People are waiting in hour-long lines for hottest ice coffee at NJ shore this summer

☕ Iced coffee buckets are all the craze on social media

☕ This Jersey Shore specialty coffee shop is selling them like crazy

☕ Check out the cool flavors

MANASQUAN — You’ve heard of a rum bucket? Now, picture that, but with coffee.

A newly opened Jersey Shore coffee shop has begun offering 32-ounce iced coffee buckets (non-alcoholic), and the concept has taken social media by storm.

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McGee Black Irish Coffee Co., at 150 Main St. in Manasquan, only opened its doors in June with a focus on specialty coffees.

But just a couple of weeks ago, the family-owned spot started offering iced-coffee buckets, a craze that has exploded on TikTok, Instagram, and other social media sites.
The idea is to grab an iced coffee bucket with friends, family, or by yourself, and then hit the beach.

Upon hearing about these buckets from my 23-year-old son, I had to go check out what the fuss was about.

So, on a beautiful Sunday morning at the Jersey Shore, we trekked on over to McGee’s.

I could not get over the line that had already formed outside the coffee shop.

As we were waiting, everyone was chatting about how they heard about these coffee buckets on social media, and they were all there for the same reason: to get a bucket of coffee.

The store is small and narrow, so only a limited number of people can fit inside, hence the long line outside.

About an hour and a half later (yes, we waited in line for 90 minutes, but spoiler alert: it was totally worth it), it was our turn to place our order.

While we knew we were going to order iced coffee buckets, we still checked out the colorfully written blackboard menus all around the store.

Holy cow! McGee’s not only offers coffees, but there’s teas, smoothies, Italian sodas, lattes, matcha, frozen hot chocolate, cappuccino, whiskey barrel-aged coffee drinks, frozen drinks, milkshakes, the works.

And the flavors? Where do I begin? You can get any flavored iced coffee for the bucket. I seriously had trouble deciding.

Some of the most common flavors people were ordering included cannoli, s'mores (a TikTok favorite), tiramisu, and cookie butter.

Other flavors include Ferrero Rocher (remember those hazelnut balls of chocolate), chocolate-covered strawberry, Ghirardelli, blueberry muffin, vanilla cupcake, Irish brownie mocha, oatmeal cookie, pistachio mocha, and so many others.

My son chose the cannoli iced-coffee bucket, which came with whipped cream, chocolate chips, a choice of milk (such as whole, soy, almond, coconut, to name a few), and a cannoli shell on top of the coffee! Yes, a real cannoli shell! It was perfect for dunking.

I got the tiramisu iced-coffee bucket with almond milk, whipped cream, a dusting of cocoa powder, and two lady finger cookies on top.

Both iced-coffee buckets? Delicious with a capital “D.” I honestly planned on having some of the coffee then, and saving the rest for later in the day. Nope. That didn’t happen. It was so delectable, I sucked down the whole bucket in one sitting.

The staff was so friendly and helpful, too. The baristas work so hard to fill every order with such precision, in an orderly, quick fashion, and always with a smile on their faces. They love what they do.

The iced-coffee buckets are $15 each but worth every single sip.

Bonus: If you show off your order and tag McGee’s on your Instagram story, you’ll score a free sticker.

While you’re in line, and trust me, you’ll be in line for a while, browse the shop. It’s full of beautiful Irish goodies, as well as merchandise to buy, like t-shirts, sweatshirts, and water bottles.

If all of this doesn’t warm your soul, McGee’s is also pet-friendly. Just ask Athena. This 7-month-old German Shepherd was with her mom and in line directly in front of us.

When her mom got to the counter to place her coffee order, the staff gave Athena a pup cup, which she licked up in a matter of seconds.

McGee’s Black Irish Coffee Company is open Monday through Friday from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Saturday and Sunday from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Get there early, though. Try an iced-coffee bucket or another fabulous treat they offer.

Then, either sit outside on their little patio and enjoy your caffeinated treat, stroll Main Street, hit the beach, or another destination of your choosing with your bucket and straw in hand.

I went home and washed out the bucket. I plan on using it for future drinks.

Enjoy!

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