Coffee News
Coffee shop in Dallas' Koreatown district serves game-changing drinks
A new coffee shop in North Dallas is serving a game-changing beverage that combines two charged up drinks in one. The shop, called Peridot Coffee, is a little off the beaten path, if your beaten path is Preston Road, the favorite strip to settle if you're Starbucks.
Peridot is in Dallas' Koreatown, in the Komart complex near Royal Lane and I-35, not far from the King Spa & Sauna, the favorite bathhouse for the underground hipster. Peridot serves coffee, teas, bubble tea, and a few snacks. Fans appreciate the fact that it's rarely crowded, offers plenty of electrical outlets for your laptop needs, and has comfortable and varied furniture, from loungey couches to upright chairs and tables.
Owner is Harry Kang, who frequently serves as barista as well; he named Peridot for the olive-green gemstone evoking the color of unroasted coffee beans.
The coffee house boasts a modern interior with the slogan, "Life is too short to drink bad coffee," printed in large letters on the wall. They take their beverages seriously, from espresso drinks to iced coffee drinks drizzled with caramel to green teas to bubble teas with the chewy boba "bubbles."
This is all well and good, but let's cut to the chase: The game-changing drink is called the "green tea flat," and it's a layered drink like none other in DFW, combining coffee and tea in one single drink.
The name "flat" is a reference to the flat white introduced by Starbucks in early 2015, with espresso and steamed whole milk.
Peridot's green flat is not unlike one developed by Starbucks for its Asian markets called "matcha and espresso fusion."
Whatever you want to call it, it has three layers and a whole lot of bang.
The bottom layer consists of matcha green tea. Suspended in the middle is a layer of espresso. The buoyant top layer is foamed whole milk.
Visually, it's an achievement, with the three cleanly defined layers creating bands of color. It also promises caffeine thrills, with first the quick hit from the espresso, followed by the trademark low-and-slow caffeine buzz that green tea traditionally delivers.
At Peridot, the espresso is rather mellow, while the green tea has a subtle sweetness. If you thought that coffee and tea could never mix, this drink might prove you wrong.
Peridot's prices are also about $1 lower than most other Dallas coffee shops.