Five downtown cafes. Five hot drinks. Who’s bragging rights?
Perhaps the most delicious piece of downtown Kitchener’s second annual Night\Shift festival of communal nocturnal adventure on Saturday, November 1st 2014, was the inaugural Hot Drinks Taste-Off. To help fuel festival explorers through 40+ indoor and outdoor performances, installations and activities, five fabulous downtown cafes agreed to flex their creative muscles by whipping up a special concoction.
DIRTY YETI MILK
The Yeti Cafe
CHERRY CHEESECAKE HOT CHOCOLATE
Cheeses Murphy
GREEN WITH ENVY
Matter of Taste
CANDY APPLE
Queen Street Commons Cafe
SPICY SOUL SIPPER
Cafe Pyrus
( Read more about the contenders .)
TRACES OF THE TASTE-OFF
A gaggle of Yetis went furthest out of their element – and immediately made themselves right at home in the KW|AG sculpture garden – to participate in the inaugural Hot Drinks Taste-Off!
Our booth tonight
@nightshiftwr
We had the best time!!
pic.twitter.com/nsOQ6Iaqda
— The Yeti (@theyeticafe)
November 2, 2014
Some folks fell in love at first sight with Dirty Yeti Milk:
Mmmm fresh yeti
#NiteShift14
@ Centre In The Square
http://t.co/OgGVi6KEvO
— Amaris (@amaris_g)
November 2, 2014
Others took some convincing:
Just had my first taste of dirty yeti milk
@theyeticafe
and surprisingly not as horrifying as it sounds!
#niteshift14
— Travis Charters (@TravChartersPT)
November 2, 2014
Others weren’t lucky enough to warm up their taste buds with its cryptic yumminess:
Hot drinks #5 from yeti cafe – I didn’t get there early enough! My vote for fave hot drink goes to commons cafe
#niteshift14
— Sylvie Spraakman (@sylvspraak)
November 2, 2014
Clearly the Queen Street Commons Cafe’s simple and scrumptious Candy Apple made fast fans out of festival explorers:
3 drinks down, pretty sure Queen Street Commons will be the definitive winner – salted caramel, hot cider, cinnamon. Perfect.
#niteshift14
— Peter Last (@PWLast)
November 2, 2014
It was also one of the Hot Drinks available as a one-off (rather than buying a passport for all five):
Candy apple. Happy to see available for all
#niteshift14
pic.twitter.com/570Jv1XDbK
— Ashleigh Latimer (@Latipad)
November 2, 2014
Likewise, Matter of Taste’s made-to-order matcha lattes – aka Green With Envy – were a hit explorers, especially in the looks dept:
Hot drinks #3 – green with envy match a latte from matter of taste – delicious and pretty
#niteshift14
pic.twitter.com/UnZhrFZ1Ex
— Sylvie Spraakman (@sylvspraak)
November 2, 2014
Cute green with envy
#niteshift14
pic.twitter.com/pwxsaU26pW
— Ashleigh Latimer (@Latipad)
November 2, 2014
At least one hot drinker was decidedly turned off by one of the flavours:
Hot drinks #1 from cafe pyrus – revolting old coffee n licorice – dumped it down the drain!
#niteshift14
— Sylvie Spraakman (@sylvspraak)
November 2, 2014
The fifth contender certainly got some love too:
my drink choices in order 1. cherry cheesecake 2. Green envy 3. Candy apple 4. Yeti milk 5. soul sipper
@NightShiftWR
#niteshift14
— Ashleigh Latimer (@Latipad)
November 2, 2014
Cherry cheesecake hc!! Loved it!
#niteshift14
pic.twitter.com/CgghmL4do5
— Ashleigh Latimer (@Latipad)
November 2, 2014
Considering these tweets and anecdotal gushing offline by a random smattering of Night\Shift 2014 explorers, the two most greatly appreciated Hot Drink Taste-Off contenders were easily QSCC’s Candy Apple and MoT’s Green With Envy!
For those who missed the chance to sip and enjoy the taste-off: Hot cider is readily available at QSCC, but the caramel sauce isn’t always homemade and they don’t usually have whipped cream on hand. And MoT has brought Green With Envy back by popular demand – don’t miss the opportunity to spike your day with some hot-and-exotic tastiness!
Matcha Latte was a big hit during
#nightshift14
. We are offering it for the winter season starting today.
— Matter of Taste (@matter_of_taste)
November 10, 2014
Many thanks to all the Hot Drinks Taste-Off passport holders and the five cafes that took part – and to all you Night\Shift explorers who found other great ways to keep downtown Kitchener warm on November 1st!
