Sunday, February 01, 2015

Mugged: Cold Brew Coffee Concentrate [Kohana]



Subject: Kohana Coffee
Coffee Mugged: Cold Brew Coffee Concentrate
Rating [see key]: 4+

In light of cold brew growing in popularity, it seems like the greatest hurdle for true expansion is creating a shelf stable product. Lots of companies grow through it but it seems few come out on the other side with a drinkable product that can survive long out of the fridge (check out this great Atlantic piece on Blue Bottle).

Thus, much like the railroad tycoons of the 19th century pushed the transportation frontier of their time, so do a handful of coffee companies do so with their cold brew. One such company that has put out a shelf stable cold brew claiming to not taste like wet cardboard is Kohana Coffee. They sent me out a bottle of their concentrate to try out, which I sampled multiple times over a 2 month span. 

Using only ice and fresh water to dilute (2 parts ice/water to 1 part concentrate), the coffee produced a medium-bodied brew displaying flavors of chocolate, saltine crackers and fig, proving smooth with a bit of a lingering malty aftertaste. As it aged, more of a malt+pretzel flavor with hints of vanilla ice cream began to develop though the overall flavors and smooth quality remained similar. 

All together, the concentrate made for a good cold brew. Of course, I don't have a second bottle on the shelf to see if it holds up after a year, but I can vouch that after two months in my fridge, Kohana still fared well. If you seek a good, shelf stable cold brew concentrate, try out Kohana.




Note: The coffee was provided free of charge, the above review is objective feedback.


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