Skip to main content

Matchless Coffee Soda Will Make Your Mornings More Refreshing

Matchless Coffee Soda
Image used with permission by copyright holder
Coffee is amazing. The average American drinks almost 30 oz of the stuff a day, but most people would not describe coffee as refreshing or thirst-quenching, not like a soda or fizzy water. Thanks to a group of guys in Nashville, Tennessee, we can now have the best of both worlds. Introducing Matchless Coffee Soda.

Matchless Coffee Soda
Image used with permission by copyright holder

The Southeast has been harboring this little miracle since 2012. Nathanael Mehrens developed the recipe for carbonated coffee when he worked at CREMA, a famed Nashville coffee spot. It didn’t take long for the concept to catch on and pretty soon Southerners were setting aside Cokes for Matchless Coffee Soda, so much that the Matchless crew required more space to keep up with demand. In 2014, they teamed up with Ben Bredesen of Fat Bottom Brewery to use his facility and make this bubbly nectar of the gods that perks you up and cools you down.

Matchless Coffee Soda
Image used with permission by copyright holder

Matchless Coffee Soda uses a unique brewing process developed by Mehrens and his team. It all starts with locally sourced and roasted beans that vary depending on what is available. The coffee is brewed hot in large batches, which helps keep the strong coffee flavor and unique terroir of the beans. The liquid is immediately flash cooled, which sets it apart from other cold brews. Then they add in a bit of demerara, a natural sweetener, and carbonate the coffee to fizzy perfection. Pour it over ice, toss in a citrus peel, and be prepared for your life to change.

Matchless Coffee Soda was initially kegged for sale in cafes, but the goal was always to can the product and make it more widely available. Thankfully, Matchless Coffee Soda completed a successful Kickstarter campaign to make that possible. They’ve got the canning facility at Fat Bottom Brewery, but ordering cans is very expensive; you have to order a minimum of a semi-truck’s worth of cans. So Matchless asked for $36,000 via Kickstarter for the initial purchase, a goal they easily surpassed. The people have spoken and they want refreshing, eye-opening, carbonated coffee.

Get excited, kids, because Matchless Coffee Soda is coming soon.

Elizabeth Dahl
Elizabeth Dahl is a southern girl in the heart of Los Angeles who lived far too long before learning what an incredible food…
How to start your own home bar: the essential spirits
Home Bar

When you start getting into cocktails, drinking them is only half the fun -- making them is part of the appeal too. If you start making your own drinks at home, you'll soon find that you can often create better or more interesting drinks than what you're served in most bars. And even better, making drinks for other people is a great way to try out new combinations, learn about spirits, and make your friends and family happy too.

However, moving beyond the simple spirit plus mixer style of drinks which most people make at home and into the world of cocktails means that you'll need a wider array of spirits on hand than you might be used to. It can take some time and research to build up a well stocked bar, and choosing high quality spirits isn't a cheap endeavor. It's worth it, though, for the pleasure of being able to try out classic cocktail recipes and experiment with making up your own creations too.

Read more
You’re overlooking the most important ingredient in your cocktail
Steel Hibiscus cocktail.

When you list off the most important parts of making a good cocktail your mind likely goes immediately to good ingredients: quality spirits, freshly squeezed citrus juices, and well-matched mixers. You might also consider the importance of using the right tools, like getting a proper mixing glass so your stirred drinks can be properly incorporated, or a good strainer so that there aren't little shards of ice in your cocktails. And then there are the fun additions like elaborate garnishes, bitters, or home-made syrups which can add a personal touch to your drinks.
All of those things are important, absolutely. However I think there's one ingredient that can make or break a good cocktail, and it's something many drinkers don't ever stop to consider. It's the humble but vital ingredient of ice.

Why ice is so important
In mixed drinks like a gin and tonic or a screwdriver, ice is added to the drink primarily to chill it down to a pleasing temperature. That's a topic we'll come back to. But in cocktails which are shaken or stirred, ice is far more important than that. Cocktails are typically composed of between around 20 to 30 percent water, and this water comes from the ice used in the preparation process.
When you stir ingredients in a mixing glass or shake them in a shaker with ice, you are chipping away small pieces of the ice so that it dissolves and blends with your other ingredients. You might imagine that water doesn't make much of a difference to taste, being tasteless itself. But it's vital in opening up the flavors of other ingredients. That's why many whiskey drinkers like to add a dash of water to their whiskey when they drink it neat.
If you're ever in doubt of how important water is to cocktails, it's worth trying to make a drink with no ice. Even if you mix up the ideal ratios for a drink that you love and put it into the freezer so that it gets to the chilled temperature that you usually enjoy it at, if you sip it you'll find that your drink tastes harsh, unbalanced, and incomplete. Even for special room temperature cocktails like those designed to be drunk from a flask, you'll generally find water being added at a rate of around 30%.
When you make your cocktails you should be sure to stir for a long time – around 30 seconds is a good start – or to shake for a good while too – I typically do around 12 to 15 seconds – in order to melt enough ice to get plenty of water into your cocktail. Despite what you might imagine, this won't make the cocktail taste watery but will rather make the flavors stand out more as well as often improving the mouthfeel of the drink. A good rule of thumb is to mix or shake until the vessel is cold to the touch. That means your ingredients are sufficiently incorporated with the ice.

Read more
How to reverse sear for a flawless steak every time
Trust us, you're going to want to try this method
Sliced steak on cutting board

It seems that every day, there's a new method of cooking that seems, honestly, pretty superfluous compared to the old-fashioned way of doing things. As a cooking purist myself, I sometimes find it difficult not to roll my eyes at many of the new techniques and culinary trends or methods that promise to be "easier than ever" or the "best" way to cook something. Usually, I like to cook the way my Grandmother did. Give me a wooden spoon, a good cast iron pan, an oven, and some fire, and I'll be good to go. Admittedly, I've been pulled out of this way of thinking once or twice - like the time I finally dropped my pride and tried sous vide ribs. Good lord. That one delicious experience showed me that - just maybe - there's still a little room for modern cooking upgrades every now and then. Reverse searing is one of those modern upgrades. And for those of us who still cringe a bit when trying out a new cooking gadget, worry not. Only the process itself is modern. This method requires absolutely no specialized equipment - just an oven and a good-quality pan.

Reverse searing steak allows for a better handle on temperature control, decreasing your chances of overcooking that beautiful ribeye. This method also creates a gorgeously caramelized crust on the outside of your steak. When placed in the oven first, the surface of the meat will dry more thoroughly and make for a better pan-sear later on.
How to reverse sear a steak

Read more