Serving People Serving Coffee Since 2005
Issue link: http://baristamagazine.epubxp.com/i/609699
Quality and Method Although your local market might boast a number of bottled cold-brew options, that doesn't necessarily mean all of them are good. Plenty of businesses have begun to capitalize on the bottled cold-brew move- ment, and it can be difficult to discern which coffee companies care about quality and can produce flavorful cold brew, and not motor oil. "I started Slingshot in 2012 after years of brewing iced coffee at home because the options on the shelf—and even in most cafés—just fell short. Stale-tasting, one-note iced coffees were boring and heavy," says Jenny Bonchak of Slingshot Coffee in Raleigh, N.C. A self-de- scribed cold-brew fanatic, Jenny wanted to highlight the nuance and flavor notes that cold-brew could have, and now distributes her bottled cold brew to a number of shops throughout the Mid-Atlantic region. Quality is what drives Jenny. All of her coffees are roasted by Counter Culture, and by simply visiting her website, you can find extensive information about the coffee you're about to chill and enjoy—quite the oppo- site of most commercial cold-brew bottling businesses, where words like "organic" and "fresh" are plentiful, but getting any actual information about the coffees used is like pulling teeth out of a particularly stubborn 8-year-old. Most companies spend time tout- ing the process of cold brew itself, and have capitalized on the phrase as a buzzword for something that's vaguely popular for the time being, which Jenny isn't interested in. "Like our bottles say: 'brewing and sharing great coffee, that's what we love'… Iced coffee is my jam and I started Slingshot because I wanted people to taste what thoughtful, well-brewed, 'coffee-centric' iced coffee could be." Quick aside: It's important to be clear that the terms "iced coffee" and "cold brew" have been use interchangeably throughout this article because almost all that is bottled is cold brewed, or is made through the process of steeping grounds in cold water and letting them sit for anywhere between 12 and 24 hours. However, this isn't the only way coffee is finding its way into bottles. "We run a hot-brew, or flash-chilled bot- tling program, as opposed to the 12–24 hour steeping of grounds in cold water for your standard cold brew," says Sam Schroeder, co-owner of Olympia Coffee Roasting in Olympia, Wash. With this pro- cess, Sam and his team are able to dial in specific coffees, and currently offer a num- ber of single-origin coffees via bottling. "We really love clean black coffees that have a great balance of sweetness and acidity," he says. "Right now, we are offering four specif- ic coffees in bottles, [and] each has a unique taste. We rotate these coffees seasonally. That will continue to be our focus." Slingshot, Olympia, and Stumptown are shining examples of the boundaries that can be pushed within the bottled cold-brew movement, and through very different methods are able to achieve a similar goal: making delicious coffee more accessi- ble. "Presenting a delicious version of bottled coffee helps to bring peo- ple back to our brand and to our coffee," says Sam. Certainly in the still-young bottled cold-brew coffee category, single-origin offerings are rare—it's simply too labor intensive to do on a large scale. Indeed, single-origin coffee offerings tend to showcase small and special lots, adding another level of difficulty to the process. While Olympia Coffee's cold-brew coffee program is entirely single-origin offerings, perhaps other companies will begin bottling one-offs of exceptional coffees as cold brew. In fact, Stumptown 79 www.baristamagazine.com