La Colombe now offers hemp milk
Please note: This article is published as an archive copy from Philadelphia City Paper. My City Paper is not affiliated with Philadelphia City Paper. Philadelphia City Paper was an alternative weekly newspaper in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The last edition was published on October 8, 2015.
As a Lactose Intolerant American, I face different challenges.
Caroline Russock
We all have our burdens.
For some, it is discrimination based on our look, or our love, or the gods we worship.
As a Lactose Intolerant American, I face different challenges.
How often have I ordered a ham-burger only to discover a complementary slice of cheese adhering the bun to the meat? And, after solemnly sending it back to the chef, how frequently am I aghast to learn that the new ham-burger was in fact the old one after some maladroit scraping?
But today, ah today. Today I spied a flickering firefly at end of the obsidian corridor of my life, because Philadelphia coffee purveyors La Colombe — for the first time in their existence, if I am not mistaken — suddenly offers a non-dairy liquid coffee accoutrement.
It is hemp milk.
It pleases me.
Its appearance recalls freshly procured coconut milk: white, watery, thick only after a vigorous shaking. Its taste is vaguely grassy but not without notes of sweetness and grace. It disarms and embraces the bitter coffee like quick-witted lovers sparring in a screwball comedy.
I sip it now as I slump away from a pizza parlor. I had heard the place was artful in the making of tomato pie. Alas, each square appeared to have crumbulets of parmesan cheese vigorously blizzarded upon it. So I move on, hunched, cold, disappointed in the world.
