There may be no laws when you’re drinking Claws, but summer is apropos when you’re sippin’ Topo.
Topo Chico, the aggressively bubbly best friend to espressos everywhere (but Texas especially) is joining the hard seltzer phenomenon, and honestly, I’m here for it. I have in the past been, how do you say, less than kind to some of the coffee-alcohol mashups companies have been sweatily pushing out to try to bask in the shine of coffee’s widespread popularity, bolstered in no small part the last decade or so by the rise of the specialty industry into the mainstream consciousness. PBR Hard Coffee? Hard pass. Jäeger Cold Brew shots? Nah Brah. Bailey’s NON-ALCOHOLIC Cold Brew Coffee? What are we even doing here?
But Topo Chico’s place in the coffee pantheon in unquestioned. (And if I’m being REALLY honest, it’s the best part of more than a handful of espressos I’ve been served.) So if the gods of big bubbles want to descend from atop Cerro del Topo Chico to deliver unto the world a new elixir, you better believe I will humbly and graciously accept their bounty into my heart please and thank you.
As reported by CNBC, the new Topo Chico offering was announced on Tuesday, July 28th by Coca-Cola, who bought the sparkling water company in 2017—which I am not emotionally ready to discuss at this time (and don’t get me started on Whataburger). It marks the company’s first foray into the alcoholic beverage market since Coca-Cola Chu-Hi released in Japan, a canned “shochu-highball” that hit the market in 2018, per Bloomberg.
Hard seltzer is having a veritable moment right now (or at least it was before the pandemic. I couldn’t tell you what the kids are drinking these days). According to CNBC, sales of hard seltzer tripled in 2019, thanks in no small part to brands like White Claw, Truly Hard Seltzer, and even brands like Coors, Bud Light, Natural Light, Corona, and Four Loko releasing their own branded seltzers. And with Topo Chico always being the right choice, now is time of the Topo Chico Hard Seltzer.
Per CNBC, the beverage will debut in “select cities in Latin America” before making its way to America some time in 2021. Details about Topo Chico Hard Seltzer beyond that are scarce, with Coca-Cola saying they will release more information closer to the release date.
But for the time being, you need to prepare you taste buds—mentally, physically, and spiritually—for the absolute mindfuck that a sweet, syrupy espresso served with a side car of Topo Hard Seltzer will deliver.
Zac Cadwalader is the managing editor at Sprudge Media Network and a staff writer based in Dallas. Read more Zac Cadwalader on Sprudge.
Artist rendering of Topo Chico Hard Seltzer with espresso. Original photo by Desiree Espada for Topo Chico is Espresso’s Best Friend in Texas
