Rhode Island Coffee Milk
What do you get when you add coffee syrup to ice cold milk? In the Ocean State, you get the official state drink — Rhode Island coffee milk.
By Aimee Tucker|Aug 03 2022|
Coffee By Design | Portland, Maine
Photo Credit : Katherine KeenanWhat do you get when you add coffee syrup to ice-cold milk? In one place, you get the official state drink — Rhode Island coffee milk.
While a few other beverages have also achieved a high level of fame in the Ocean State (namely Del’s Lemonade and Narragansett beer) coffee milk earned the official top spot in 1993 thanks to its “uniquely Rhode Island” reputation. A common argument goes that you can get lemonade or beer just about anywhere, but ask for coffee milk outside of Rhode Island and its neighboring towns, and you’re likely to get a look of extreme confusion.
Photo Credit : Aimee Tucker
Mysterious as it may be to outsiders, coffee milk is a pretty obvious leap for anyone who’s had a glass of strawberry or chocolate milk. Sugary syrup (commonly made from instant coffee mixed with sugar and corn syrup) is bottled and added, a few spoonfuls at a time, to a glass of milk, then stirred, and enjoyed.
Photo Credit : Aimee Seavey
Rhode Islanders have been slurping up coffee milk from local brands with gusto since the late 1930s, when first Eclipse (based in Warwick) and then Autocrat (based in Lincoln) began selling bottles of the sugary, slightly-caffeinated syrup. In 1991, the “coffee syrup wars” finally ended when Autocrat purchased their long-time competitor, but rather than absorbing one brand into the other, they just keep making both. Actually, they make three. A third label, Coffee Time Syrup, is mostly sold to markets outside of Rhode Island. And in case you were wondering if they all taste the same, die-hard coffee milk fans will tell you (or they told me) that Autocrat is just a little bit sweeter.
Originally marketed at children as a way to get them to drink their milk, today the syrup is a favorite of both young and old. While Autocrat might be the most familiar to coffee milk fans, newer local brands like Dave’s Coffee (a winner in the 2013 Yankee Magazine Editors’ Choice Food Awards) have their own following thanks to their all-natural syrups in original, vanilla, and mocha flavors made with no artificial colors, sweeteners, or high fructose corn syrup — and we can’t help but love the funky, retro packaging.
Want your coffee milk cold and creamy? Just add some vanilla ice cream and blend the whole thing together into a coffee cabinet (that’s a frappe to other New Englanders and a milkshake to those that are really from away). And if, by chance, you want your coffee milk and Narragansett beer together, the latter debuted a limited-edition Autocrat Coffee Milk Stout in 2013, blending the brand’s bittersweet milk stout with dark Autocrat coffee.
We hear it goes great with an Olneyville New York System hot wiener.
Are you a fan of Rhode Island coffee milk? Do you have a favorite brand of coffee syrup? Let us know!
This post was first published in 2014 and has been updated.
SEE MORE:
75 Classic New England Foods
The Difference Between a Milkshake and a Frappe (and a Cabinet)
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My wife and I were just talking about this last night. She’s from the New Bedford, MA area. When visiting we pick up a bottle to bring home to CT. – Update for your article. – In business Since 1895. BUT – The company was just sold. http://www.turnto10.com/story/25383803/lincoln-based-autocrat-sold-to-uk-company
Hi Joe. Thanks for your comment! You’re right that Autocrat has been around since the late 1800’s, but they didn’t start selling the coffee syrup until the 1930’s.
My husband and I each used this since we were kids,(now 70) unfortunately can’t do the high fructrose. sorry
You can buy autocrat in Ct. I live in Ct my whole life and still buy it. I have 3 bottles sitting in my cabinet which I brought at a local supermarket. Walmart and Stop and Shop have it. If you live over near New Haven or Hartford and they don’t have it though head up to New London area or the casinos. All supermarkets up here have it.
When I was a child, I didn’t drink plain milk very well. My mother had Autocrat coffee syrup and Hershey syrup in the refrigerator all the time. I would drink a full glass with either one. I still see coffee syrup on the local store shelves here, eastern CT.
I grew up on Coffee Time coffee syrup, my Grandfather turned me on to it years ago, I found Famous Foods famousfoods.com online one day when I was searching for some of my old favorites down here in Florida, they sell Coffee Time and also Autocrat.
In Malden MA we used Lincoln coffee syrup that came in a clear glass bottle shaped like President Lincoln. The cap looked like a black top hat! My Grampa saved pennies in it! (Lincoln, of course)
I had never seen Lincoln coffee syrup, but loved the Lincoln vanilla syrup which came in the bottle you described. We usually had Autocrat coffee syrup. I grew up in northeastern CT.
I was also born an raised in New Bedford. I lived on Rockdale Ave, right up the street from SILMO SYRUP. Loved my silmo! Was so very sad to see it close! I am now diabetic, but every so often have my coffee milk! Now! The difference between a milkshake and a frappe! A milkshake is the syrup and milk put in a blender to make it frothy! A “FRAPPE” is the same, but with ice cream added! Enjoy!
I too am from New Bedford and SILMO’s HANDS DOWN was the very BEST coffee Syrup of all 3! In the Elementary schools our morning milk break was a carton of plain or coffee milk! No kid I knew drank chocolate milk although I do rwmember a product called Ovaltine but was never in my home or my grannie’s! I soent most of my school years split between NEW BEDFORD SCHOOLS AND NORTH MIAMI schools as I spent winters with Grannie! Always a CASE OF SILMO’S COFFEE SYRUP CAME WITH US!
Yes it was very very sad to see the SILMO’S Coffee Syrup FACTORY CLOSE!! I gave never been able to get used to Coffee Time or Aristocrat coffee syrup to this day!!!! Also coffee ice cream was onky in southern New England abd Hojo’s gad the very BEST! In MIAMI no kid at school ever heard of coffee syrup or Coffee Ice CREAM! Still this 76 yr old ‘s very favorite ice cream today is COFFEE! And YES INDEED! A niljshake was only milk and syrup and a frappe had ice cream added!!!
Need a website that I can purchase Autocrat Coffee Syrups. Please help me
Amazon
Would like ordering information.
You need to go to Terra Firma Farm in North Stonington CT. They milk their own cows and MAKE THE MOST AMAZING COFFEE MILK EVER.
From New England, now living in North Carolina… Can’t find any New England foods down here, heart broken. Miss the Autocrat coffee syrup. Had a friend buy me a bottle when she was coming down to visit, but of course it didn’t last.
There was a time when Autocratused natural sugar only. When they moved to corn syrup it lost its taste. There is a label now called Morning. Glory. That recaptured the smoothness. Silmo used natural sugar too.
Sometimes ,if you are driving on RI’s rte 295 in the Lincoln area,the aroma of sweet coffee syrup can fill your car-somewhere nearby is Autocrat’s facility. Mmmmmmm…
Nothing complements or goes better with coffee milk, than a couple or more wieneys. The official way to order wieners, gaggers, belly busters with coffee milk is, 3 all the way with a large Arizona
I grew up in Chelmsford, MA and have been drinking coffee milk for 55 years at least! We have always bought Coffee Time brand and mixed with milk.
I grew up in New Hampshire and my mothers’ favorite aunt, Emma, had a family property (2 houses and 2 very nice “cottages”) on Baboosic Lake in Amherst, New Hampshire, where we visited her often. We stayed in one of the “cottages”, which was huge, with Emmas’ daughter, who had milk delivered frequently from Producers Dairy in Nashua, New Hampshire. Whenever I was there she ordered “extra” coffee milk, which was like liquid ice cream it was so thick. After those visits with her I have loved coffee milk my entire life (I’m now 65!). When I graduated from college I had apartments in the Boston, MA area and the very first thing I bought (as a “staple”!) was Autocrat coffee syrup, which I always had on hand. Where I grew up they didn’t have that and a tried Coffee Time, which I didn’t like. Gourmet Magazine had an article about Rhode Island (I read it from 1976 until its “unfortunate demise” (courtesy of Conde Nast Publishing, who bought the publication) many years ago and discussed coffee milk in detail and had a very good recipe for syrup, which I made several times. That recipe is probably like Dave’s. I have had coffee milk from a Dairy in Contoocook, New Hampshire, also, which “wasn’t that great”! It certainly isn’t like Producers Dairy!!!!!!!!!!!
When I was growing up in Warwick, RI, we got coffee milk delivered from Hillsdale Farms Dairy along with our regular milk bottles. For those of us no longer living in RI, you can google “coffee milk syrup online” and you’ll find numerous sites where you can order the syrup.
I enjoyed with my Dad back in the 1950’s many a glass of coffee milk. He would pour two inches of fresh perked hot coffee into the glass. We added fresh guernsey milk And two spoons of sugar. It was heaven! He was from Hudson, Mass and I was sure it was a New England drink. I truly miss those great moments!
I love my daily cup of hot coffee, but never had the coffee syrup in milk growing up in Mass. We always had molasses milk. That was my mother’s way to get us to drink milk. Yummy.
I grew up in Lowell, MA. We always had a glass of milk with our meals. Our favorite was when our dad had a cup of coffee and would put a few teaspoons of his coffee into our milk. This was coffee milk to us and a real treat!
My mom is from East Bridgewater, MA and she used to do the same for my brothers and I when we were little. We grew up in New York.
While attending U of Miami in Florida I asked at a restaurant for coffee milk and got coffee with milk on the side. My now wife of 45 years would finish a date night by going out for steamed dogs, chips, and coffee milk. I now live in VA but when I travel back home I buy coffee syrup and bring some home. I would not drink plain milk as a child. Had to be coffee milk!
Always had coffee syrup on hand when living in RI. Brought a bottle of coffee syrup home to St. Louis when I was back to RI last fall. Introduced my 2 grandchildren to it and they really enjoyed it.
Someime ago when living South Shore Massachusetts, bought Autocrat coffee (yummy) at Star Market and now search for it in all markets. Found now at LeesMarket in Westport, Massachusetts, near Rhode Island. I love my coffee so much and Autocrat is the very best coffee coast to coast.
Shaw’s in Braintree sells good size bottle of autocrat in coffee aisle
Oakhurst Dairy in Portland, Maine produces a Coffee Milk that is available in many supermarkets, sandwich shops and convenience stores. Been drinking with a few red hot, hot dogs for years!
This article brought back memories. My mother never liked milk, I remember when we were growing up if she were going to drink milk, it had to have Coffee Time Syrup in it. Sometimes she would have strawberry syrup, but usually it was coffee!
We live in Wisconsin, I am originally from Sutton, MA and Wickford, RI (summer residence). My oldest grandson brought back a bottle of Autocrat Coffee Syrup from his his trip to Newport…. I made some cabinets and enjoyed the “Blast from my past.
We never used the word frappe. I served a lot of coffee cabinets at Harringtons. Drug Store in East Providence.
Grew up in Swansea, Mass. Nothing better than Autocrat coffee milk and a bag of Doritos! My Seester and I had it everyday after school in the 70’s!!
I keep reading of Autocrat as always being based in Lincoln, it WAS in Providence on Harris Avenue before it moved to the new facility off George Washington Hwy (Rt.116), I worked and got hurt on the job at the Providence facility, I don’t know why Providence is never mentioned in Autocrats history!
I’m from a CT dairy farm, but my mother didn’t like milk. Eclipse Coffee Syrup was the answer. It transformed 4% milk into a delicious drink, and made even better Coffee Milkshakes!
Also available at Market Basket.
Trader Joe’s sells coffee syrup and it is available in their stores nationwide.
This stuff sounds like it would be good, BUT, I live in the mid-west, haven’t seen any of the aforementioned Coffee Syrup’s, Is there a Homemade version, You mentioned the ingredients, but in what amounts of each, to make it taste like one of the above. Thanks for any help. I’d like to try this.
Surprised no one has mentioned AB Munroe Dairy in East Providence – they make the best coffee milk I have ever had and they deliver! http://www.cowtruck.com
It was always Eclipse for my coffee milk when I was growing up in Shrewsbury, Mass. Maybe that’s all they had at the local stores then, or maybe my dad preferred it to Autocrat. He grew up in Fall River so along with the coffee milk, we would hear a lot about his beloved Chow Mein sandwiches 🙂
I grew up in fall river ma.but live in ohio. I just want to say I can not live with out my coffee syrup.I order it over the internet.Brings me back to the place I love.My home town.
I grew up in Maine and have always had coffee milk still have Autocrat syrup in my pantry. Not sure where the writer of this story got the information that basically no one outside of RI knows what it is?
I grew up in MA and drank coffee milk all the time. My 8th grade teacher kept a bottle of it in his desk. I have lived in New Orleans for fifteen years and every single time I have brought up coffee milk people look at me sideways. No one has ever heard of it. I think it is specific just to New England. I have to buy it on Amazon
Coffee syrup has been and still is sold in every grocery store I have been in, both in NH and Maine.
Real coffee milk is made with whole milk, not low fat milk as the the photo shows. ‘a swallow will tell ya”
Amen! When i saw the 1% milk in the picture i was like “? Clearly not written by a true New Englander!”
Smiling Hill Dairy, Westbrook, Maine make wonderful coffee milk and sells to Hannaford. Get it every time I grocery shop.
Grew-up in Warwick R.I. in the 30’s-40’s & 50’s And Eclipse was the only Thing for coffee milk! Now live in Nova Scotia and have my Fclipse sent up from my nephew till in Warwick Don M
“You’ll smack your lips when it’s Eclipse!” and a kid singing “I love those good, good milkshakes that my mother makes for me/With Eclipse coffee syrup, I’ll drink two or three.”
Dave’s Coffee Syrup from Westerly RI beats Autocrat Syrup hands down.
OK so now I’m excited — Where can I get the AUTOCRAT COFFEE SYRUP ? I live in Maryland (help help ) Grew up in Massachusetts (never heard of “A” COFFEE Syrup ) . But I want it ! I Love ice coffee — drink it all the time. please help. Peggy
You can buy Autocrat and Eclipse Syrup and Dels Lemonade on Amazon. I send it to my sons who live in other States
You can buy Coffee Time Syrup in any Market Basket. It is what my family used in the 50’s and 60’s and it tastes great.
For the carb conscious out there I mix Torani sugar free coffee syrup with caramel flavored Premier protein shakes
Wright’s dairy farm has the best coffee milk. Straight from the cows at the farm. Nice and fresh just like their ice cream and baked good. Yum
Growing up in New Bedford, we always had Autocrat or Silmo coffee syrup, but a few years ago, I switched to the small batch companies in the New Bedford area. I used to buy Farm Girls coffee syrup by the gallon at Luzo’s, but I can’t find it anymore. Last time I actually bought it right from the farm. They are made with actual coffee and sugar. Morning Glory coffee syrup is now available at Market Basket. Since switching to Morning Glory, the others now taste very fake, like comparing real maple syrup to the pancake syrups made with corn syrup and flavoring. When I go on vacation, I try to remember to take some with me because it is pretty scarce once you leave the area. Even asking for coffee milk on Cape Cod gets you odd stares. I can’t remember the last time I had plain milk.
A coffee frappe and a package of nabs (peanut butter and crackers). What a great summertime lunch!
I went to college at the University of Wisconsin, 1964 and lived next to Babcock Hall which was where many of ice cream flavors we now enjoy were developed since it is the “Dairy State”. They did not however have coffee ice cream and coffee syrup was not available anywhere in Madison, Wisconsin so my parents sent me a case of Eclipse and I introduced my friends to coffee milk and ultimately coffee ice cream.
Was a Coffee Time and a Coffee Frappe kid in MA ’50. Never heard of less expensive Autocrat till now when using to d/c due to meds, daily intake of White Russians (the skim mild variety…LOL) “A” has worked right from the beginning in NM. Na Zdrowie!
Grew up in Ct. and our family loved Coffee Time milk. I have not had it since and wonder how much caffeine is in it!? I believe that they sell it at Market Basket!
I always buy coffee syrup when I go Home to NH. This article tells me it’s time to order some as I won’t be traveling til later in the year depending on the pandemic.
We grew up Stoughton Ma,and coffee milk from syrup and mixed at home was commonplace….but the true test as to whether you are in real Coffee Milk Country is finding it stocked at convenience stores in small 8oz bottles… going south from Boston,you can’t be confident of obtaining such a treat until you reach the Taunton area…from there into Rhode Island it’s only unavailable because it is sold out… it’s just a way of life..
My dad loved coffee in any form ! Mom would make coffee syrup by boiling leftover coffee with sugar so we always had some. Dad also would make coffee jello ! Great a spoonful of sugar and with a little milk poured over it ! I grew up in Hanover in the 50’s(nearest supermarket was Tedeschi’s in Rockland) and my mother grew most of our vegetables and canned them. She also planted strawberries,watermelon & cantaloupe.We had grapes,blueberries,blackberries and raspberries growing wild on our 13 acres so always had homemade jams & jellies . Little need to go to market.
I was just telling my daughter-in-law (a Californian) about coffee milk the other day! My dad made coffee syrup at our ice cream shop in New Haven, CT in the ‘60s, but we always put in on ice cream or used it in ice cream sodas or milk shakes. I was telling her though, that one of my uncles always made a little pot of extra strong coffee at home and added some to a tall glass of milk with sugar to make coffee milk! We never bought bottles of coffee syrup, but occasionally I’ll make a batch of my Dad’s coffee syrup and my brothers and I will reminisce about the old ice cream parlor.
During WWII my mother met a man while traveling to the Norfolk Naval station. After that, we received shipments of coffee, chocolate and vanilla syrup, toppings for sundaes and ice cream scoops every few months. More than 70 years later I am still hooked on coffee syrup and rarely drink milk without it. I have spent a fortune keeping it stocked, but it’s been worth it!!!
I grew up in southwestern CT, but whenever we went to visit my grandmother in New Bedford, we would look forward to an amazing treat called “coffee milk!” Never could find it in CT. I now live on Cape Cod and find Coffee Time at Market Basket.
Dave’s Coffee Syrup is, by far, the absolute best. For a REAL coffee cabinet, you have to go to Deletkas Pharmacy in Warren, RI. They make their own coffee syrup from scratch and just add milk and ice cream.
Everytime I drive by Deletka’s I want to try a coffee cabinet there. Someday I hope to.
I worked at the Warwick plant in 1977. The aroma in the morning was great as they brewed 200 Lbs of coffee every morning. The irony was that the break room offered a coffee vending machine that put out the nastiest coffee at 10 cents per cup.
When I was a little boy, I refused to drink my milk, which frustrated my parents to no end. Finally one night when I was maybe 5, my Dad put a little coffee into a glass of milk, stirred it up with some sugar – I loved it! To this day, many decades later and now living on the west coast, I either seek out coffee syrup when I travel back east and fill up my suitcase with it, or order it online. Morning Glory in the glass bottle is another coffee syrup I really like too.
Dave’s coffee syrup is far the best! I grew up on coffee frappes, milkshakes, etc.
I love Coffee Milk. It goes great with a chinese food. I know it sounds weird, but it does. A chow mein sandwich and a cold glass of coffee milk is perfect. Also have had coffee milk paired with an onlyville hot dog. Seems like all the hot dog “joints” had a coffee milk set up. Tiverton’s dairy farm, Arruda’s, makes the best store bought coffee milk around. If I walk into a gas station or market and see that name on a bottle. It’s an instant purchase. Autocrat is the best for making it at home.
I grew up in Uxbridge ,Ma. (I was born in ’52) which isn’t far from Little Rhody and always had coffee milk. I didn’t know until recently that not everyone knew about this delicious drink. People are missing out on a real treat.
I was bought up on Clinton St in New Bedford across from Buttonwood Park in the 50’s……Pizza at a place on lower Rockdale Ave or chow mein sandwiches with coffee milk. Wonderful memories
I was also brought up on Clinton St (#435) until I graduated NBHS in 1955. I bet we could share many good memories. Ann Lee
I grew up in Brooklyn NY and we had coffee milk all the time. Coffee Time syrup was a staple. I am 75 and fondly remember that special drink. Nothing better.
Brooklynite
Coffee milk (Autocrat), Cowlick cones from Newport Creamery and Olneyville wieners were our goto’s growing up in Providence, RI in the 70’s. Oh, let’s not forget Arthur Treachers Fish & Chips. Now in California, I purchase all my RI items online from stores in RI, keeping my business in the state. I miss New England and hope to return as soon as my kids finish high school.
Please, it’s a coffee cab not a coffee frappe.
I love coffee milk, I’m from RI and grew up on it
Eclipse was the favorite at my house in North providence,RI in the 50s and 60s.
The secret to a long life? Coffee-milk of course! (Well,that and full body fried class, lobster, neco wafers, and a few other essentials packed with life giving goodness)
Here in Fall River, Massachusetts we have our Autocrat or Eclipse Coffee Milk with either our Famous Coney Island Gaggers (hot dogs) or our Famous Sam’s Lebanese Meat and Yogurt Pies or Open Faced Cheese Pies or Broccoli and Cheese Pies or Kibbeh or a lil of everything or our Famous Chow Mein Sandwiches from Mee-Sum’s. We have a treasure trove of delicious cultural offerings here to pair with some darn good ice cold coffee milk!!!