By Tom Vierhile, Innovation Insights Director at Canadean*
Move over iced coffee; cold brew coffee has your number. The average coffee drinker may not know the difference between iced coffee and cold brew coffee, but odds are that they will soon, as cold brew coffee takes shape as the beverage industry’s next potential superstar. Few beverage concepts have gone from hipster favourite to mainstream must-have in as little time.
Cold brew coffee is often called a ‘labour of love’, since it takes time to make. Unlike iced coffee, which is usually hot brewed at double strength and then chilled, cold brew coffee is never heated. Cold brew coffee is produced by steeping fresh ground coffee in cold water for anywhere from 12 to 48 hours.
Since the brewing process does not involve heat, the natural compounds in coffee are released in such a way that cold brew coffee has a smoother taste with much less acid (as much as 70% less) and little of the bitter bite that iced coffee can have.
Because of this smoother taste, cold brew coffee may not even need sweeteners or creamers. What cold brew coffee does have – in abundance – is caffeine. According to Austin, TX-based Chameleon Cold Brew Coffee, one cup of cold brewed coffee can have double the caffeine content of a regular cup of coffee and even more caffeine than the typical energy drink.
While the origins of cold brew coffee are murky, the company many credit with making it a commercial success is Seattle, WA-based Stumptown Coffee Roasters. Founded in 1999 by Duane Sorenson – referred to as the “Che Guevara of the rock-star barista movement” in a 2011 Esquire magazine article about the company’s sale to private equity firm TSG Consumer Partners – Stumptown produced what may have been the first bottled cold brew coffee around 2011.
This retro, stubby, brown-bottle coffee is one of many reasons that Stumptown developed a cult following. In 2015, Stumptown was back at it as one of the first to offer a nitro-infused cold brew packaged coffee with Nitro Cold Brew – a ready-to-drink coffee injected with tiny nitrogen bubbles under high pressure that give coffee a creamier texture and richer taste. Nitro-infused products have since become a hot emerging trend in packaged coffee and beer.
Cold brew coffee really began its serious run at the mainstream last year. Following its purchase of Stumptown, Peet’s Coffee & Tea took the bold step last June of replacing iced coffee in its stores with cold brew coffee. Two months later, the company was boasting that cold brew coffee sales had expanded by as much as 70% versus iced coffee sales for the same year-earlier period.
Coffee behemoth Starbucks also tipped its hat to the cold brew trend last year, with Starbucks Cold Brew Blend Coffee, a new coffee steeped in cool water for 20 hours. The drink is made using a process that results in a cold coffee concentrate that baristas measure and top with water and ice, serving the drink unsweetened to patrons.
These foodservice moves bode well for the future of packaged cold brew coffee, and it would appear the supermarket channel concurs. Mathis Martines, senior category manager for innovation & snacks at Kroger, says: “If I was to look at anything (in beverages) that was at the tipping point, I would definitely look at cold brew coffee. When you talk about something that is hitting on all of the trends – fresh, crafty, functional – cold brew is the one that is hitting on all of them.”
The pace of innovation in packaged cold brew coffee has been set by the likes of the Stumptown and Chameleon brands, but a widening array of players are entering the niche. Bakersfield, CA-based Califia Farms pushes plant-based ingredients with new sweet/hot Mocha Mexica, sweet/spicy Dirty Chai, and Triple Shot flavours of single-serve Califia Farms Cold Brew Iced Coffee with Almondmilk.
San Francisco, CA-based Hiball Inc is heading in more of an energy drink direction with slim-can Hi-Ball Energy Cold Brew Coffee in flavours like Coffee, Mocha and Vanilla – each containing guarana, ginseng, and B-vitamins. Austin, TX-based High Brew Coffee, also inspired by energy drinks, is another one to watch. The brand’s original formula Double Espresso variant delivers 163 milligrams of caffeine per 8oz can – roughly twice the caffeine jolt of a similar-sized can of Red Bull.
Meanwhile, a newer wave of cold brew coffee-based products is going places where cold brew coffee has never been before. Brooklyn, NY-based Jus by Julie is debuting 16oz bottles of Jus by Julie Probiotic Cold Brew Coffee, a ready-to-drink variant infused with 1bn CFU’s of vegan Ganeden BC30 probiotics, claimed to help improve immune and digestive system health. A different kind of health benefit is offered by new Le Herbe Cold Brew Coffee from Seattle, WA-based Le Herbe. This bottled coffee is infused with natural cannabis extracts and is only available in cities or states that have legalised marijuana consumption for recreational use. Coarse coffee grounds from micro-lot coffee beans are steeped with marijuana extracts, chicory, vanilla beans and chocolate for 24 hours to produce this variant, which contains both tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and cannabidiol (CBD).
Cold brew coffee is even expanding outside of the coffee category. Stratford, CT-based Two Roads Brewing Co has just debuted (on draft only, for now) Two Roads Espressway Cold Brew Coffee Stout, a locally-roasted, organic Ethiopian/Sumatran blend of coffee beans with a rich oatmeal stout produced in a cold brew beer process unique to the brand. The coffee is said to steep with the stout for several days, “resulting in a true, cold-brewed coffee stout”. Elsewhere, Portland, OR-based Tillamook County Creamery Association has debuted “silky smooth” Stumptown Cold Brew Coffee Extra Creamy Ice Cream, a product made with just six ingredients. Finally, a Kickstarter campaign has been initiated to help fund Cold&Blac, London’s first cold brew coffee liqueur that is slated for a March launch.
Assuming that cold brew coffee’s growth continues, the stage may also be set for future growth in low acid coffees. While the sub-category is not a new concept in the US, the sector has not yet managed to catch fire. According to Joanie Parsons of Seattle, WA-based Trucup Roasting Co: “20% of the German coffee market is low acid coffee”, alluding to the prospect that the segment could become a much bigger player in the US.
Trucup offers a line of low acid ground roast coffees like Born to be Mild, which has a pH level of 5.74, making the product roughly two to four times less acidic than existing light roast coffees on the US market. Many cold brew coffee products carry “low acidity” claims on product packaging, potentially making product acidity or lack of acidity a more important consideration for coffee buyers.
The day may soon come, then, when the pH level of coffee may be as common a sight on product packaging as the origin of coffee beans.
