Tracking the Nitro Coffee Trend in Philadelphia

The rise of nitro coffee — cold-brew coffee that's pressurized with nitrogen and served on tap, resulting in a pour with a lush head and creamy texture, often likened to Guinness — is a major trend nationwide and beyond. Just this week, BonApp checked in around the country to track the nitro coffee boom, which the magazine named one of the top food trends to watch for in 2015. Stumptown, one of the big names who was at the forefront of the nitro coffee frenzy, released a canned version of their nitro brew earlier this month. A new system by the name of JoeTap believes it can improve upon current systems, providing an even sweeter and creamier result (without added milk or sugar, to be clear).

And nitro coffee is gaining prominence throughout serious coffee shops here in Philadelphia, too, even if the trend hasn't totally blown up just yet. Celebrated local roaster Rival Bros has recently added nitro coffee to the menu at its Fitler Square cafe, joining a small but growing contingent of coffee shops already serving it. You may already have run into it at places like GreenStreet, HubBub, or Square One.

With all this coffee-on-tap already on the brain, we couldn't help but take notice of this Twitter tease posted yesterday by La Colombe's Todd Carmichael, never one to be outdone.

Clients sneaking into the lab to get a shot of my special concoction. pic.twitter.com/9VKhLkZtGH

— Todd Carmichael (@toddcarmichael) April 29, 2015

He expanded on his coy initial post by describing it as a "coffee concoction on tap... soon available everywhere." Quizzed by one follower as to whether we were looking at "Pure Black Nitro" (referring to the bottled cold brew La Colombe has been selling for years), Carmichael boldly replied, "something like that, but five octaves higher on the insanely good scale."

UPDATED 5/1: Looks like "Pure Black Nitro" is in fact about to become a reality, <a href="http://philly.eater.com/2015/5/1/8532249/la-colombe-pure-black-iced-nitro-coffee-morgans-pier">with the first tap just installed</a>.