Carolyn Fath
It seems appropriate that Mike McDuffee and Ace Lynn-Miller, owners of Let It Ride Cold Brew, met in summer school — the season in which demand for cold-brewed coffee reaches its peak. These days their bright, highly caffeinated coffee concentrate, Let It Ride, is lighting up Madison’s coffee scene.
McDuffee and Lynn-Miller use only organic, fairly traded beans from local roasters (current blends come from Just Coffee Cooperative). Cold brew is versatile. “It mixes very well in cocktails and nonalcoholic drinks, not to mention it goes great with ice cream in a float,” says Lynn-Miller. Cold-brewed coffee also has a reputation for being higher in caffeine (although this is up for debate among coffee experts) because of the high bean-to-water ratio and prolonged brew time at cooler temperatures.
Let It Ride tastes nutty and woodsy, and although sweet (cold brew is lower in acidity than coffees brewed with hot water), it still retains some bite. Drink it straight, pour it over ice, mix it with water or add milk, to your taste.
Brewed twice weekly in the kitchen facility of the Cardinal Bar, Let It Ride is sold in squat 11.75-ounce bottles with a distinctive black-and-white label at several locations around town, including the Jenifer Street Market ($4/bottle). Subscribers can have it delivered to their doorstep weekly, and for that, there’s even a price break.
And what of their plans for winter? “We more or less expect to be a seasonal company, but if people still want our product, then we plan to deliver,” Lynn-Miller says. Ride on.
