Goat’s milk coffee drinks

Compare mozzarella to goat cheese. Now imagine you’re drinking a latte. “It’s that exact kind of difference,” explains John des Rosiers, the chef-owner of Inovasi (28 E Center Ave, Lake Bluff, 847-295-1000), where he subs frothed goat’s milk from a Wisconsin co-op for cow’s milk in a two-espresso-shot drink dubbed the inovacchia. “The drink is about the milk and about the coffee,” explains des Rosiers, “not just about the coffee with the milk playing a supporting role.” The pronounced tartness of the goat’s milk begs to be balanced with sweetness, so Des Rosiers muddles turbinado sugar with the espresso. Cleetus Friedman takes a similar approach with his goat’s-milk coffee drink at City Provisions Deli (1818 W Wilson Ave, 773-293-2489) in Ravenswood: “I was getting ready to harvest my honey from my beehive,” Friedman recalls, “and I prefer to sweeten things with honey rather than with sugar, so we tried the goat’s-milk honey latte, and it really worked.” In fact, the latte has become so popular that most of the coffee drinks at the deli can now be made with goat’s milk (for an upcharge), and half-gallons from Sunshine Farms in Wisconsin are available for purchase. Still, des Rosiers concedes it’s not for everyone: “It’s a very adult kind of a foodie coffee drink.”