The rise of the cold brew coffee
Having seen the US cold brew coffee market reveal a 158% year-over-year growth in the summer of 2015, it was only a matter of time before the cold brew revolution took off in other countries.
2018 has already been dubbed ‘The Year of Coffee’, with both cold brew and nitro cold brew making The Independent’s shortlist in support of the accolade. Although, according to ‘Google Beverage Trends Report 2017’ data, cold brew coffee had caught the attention of other coffee-loving nations such as the UK, Spain and Mexico, well before this year.
'How to cold brew'
The report shows how, in particular, search trends spiked surrounding process-led beverages. The ‘how a drink is made’ methodology seems to be capturing the imagination of caffeine enthusiasts across Google, worldwide. Interestingly, the intrigue and popularity surrounding cold brew has been identified and defined by two key factors: the first being the process in which it is made and the second is its flavour. Flavour infused water or tea, are also up there amongst the top trending beverage searches, demonstrating a whopping 41% in growth. However, none of the above are as prominent, when compared with cold brew coffee.
_1600_900_75_s_c1.jpg)
A process to savour & a fuller flavour
Google search data has confirmed that consumers are intrigued by the processes behind the production of cold brew, whereas YouTube data demonstrates how content is being created to showcase the enhanced flavours of cold brew. Coincidently, it’s the processes involved which enhance the flavour itself.
The creative brewing process behind cold brew often sees it being nurtured over period of 12-24 hours, in cold water, in oxygen-free conditions for optimum results. By avoiding both heat and oxygen, the cold brew process brings out entirely different flavour notes.
Cold brew is a celebratory experience for the taste-buds, as the acidity and bitterness reduce through brewing, it encourages the natural sweetness to shine through. The overall fuller flavour hoodwinks your senses into thinking it’s much stronger than a regular filtered coffee, but it’s not.
Another alternate method to enhance the flavour experience is to pump the cold brew through a nitrogen tap (Nitro Cold Brew). The texture then becomes comparable to that of a stout-like Guiness, and adds a refreshing richness to the taste.
Where to go for a cold brew?
Typically, cold brew had been earmarked as a refreshing cold beverage. Therefore, during the summer months, coffee shops pitted it alongside iced coffee to see how it would fare. For many, it became a sustained seasonal trend. For others, it became much more.
Some bars, pubs and restaurants started to adopt it as as a healthier alternative to fizzy drinks, serving it all-year round. They began to take advantage of it’s flexibility in that it can be served stand alone over ice with a dash of milk or as a mixer in a cocktail or mocktail.
Black eye cold brew at the Brain Jar (Hull)
Off the back of a free sample box of Black Eye Cold Brew, during our ‘White Russian, FIFA World Cup campaign’, it seemed Brain Jar (Hull) customers got the taste for the eccentric caffeine combinations and, since then, we have struck a relationship to officially sponsor their Cold Fashioned cocktail on their menu.
Black eye cold brew
Black Eye Cold Brew launched in April 2018 at the London Coffee Festival, and is the product of white label coffee roasters: Lincoln & York. Such expertise and experience behind a product gives it a great head-start but Black Eye Cold Brew is out on its own to ‘bark at the boundaries’ of traditional coffee and its consumers.
Considered a prodigy in the coffee market, Black Eye Cold Brew is reinventing coffee consumption and revitalising its consumers and its adaptability and scalability have been key to its early success.
Arriving as a 10 litre bag-in-a-box with Vitop tap, and without the need to be refrigerated, Black Eye are providing the hospitality sector an exciting, hassle-free solution to a great tasting, cold brew coffee product.
Despite it having 0% sugar, it maintains a satisfyingly sweet taste, and carries the same caffeine kicks coffee lovers crave. As a result, Black Eye has attracted new-era coffee connoisseurs who seek out healthier beverages and originality.
Black Eye have also identified the social element smothering coffee; looking at bars, pubs, restaurants and hotels, and the evening-day part, as the perfect playground to mark their territory.
In doing so, Black Eye have begun concocting their own, converted, classic cocktail recipes including the Black Eye Martini, Cold Fashioned and exclusively, for this Christmas, the Turbo Ginger G&T.
But remember…Black Eye Cold Brew is for life, not just for Christmas!