Millennials are HOT on the cold brew coffee trend. Even though cold brew has been around for years, it’s finally hitting the mainstream–particularly for convenience stores and coffee shops to keep from losing business when warmer weather hits and hot beverage sales begin to dip.
Do a quick search for cold brew coffee and you will find hundreds of how-to articles, recipes and why cold brew is better than iced. There are a couple options for cold brew coffee: soaking coffee grounds in ambient water and wait (and waiting) for about a day; or the more retailer friendly version that involves nitrogen and a tap, like beer. This post focuses mostly on the soaking and wait version.
Cold Brew Coffee Better Than Regular?
Cold brew coffee is brewed cold for an extremely long time (2-24 hours or more), while iced coffee is regular coffee that’s then cooled down over ice. What is it all the rage? Food52.com reports on three main factors that make cold brew one of the hottest coffee trends today:
- It has a lower acidity, creating a smoother cup that is mellow on the stomach.
- It’s less watery than iced coffee–hot coffee over ice just melts the ice and creates watered down coffee. Since cold brew is already cold, the addition of ice is optional and will not melt instantly, giving you more coffee flavor in your coffee.
- The high bean-to-water ratio and longer brew time gives you a more caffeinated cup.
Grind, Brew, Wait, and Press
Blogs everywhere show us that making cold brew is as easy as grind, brew, wait, and press. But don’t think that it will be that simple to get started at your c-store. The lack of hot water in the brewing process means that there’s the possibility for more bacterial growth, so ensuring that your equipment has been properly cleaned and maintain will be particularly important. The Food and Drug Administration’s Food Safety Modernization Act, as noted by Convenience Store News, “has put all food manufacturers on notice to safely manufacture and store their products to protect public health.”
If you are going to be jumping on the cold brew bandwagon, make sure you read more from Convenience Store News - Does Nitro Cold Brew Coffee Make Sense for C-stores? Your store and employees need to be well prepared before starting!
Are you a convenience store operator or a consumer who’s tried cold brewed coffee? Tell us about your experiences with it in the comments below.
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