Manhattan Special

I'd like to take time today to express my boundless enthusiasm for the Manhattan Special espresso coffee-soda, which helps me to start my day at a point ever-so-slightly further from completely intolerable (I work a block from the Hudson River; a leap is not out of the question).

As detailed at the company's fine website, Manhattan Special is the result of a "unique blend of the world's finest coffee beans (which are hand brewed to perfection), along with the use of pure cane sugar," a formula brewed "Since 1895" by the descendants of Neapolitan expats ("We are proof that the American Dream does exist" boasts a winning sepia-toned intro video, replete with simulated "arrival at Ellis Island"). And, put frankly: Manhattan Special's century-plus path to perfection makes NKOTB upstarts like Coca-Cola Blāk seem like a fucking joke.

Best of all, the bottle epitomises class, at least inasmuch as a soda bottle can--there's an iris-like image of some starchy be-tuxedoed fellow (one assumes, titled aristocracy) staring down at some lithe jazz-age cutie who's leaning in, velvety Mediterranean eyes closed, for a kiss, while a big fucking cup of coffee rests, in extreme deep-focus, in the foreground, all of this superimposed before the well-articulated silhouette of Manhattan from some impossible perspective with the Chrystler Building, Empire State, and Brooklyn Bridge clustered together and evenly-sized. The entire affair sets in an Italian tricolor frame, the bottom corners decorated with some obscure medallion that assures you the soda won a medal of some kind in Rome, circa 1925.


Apparently the good people at Manhattan Special also released a novelty record (cover art attributed to Paul "Teardrop" Ciaurella/J. P./Al Passaro) sometime in the 70's, described thusly:

"Promotional record produced by/for famed NYC coffee soda company with fantastic "Aunt Carmella" comedy skit (shown in wig, glasses front), some Italian restaurant/lounge fare and one un-credited, low-fi teen garage tune. Fun album and as New York as it gets for local vanity LPs."

Could this soda get any cooler? No, evidently, it could not.

Their bottling facility is a short walk from my front door, on Manhattan Ave; I don't discount the possibility of arranging a field trip. Oh, and evidently they make a bunch of other bottled drinks aside from their flagship product, including a recently introduced "Diet" line; I really haven't had occasion to delve into them. Suffice to say that in a world of ever-constricting horizons, faced with creeping Coke-Pepsi hegemony, Manhattan Special is an invaluable resource of deliciousness and independence and American dreams and whatnot; you need only glimpse at their Guest Book (it really is oddly moving) to see that this is a beverage that instills people with a sense of well-being and community.