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The backstory

In 2023, one of my coworkers at an internship told me about the Snowy Plover, a coffee drink made by Andytown Coffee in San Francisco. The drink is, essentially, sweet sparkling iced coffee with a whipped cream topping. I was linked to this article, the thought of which has been sitting in the back of my head since.

A year and a half later, I visited San Francisco for the first time. Not only did I have a fantastic time reliving my childhood memories of racing through the city in Midtown Madness 2, but I got to try the famous beverage for myself!

Truthfully speaking, it was just alright. I think there was a bit too much ice, and maybe the sugar syrup had sunk to the bottom, because it mostly just tasted like sparkling coffee. Not a ringing endorsement, I suppose, but I could see the inkling of something great.

The preparation

On a whim, while grocery shopping the other week, I decided to reconstruct the Snowy Plover.

To make one, you need sparkling water, ice, two shots of espresso, whipped cream, and brown sugar syrup. I had sparkling water, ice and coffee at home. I picked up some whipped cream. All that remained was the syrup, so I picked up some brown sugar to make that on my own.

Now, a couple wrinkles, in order of severity:

Firstly, I messed up the syrup royally. The sugar ended up recrystallizing in the water, and I only realized this as I was reaching for the syrup to make the beverage. Since the brown sugar syrup I was making was unusable, I reached a little further back into the fridge and grabbed maple syrup instead.

Secondly, it turns out the sparkling water I had at home was peach-flavored, not flavor-free like Andytown uses. Oops. Just went ahead and used that instead.

Thirdly, I didn’t have an espresso machine. I did, however, have an AeroPress. I used James Hoffmann’s AeroPress espresso recipe, and due to a missed doubling step I only made one shot of I Can’t Believe It’s Not Espresso.

Fourthly, the above-linked article specifies heavy whipped cream, but I was a cheapskate so I used light whipped cream.

Now that I had replaced every single ingredient other than the ice, it was time to make the beverage. Here’s how I did it.

The recipe

To concoct a Piping Plover, you will need:

• 200 mL of peach sparkling water. (Lemon and lime also work well, and I suspect orange will work well too.)
• One shot (60mL) of espresso, or equivalent. (Do NOT use instant coffee. I tried this and it caused a horrible Coke–Mentos moment, and also tasted disgusting.)
• 20-40g of maple syrup, according to taste. (Start with 30g and dial it in as needed for future brews.)
• 4-5 cubes of ice. (This is not optional since it will be used to cool down the hot espresso. Also try not to add much more ice as it will dilute the drink.)
• Light whipped cream to top. (Optional.)

Concoct as follows:

1. Add the ice and flavored sparkling water to a glass.
2. Add the maple syrup and stir well, until uniform.
3. Add the espresso and stir well, moving your stirring utensil up and down in waves to mix the resulting foam back into the liquid.
4. If desired, top with whipped cream, and serve.

The experience

It is delicious. The primary flavor is not coffee, but whatever flavor of sparkling water you used. The chocolatey/fruity nature of the coffee and the sweet maple-y taste of the syrup turn up the intensity of the flavor, while adding some fantastic undertones.

I think the quality of the syrup and the coffee and the syrup does still matter, even if they are not the primary flavor. I’ve tried making this with sucralose sugar substitute, and with instant coffee, and in both cases the resulting beverage was significantly less enjoyable.

You can also use unflavored sparkling water (in which case it tastes just like a maple-y sparkling coffee) or regular/brown sugar syrup (in which case the fruit taste is not quite as defined but still enjoyable).

I think that the whipped cream makes the experience slightly worse, but I fed the concoction to a couple of my friends who aren’t as into coffee as I am and they liked the drink more with the creamy texture. It definitely makes the flavors less sharp, which might be something you prefer. I think a sharp taste goes really well in a cold sweet drink—it’s almost like a cola.

The name

The Snowy Plover was named after a bird that is a near-threatened species in the Ocean Beach area. Andytown’s drink raised awareness about the snowy plover, and the profits from the drink helped fund conservation efforts.

I think my variation of the Snowy Plover is different enough to justify its own name. I’m going to call this one the Piping Plover.¹

The piping plover used to be local to where I live—Ontario—and has all but disappeared. They were presumed lost from Ontario for a period of 30 years, until they popped up again in Sauble Beach in 2007. They have since popped up in other parts of Ontario as well.

Some Sauble Beach residents are trying to keep the beaches hospitable for them to keep returning every spring to make their nests for the season, even as demands grow to “clear” the beach for aesthetics and tourism. This article by The Narwhal covers this story in great detail, and they have other great work on the subject too.

The mood in Ontario is not supportive of such conservatory action. The provincial government recently repealed its Endangered Species Act, replacing it with a weaker law that doesn’t protect the actual habitats that the endangered species live in, and on top of that, removes the piping plover from its Protected Species List (see the list before and after). In response, Ecojustice is suing to seek emergency protection for piping plovers at Wasaga Beach.

Us normies can help as well. Longer-term, it would be nice if Ontario could vote in favor of governments that fund conservatory action. In the short term, Birds Canada takes volunteers who help sight plovers and take care of them from a distance, keeping their surroundings safe. If you’re near Sauble Beach, Presqu’ile, Wasaga Beach, Darlington, Toronto Island, or a whole bunch of other places, you could potentially help out. If you’re interested, click here. (If you’re not available to go volunteer, Birds Canada and Ecojustice also take donations.)

Soon, you could be sitting on a beach, watching over nesting birds and making sure no harm comes to them. Maybe you could take some sort of a cool coffee-based fruity sparkling beverage with you. Just an idea.