Some like it hot.

It is officially hot.  When you can go an entire week above 100 degrees and 80% humidity it is time to rethink the age old idea that hot drinks (historically tea) will cool you down by making you sweat.  My sweat glands are working overtime at the moment, so I think I will break with science and tradition and try a nice cold beverage.  Cold you say?  How can you drink cold espresso?  And what is this thing they call ICED COFFEE?  Let's dig a littler deeper and see what the options might be.

Perhaps the first and most obvious option is to make what has been called a "Shakerato" but may have many names.  This drink is presented more like a cocktail and is often served in a Martini glass on a hot Italian afternoon.  However, it is very simple, quite refreshing and has a lovely self produced creama on top when done correctly.  

The next, and possibly most popular option, is to have your favorite espresso based drink over ice, be it a mocha or latte or cappuccino.  The problem with this can be in the preparation.  Most places seem to miss the essential point of cooling the espresso as soon as possible or even preparing the espresso ahead of time and cooling it in the refrigerator.  They use VERY hot espresso poured into slightly cool milk with a few ice cubes.  The end result is a room temperature watery slush that only faintly resembles the drink you really wanted.  The best solution, I think, is to prepare espresso ahead of time and cool it so that you only add cold ingredients to the drink.  The other option is to pour the espresso over a LOT of ice first and then mix while adding the other ingredients.  This usually works out OK, but is never quite as good as when you start cold.  Here is a video of a rather cute cafe chick making an iced Latte - the wrong way in my opinion, but still it looks pretty good:

Now that you have your basic cold espresso drink, I think the next thing to think about is sweeteners.  With hot drinks, this is not an issue since sugar and chocolate and just about anything else you want o dissolve into your drink will quite easily go into solution.  In the case of cold drinks you can either put the sweetener in the hot espresso or, my preference, try a nice flavored Torani syrup so add to the drink.  On a not day I especially like an iced Mint Mocha.  The Mint syrup adds a coolness to the already iced drink and tricks me into thinking I am not about to melt.  I also like the Almond flavor or Hazelnut in an iced Cappucino, but since there are some 80 syrups to choose from, I'm sure you will find something you like.

So, if you have exhausted your cafe options and you want to go - in the words of the late Frank Zappa - Strictly Commercial, there are a few espresso based drinks both old and new that you can buy on a hot summer day.

• My favorite by far is a drink I have only seen in the North East or at least on the East coast.  It's called Manhattan Special and it kicks all the other cold espresso drinks to the curb.
• The other option, of course, is to suck it up and buy something from one of the BIG PRODUCERS.  I have to admit here, I actually like a good Starbucks Double Espresso shot in a pinch.  Go for it, nobody's looking.
• Last but not least, if you are on the road and the only thing in sight is a truck stop in rural Alabama with 40 inch pocket knives, Elvis as the Virgin Mary statues and a wide variety of "smokeless tobacco products" - you may have to try one of the new Iced Espresso Plus drinks from a variety of vendors.  They usually contain espresso plus some sort of pseudo safe "natural" product like Ginseng or Guarana.  Lets be honest here, though, its these active ingredients that are giving you the kick anyway, so you may as well drink ROCKSTAR if you are so inclined and not concerned about your heart rate.

Finally - there is something to be said for a nice tall glass of cold iced coffee.  Enjoy!