If you’re like us, you’ve had that moment when you wished you could enjoy coffee the way you enjoy beer: cold, a little bit bubbly, and as often as possible. That last bit depends on how well you can handle caffeine. The bubbly and cold is where nitro coffee comes in. We mentioned nitro as a trend to watch in 2015 but let’s do a refresher: Nitro coffee is slightly effervescent, ice-cold coffee on tap. It's treated with nitrogen and/or carbon dioxide under high pressure, then chilled in a keg and served on draught with a foamy head like a Guinness. Rich and creamy—almost velvety—because of all of the tiny bubbles, it seems sweeter and less acidic than large-batch cold brew (though we love those too). Equal parts chocolatey and silky smooth, nitro is a summer-ready cold coffee we can get excited about.

Nitro coffee on tap at Chocolate Fish Coffee in Sacramento. Photo: Facebook/Chocolate Fish Coffee

We've watched the tiny bubbles cascade to the bottom—from the crema at the top on down—at Royal Blue Grocery on Rainey Street and Salt & Time’s butcher shop in Austin. A tall glass of nitro on tap at District: Donuts. Sliders. Brew. in New Orleans proved the perfect complement to maybe-the-best-donut-we’ve-ever-had (Vietnamese iced coffee-flavored).

It's served in glasses—tulip shapes and pints—to show off the mini-bubbles. Crescendo Espresso Bar + Music Cafe in Madison and Deeper Roots, the roaster out of Cincinnati, and Omi’s Coffee up in Portland, Maine offer nitro on tap. As do Chocolate Fish Coffee Roasters in Sacramento and Dolcezza at its new CityCenterDC location, which serves gelato alongside nitrogen-infused coffee at its shop in D.C. St. Paul, Minnesota’s Quixotic Coffee goes for the full Monty, adding cream, vanilla simple syrup, and cinnamon to make its “White Lightning.” Which is to say, it's everywhere.

But do be warned, some say this coffee is strong with a capital S, blaming nitrogen for possibly increased absorption rates. As in, you might make it halfway through your glass of nitro and feel like you just downed two full cups of espresso. We’re not convinced this is true, but some fans are.

What we do know is that those times when we’re feeling too lazy to leave home but are dying for some refreshing cold coffee, we’ll now be able to indulge in Stumptown Coffee’s new nitro-canned version, or Cuvée Coffee’s Black & Blue. This way, we actually can have it whenever, wherever we are. We also know that where these companies go, Starbucks will soon follow. It already has hops-flavored syrup to add to iced coffee and its own cold brew. Our crystal balls say nitro is next.