Manhattan Special, an intense, inky coffee soda, was for many New Yorkers a kind of snack food coelacanth: a product assumed to be extinct, but which is actually still being made and can be found at a handful of stores. The Times describes the strange life-cycle of Manhattan Special, which somehow survived the age of the local New York sodas (of which Dr. Brown’s is now the best known remnant) to live as a specialty product. There’s the story of a murder in there, of the soda’s creator, and how his children have taken up the task of producing the soda — and have even moved it into the present age: you can find out where your closest Manhattan Special seller is, via the company site. It still tastes bad, though. But we can forgive it a few shortcomings in the interest of history.
