Cold Brew Coffee Makers Review

 How to Start Your Coffee Shop in the Cold Brew Market

If you operate a coffee shop, you will want to keep up with specialty coffee trends that apply to your business and find a way to introduce them to your customers. Cold brew coffee is one of these trends, and because it's such a profitable and popular drink, it fits well into any coffee shop menu.

With so many cold brew preparation and presentation methods available, you'll have to decide which one is best for your business, and will keep your customers happy.

We tell you about the different ways your business can get involved in offering specialty cold brews.

Cold Brew Offering Options

There are many ways to offer a cold brew to your customers. However, each option could have different advantages and disadvantages for your business, depending on your capacity and resources. These are some of the most common.

Offer it Freshly Prepared

The easiest way to prepare a cold drink for customers is to let the coffee grounds sit in a container of room temperature water for several hours or days. This option is more accessible, since it does not require any special equipment. However, it will require a significant investment of time and labor. There is also a safety risk associated with serving beverages that have not been heated during preparation, as the lack of heat could facilitate the survival of pathogens and contaminants. Furthermore, if the air reaches the coffee it could oxidize it, negatively affecting its flavor and shortening its shelf life.

This option is ideal for businesses that are beginning to experiment with the supply of cold brew, or for those in which the demand has not yet been studied. Trevor Ogborn, Creative Director at Durango Joes Coffee in Durango, USA, says: “We are considering [using] empty, sanitized milk jugs in smaller stores and installing a kegerator [(keg cooler)] in larger stores. ”.

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Offer Barrel Nitro

This will involve installing a kegerator or draft system that works similarly to those used to dispense beer in bars. In this case, the cold brew is prepared and stored in large barrels, under gas pressure, forcing it through lines free of contact with food when the tap is turned on. Because the kegs can be airtight, they keep the cold brew fresh and flavorful longer. They also make serving the drink more efficient and reduce the amount of packaging and storage needed.

An added benefit of offering cold brew on tap is that it can also be infused with nitrogen gas, creating a nitrogen cold brew. This drink is characterized by the creaminess it develops, which resembles that of a glass of beer, and is caused by the bubbles that have been infused into the drink under pressure.

When considering a shooting system, it is worth remembering that it will require an investment in specialized equipment. It will also require constant maintenance to ensure the system is disinfected regularly and remains in good condition. In addition, it is necessary to train all team members in how to use and clean it.

Offer Ready-to-Eat (RTD) Options

One way that coffee shops can begin to grow the market for their cold brew or cold brew with nitrogen is to bottle or can it as a ready-to-eat option, or to make their cold brew concentrate for customers to use to brew. your own drinks at home. These methods will preserve the drink for longer without compromising taste and can be sold individually or even as a batch to a reseller, such as a local restaurant or gym. Trevor says, "I've seen it served in bulk in growler bottles (diluted or as a concentrate), or as a ready-made drink."

Alex Maes, director of coffee operations at Revelator Coffee in Atlanta, USA, did something similar. He says: "Cans are much cheaper to produce than glass bottles, and our distributors were asking for cans, so we thought we would give it a try." However, mention that the cost of the gas itself and the additional labor need to be considered and that depending on the amount you plan to make, you may need more space to store the dry and refrigerated kegs.

While this option may be suitable for smaller stores, those wishing to expand the sale of ready-to-drink cold brew in convenience stores or through other distribution channels will need to consider several factors. They may need to partner with a bottling company to manage the manufacturing of their beverage and ensure it can undergo the necessary production and pasteurization to make it shelf stable. They will also have to invest in branding and physical distribution of their products, which can be costly.

Offer Concentrates

For a coffee shop that has little space to store and prepare the product and does not yet want to invest in large equipment installations, the use of a cold brew concentrate is a possible solution. This involves making an extremely concentrated cold brew mix that can be served over ice, allowing the store to customize the exact strength of the drink, or can be served with milk and other additives without diluting it. Daniel Hobbs, owner of Aussie Coffee Brasil, an espresso brand and coffee bar in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. It says: “I make a 100 ml concentrate on ice in a 200 ml glass beaker. Without any plastic. Small lots, nothing more than 3 days old. Ratio 7: 1 ".

By doing this, you can market the same strength, dosage, and cost of each drink. He also adds that, “with ice in the cup, I can pour the cold brew to the brim and it always makes up to 100ml, so I have some kind of control over my serving size without [needing to weigh it]. Those who find the cold brew concentrate too strong, simply let the ice melt to dilute it further. " Coffee shops looking to offer this could invest in a specialized dispenser. For example, Marco Beverage Systems has created the FRIIA system, which can dispense hot, cold and foamy beverages from an under-counter system.

Coffee shops that want to offer cold brews to their customers might consider going one step further and experimenting with alcohol-infused coffee. Cold brew's natural sweetness, high levels of caffeine, and low acidity are believed to make it a natural companion for beverages like vodka, whiskey, and rum. Unlike many common coffee and alcohol combinations that customers may be familiar with (such as Irish coffee or White Russian), cold brew cocktail options don't necessarily have to include milk and cream or ice.

Nikolai Fürst, owner of Desarrolladores De Café in Medellín, Colombia, and former German tasting champion. He uses cold brew in his coffee shop to create cocktails that contain less familiar ingredients and says, "We make a couple of coffee-based cocktails like cold brew with tropical fruits and spices, tonic water, soda, and so on." Also, he adds that the popularity of these drinks is increasing in his area.

Entering the specialty coffee cold brew market means making careful decisions about what your coffee shop can handle right now. Gemma Kiernan, global marketing director for Marco Beverage Systems, which offers coffee dispensing systems to companies around the world, says: "Cold brew can be a difficult drink to produce as it is time consuming and slightly messy." I would advise coffee shops to consider their supply chain and approach to cold brewing: do you want to brew the coffee on site? Does any roaster in the area offer a cold brew concentrate or a ready-to-eat product? "

ld brew to menus, coffee shops open the door to the supply of other popular beverages that could see a future increase in demand. For example, Gemma says that “cold drinks, in general, will continue to evolve and coffees will seek to differentiate themselves with various flavors or natural additions. Iced teas, cascara and kombucha will also continue to grow ”