrick, Ghostlight’s coffee bar manager. “You’ll taste it and think, ‘Oh wow, that tastes like cherry!’ But that’s actually the flavor from coffee that’s being enhanced by the lemonade. It’s really interesting and cool.”
There are trends in every industry and coffee roasting is no different. Warrick is not a barista to shy away from experimenting with ingredients that could potentially make customers think, “‘Oh my gosh this is natural! Like this should have been a thing so long ago.’”
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The summertime menu features mostly iced beverages to keep customers cool. Customers can expect to find some familiar favorites with a Ghostlight twist. For example, the Matcha Lemonade ($3.50) is similar to an Arnold Palmer, with a little less of the typical sweetness.
“It’s your usual take on a tea-lemonade almost, but the house matcha we use is not as sweet. So when you shake it up with the lemonade, it’s just, ‘Oh my,’” Warrick said. “It ends up as a deep green (color) so it looks great, too.”
Another limited-time menu item we can’t wait to try is the Iced Tangerine Lavender Honey Latte ($4.75).
“Some people when you think of coffee and you think of citrus, you don’t know if it’s going to work,” Warrick said. “But in ice form, the blend of flavors, you can pick out everything. It’s smooth, sweet, floral — it’s a great combo.”
This might be one of Ghostlight’s most innovative menus yet. It’s a local testament to taking gastronomical risks, especially during sweet summertime. Sometimes strong, different flavors might actually compliment each other extremely well.
“I just enjoy trying to come up with new things because coffee is such a versatile thing,” Warrick said. “A lot of people don’t think about it that way because you have your morning ritual, you have your morning coffee and you go. But there’s really a lot of craft that can be used with it. It’s about finding those flavor combinations and things that work out and you can come up with some pretty crazy unique stuff that tastes great. You just have to play with it.”
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