DISH OF THE WEEK: De-Constructed Latte at COFFEE PROJECT NEW YORK

Every week, I document another dish that impressed and satiated me during my food adventures around New York City

I generally don’t go in for gimmicks – and there are a lot of them in the food world. Granted, I’d be happy to try them but I usually see through them as gimmicks. I was planning to write off the de-constructed latte at the hip and crowded Coffee Project New York as just that, but after I sat and tasted it, I have to admit that it worked.

Although they will serve you a shot of espresso, a cold brew, or cappuccino, the general concept here are different “coffee projects.” As far as I know, since they opened two years ago, they’ve only had two projects. One is a Nitro Flight where they prepare one nitro cold brew black and one nitro cold brew with milk. I didn’t try that one.

The “project” that I tried is the one that has gotten them a lot of press and Instagram fame: the de-constructed latte.

It seems so obvious and possibly a bit too much, but they break down the components of a latte by serving a small glass of expresso, a small glass of warm milk, and then the combination of the two in the final product of a latte.

A biscuit and a glass of water are included to clear the palate between each sip to appreciate the nuances of each of the components.

It’s rather precious, but I couldn’t deny that it worked. Obviously an espresso on its own will be more complex than when it is steamed with milk – and so it was – nutty and roasty.

And that solo glass of milk (they use a natural milk from Salem, New York that is pasteurized at a lower temperature than usual to mimic the flavor and mouthfeel of raw milk) was more rich and sweeter than usual. I usually hate drinking milk on its own, but I could have downed an entire glass of this nectar.

And then you really do pick up the notes of the two when you drink the final product. Is it the best latte I’ve ever had? Not sure, but it was certainly the one I paid the most attention to. I wasn’t mindlessly walking down the street or sipping it while buried into my phone. It was a real coffee experience. Price: $7