This Thursday, sip my go-to coffee order: an iced Americano with white chocolate cold foam at Espresso Royale. I used to be a latte girlie, but I fell out of love with drinking so much hot milk and found a new favorite: an Americano (made with just water and espresso) plus the most delicious coffee topping: cold foam. For me, cold foam is a total game changer. That sweet cloud serves a creamy sweetness but lets the Americano’s bold coffee flavor shine. The frosting cascades gradually into the bitter espresso, so the drink starts like a sweet milkshake and finishes like an iced latte.
Most coffee shops in town don’t have cold foam available, but every Espresso does — and any of the syrups available can be put into the cold foam. I want to shout out Damesha at Stadium Plaza who was the one to tell me about white chocolate cold foam. I’m obsessed with the white chocolate flavor because it tastes a little sweeter and a level up from basic vanilla-flavored foam. Order this coffee drink hot if preferred (or decaf for those caffeine-averse), but do try it with sweet cold foam.
In the pandemic, Espresso Royale closed all locations nationwide, but Champaign’s Cafe Kopi saved the Champaign-Urbana’s Espresso Royales. So the only Espresso coffee shops that exist do so right here exclusively here in C-U. I bought this iced Americano ($5.50) at The Village Green location, but it’s on the menu at any location of our little local coffee shop chain.
Village Green at The Crossing
2401 Village Green Place
Champaign
7 a.m. to 8 p.m., daily
