First came babyccinos — now meet the “beet latte.”
An Australian cafe in Dumbo is serving up bright pink espresso-style drinks made with powdered beets and almond milk. The Instagram-friendly concoction is already a huge trend Down Under — the same place responsible for the kiddie cappuccino craze that took Park Slope by storm — and the owners of Prospect Street’s Bluestone Lane say they’re now dropping the beet Stateside.
“We’re definitely a pioneer of it in America,” said Alex Stone, an Australian model and “wellness ambassador” at the cafe chain run by husband Nick.
The $5 drink is less gross than it sounds, Stone insists — which is to say, it doesn’t actually taste like beets.
“Even if you’re not a big fan of the beet, it’s not overly powering,” she said. “The beet latte has a very different flavor from the actual veggie beet.”
Stone thinks the Pepto Bismol-colored beverage tastes like cotton candy, although a Brooklyn Paper taste test concluded that it is more like old cereal milk (check out our full review here).
Despite its name, the “latte” doesn’t contain any coffee, so it doesn’t pack a caffeine punch — but Stone claims it has health properties that can’t be beet.
“It’s an incredible anti-inflammatory and antioxidant,” she said. “It decreases stress.”
Beets are an inexplicably beloved vegetable in Australia — the former convict colony enthusiastically stuffs so-called “beetroot” into burgers (even at McDonalds), sandwiches, salads, dips, and risotto.
But Aussies haven’t stopped at turning beets into hot pink drinks — they’re also using turmeric to make “golden lattes” and bright green “matcha lattes,” both of which are also on the menu at Bluestone Lane.
Bluestone Lane (55 Prospect St. between Adams and Pearl streets in Dumbo, www.blues
