Move over Juicy Juice, there is a new kid-friendly drink in town.
The babyccino, a pint-sized decaffinated coffee or steamed milk drink intended for toddlers and children, is the latest coffee craze to sweep upscale Brooklyn neighborhoods.
The idea for the drink was born in Australia and has recently become popular in coffee shops throughout Park Slope and Fort Greene.
A small coffee shop in Park Slope, Café Regular, serves steamed milk-only versions of the beverage for a dollar a pop.
Most Brooklyn coffee shops are reluctant to serve coffee versions of the drink to children after several negative reports on the trend. Parents and experts generally agree that coffee should be reserved for adults.
“Growing children should not be drinking coffee as it can stunt growth,” said Lisa Young, an adjunct nutrition professor at the Steinhardt School of Culture, Education and Human Development. “I suggest they stick to milk drinks and keep it low fat.”
Bittersweet, a cafe in Fort Greene, serves milk-only babyccinos in espresso cups.
“We started getting a lot of flack from [the press],” Bittersweet manager Ryan Hess said. “They cited us as instigating this whole thing where everyone thought we were giving caffeine to kids, like we had some evil plan to caffeinate children or something, which is not true at all. There isn’t any coffee in at all, it’s just steamed milk.”
Root Hill Café, which is on the border of Park Slope and Gowanus, was also accused of serving coffee to children.
“It’s crazy, we never heard of [babyccinos] before this whole thing,” co-owner Michelle Giancola said of the press Root Hill received.
Giancola said the cafe rarely gets requests for babyccinos, but would serve any type of drink a customer asks for.
“If someone comes in and asks us for something and we can do it, we do it,” she said. “What they do with it once we make it is up to them.”
Whether or not the drinks contain caffeine, some baristas say the idea of toddlers consuming coffee-inspired drinks is pretentious.
“I think there’s always this air of pretention that comes with coffee,” Hess said. “But it’s funny and the kids want it. There are a lot of families that live in this neighborhood. I think it’s pretty adorable.”