Cool Beans

Sam Sveen of Uel Zing, a Bloomington cold brew, teaches an intro coffee class at Ivy Tech. Could you pass the final?

Iced coffee is for wimps. Meet “cold brew”—coffee steeped slowly in cool water for a less-acidic, highly caffeinated sipper. These local offerings may range in potency, but they’ll all put hair on your chest.

Indy chefs are using locally roasted beans in surprising, often savory ways. But their caffeinated treats—like these recent creations—come and go, so stay on your toes.

“Modbar is essentially the Ferrari of coffee brewing systems. What’s new is that the once-manual barista job now pairs with slick electronic components under the counter that can be endlessly programmed to control details like pressure, temperature, cleaning, and more.” – eater.com

We looked to our resident coffee snob to find 14 must-drink local cups. Indianapolis Monthly design director Todd Urban poured over dozens of roasts to suggest these 14.

From Calvin Fletcher’s to Near Eastside’s Rabble, this is your ultimate guide to Indy’s coolest coffee shops.

Making superior coffee isn’t convenient—extracting the purest flavor involves ratios and chemistry and special equipment. So Stephen Hall of Tinker Coffee Co. did the hard math for you and provided this step-by-step guide to scientific coffee dominance.

Ditch Folgers for these five fine Indy roasters.

And even if you never do detect more offbeat scents such as sun-dried tomato or marshmallow, it’s eye-opening to taste how each coffee evolves during the cupping, depicted here.

Indy’s coffee community poses with their favorite cups for some sweet mugshots.