Coffee milk
Photo: Đậu tương · CC BY-SA 4.0

History

Coffee milk traces back to the 1920s, when southern Italian immigrants in Rhode Island brought their tradition of heavily sweetened coffee. Eclipse Food Products of Warwick (founded 1914) began selling coffee syrup to consumers in 1938. Autocrat of Lincoln (since 1895) countered with its own product in the 1940s; the two slogans (Eclipse's 'You smack your lips if it's Eclipse' and Autocrat's 'A swallow will tell you') ran in parallel for half a century. On March 30, 1993, the Rhode Island State Legislature designated coffee milk the official state drink, beating coffee cabinet (a coffee-milk milkshake) and Del's lemonade in the vote.

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Common allergens: Dairy

Make it at home

Yield 1Hands-on 2 minTotal 2 minDifficulty Easy

Ingredients

  • 240ml cold whole milk
  • 2 to 3 tbsp Autocrat coffee syrup (or Eclipse)
  • Ice cubes (optional)

Method

  1. Pour cold milk into a tall glass.
  2. Add 2 to 3 tablespoons of coffee syrup to taste.
  3. Stir vigorously until the milk turns the colour of a light caramel.
  4. Add ice cubes if you want it cold. Drink immediately.

Tip from the editors. Autocrat is bolder, Eclipse a touch sweeter. Both ship nationally; the bottle keeps in the fridge for months.

Where to eat coffee milk

Coffee milk in Providence

Olneyville New York System ★ 4.8

$$ New AmericanOlneyvilleUntil 02:00 Sun-Thu; 03:00 Fri-Sat

Open until 02:00 most nights, 03:00 weekends, the 1946 Olneyville hot wiener counter is Providence's late-night feed. James Beard America's Classics 2014.

TryHot wieners 'all the way'

Directions

Iggy's Doughboys and Chowder House ★ 4.6

$ Street foodOakland Beach

Gaetano 'Iggy' Gravino's Oakland Beach clam shack in Warwick, founded 1989. Award-winning RI clam chowder, doughboys, clam cakes; the year-round counter.

TryDoughboys, clam cakes, chowder

Directions

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