Food & Drink: Friendly baristas serve innovative drinks at Relevant

At other hipster coffee shops I’ve visited, this conversation usually starts (if you are over the age of 30 or just don’t look cool) by the barista condescendingly assuming that you want a Starbucks macchiato and then lecturing you on what this uber cool place considers a macchiato (i.e. the Italian macchiato).

Montgomery has a better approach. He has the barista simply show the cup (a very small one) that they use for a macchiato and see if that is acceptable. Quick, simple, friendly, respectful and nice.

Another thing that separates Relevant from other coffee shops is that Montgomery (who creates the seasonal drink menu) takes a bartender’s approach to making coffee drinks — using coffee as a flavor to mix with other things to create a balanced (nonalcoholic) drink.

He has just released the new summer menu and every drink on it is a revelation. Now that I’ve tried all of them, it will be hard to decide which one to order.

• The honey citron espresso tonic is an exhilarating mix of yuzu, espresso, piloncillo and Jack Ruby tonic. The citrus effortlessly mixes with the espresso with just a note of sweetness. The quinine and botanicals in the tonic syrup add a tangy complexity to the mix.

• The nitro coffee soda is Portland Syrups’ root beer syrup mixed with nitro cold brew. Does root beer go well with cold brew coffee? Yes, yes it does.

• The herbaceous latte (inspired by Montgomery’s garden) has house-made lemon thyme and sage syrup mixed with espresso and milk. Lavender is commonly mixed in lattes; but, this drink proves that there are many other herbs that go well with the complex flavors found in a good espresso. 

• Matcha latte — this foamy emerald creation is as delicious as it looks. Matcha lattes can be found at most coffee shops, but few use such high quality matcha powder (from Jasmine Pearl Tea Company).

There’s also zesty, soothing lemon meringue tea from the Art of Tea and nitro tea. Montgomery came up with the idea of connecting iced tea to a nitro tank one day while he was setting up the nitro for cold brew coffee. The nitrogen bubbles give the iced tea the effervescence and foam that you find in a nitro cold brew coffee. This is the perfect drink for a hot summer day. Why hasn’t anyone thought of this before? I guess that’s the question in my head as I try all the new summer drinks at Relevant Coffee.

You can also find Relevant Coffee at Little Conejo, The Grocery Social, Trap Door Brewing Company’s Breakfast Stout and Nonavo Pizza’s coffee ice cream.

Rachel Pinsky can be emailed at couveeats@gmail.com. You can follow her on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook @couveeats.