NYC’s coffee shops are the new cocktail bars — with fussed-over $15 drinks, hot baristas and the Gen Z girls who love them

At 3 p.m. on a weekday inside Bushwick’s trendy Dayglow cafe, barista Joshua Thierry bends over a coupe glass on the bar like he’s defusing a bomb.

The object of his very close attention is the Twin Peaks, one of the shop’s popular coffee cocktails — a cherry-crowned, crystal-clear “milk punch” that looks exactly like a Manhattan, hits like a jolt of jet-fuel coffee, costs $12 and somehow contains exactly zero booze.

Creating the drink, part of a special menu dedicated to the late director David Lynch, is a ridiculously labor intensive process that starts with the creation of a base as bizarre as the TV show it was designed to honor — a shot of chocolatey Mexican espresso is combined with lemon, tart cherry juice, Amarena cherries, a black tea tincture and a whisper of salt.

This mix is then poured into buttermilk and left to curdle so the milk proteins can yank out the harsh flavors and leave behind something silky enough to star in a perfume ad. Once chilled and strained, a process that takes at least a day, it is poured over a single, large ice cube — and finished with a glossy Amarena cherry.

Around Thierry, a crowd of worshipful, Instagram-ready Gen Zers swipe their phones between sips, ignoring the afternoon sun outside — too busy documenting some of Brooklyn’s hottest coffee mocktail porn.

Welcome to New York’s newest kind of nightlife — in broad daylight, fully caffeinated and hangover-free.