fbpx

Testing Grocery Store Coffee Flavors

I have been testing my device for the past few months with different brands of coffee commonly found at grocery stores around the country. I have listed some thoughts on each one and what I thought of the cold brew taste. I like to use a ratio of 4 parts water to 1 part coffee. I usually add some water/ice depending on the taste of the first sip. All the coffee was taken black.

Dunkin Donuts Original– Commonly found in grocery stores, this coffee makes a good daily drinking cold brew, but it is nothing special. If your looking for specific flavors, try something more specialized or you may need to add something.

Intelligentsia El Diablo Dark– This coffee takes my #1 spot for best coffee. The caramel sweet notes mixed with the dark bold flavor makes an awesome cold brew. Great to drink any time of the day or night.

Wawa Brand Colombian Premium- This coffee takes my #2 spot for best cold brew produced by the device so far. It is a perfect blend of smooth flavor, a slight sweet flavor, and balanced richness. The perfect choice for morning coffee.

Gevalia Chocolate Mocha- Interesting flavor. Heavy chocolate notes. Good for dessert or holidays. .

Folgers- If your’re looking to get great flavor from a cheaper brand of coffee, the cold brew made is excellent for the price. Great value and good base cold brew for you to mix anything else in.

Maxwell House– Similar value to folgers, If your’re looking to get great flavor from a cheaper brand of coffee, the cold brew made is excellent for the price. Great value and good non bitter base cold brew for you to mix anything else in.

Starbucks French Roast – Definitely produced the darkest cold brew batch if you’re looking for color. Taste was intense and smokey. I’m not a huge fan of French Roast, but if this is your style, the flavor extracts great.

Peet’s House Blend– A step up from dunkin and starbucks. Peet’s produces a really great cold brew. Good layers of flavor throughout the cup.

Lavazza Classic Roast- One of the first brands I tried, the classic roast has a good richness and is a great quality morning coffee. Good standard daily drinker that could be taken black or with anything added.

I am excited to hear what everyone’s favorite coffee is once the product launches. I love experimenting with the device to try out different cold brew flavors.

Cold Brew Coffee Benefits

Cold brew coffee is known for its smoother taste and less acidity. This makes it much easier on the stomach than traditional hot coffee and gives a sweeter taste without any additives. The Swift cold brew device brings all the convenience of hot brewed coffee to the world of cold brew.

2019 Product Progress

As 2020 begins, I wanted to show what progress I’ve made over the past 3 months. The prototype is coming close to the final form and some user testing has started. I am excited for what is to come in 2020 and hope to launch the product on Kickstarter towards the end of February so the product can ship by summer.

Coffee and Tea Festival Valley Forge

I had a great time exhibiting at the Coffee and Tea Festival. It was fun talking to everyone about the Swift Cold Brew Device and hearing everyone’s feedback. I enjoyed hearing from everyone who loves cold brew already and those who were trying it for the first time. I am looking forward to getting the next prototype design finalized and fine tuning the details of the product.

Prototype Progress

The first functional prototype was 3d printed and tested after several previous versions to figure out the shape and fit of the internal components.

1st Functional Prototype

Second functional prototype taking on a little different form after learning from the first prototype and preparing to be manufactured easier. Video shows a timelapse of the device brewing a cup of cold brew in 10 minutes.

2nd Functional Prototype
10 Minute Cold Brew Timelapse

The latest prototypes are being made and will be tested by users to get feedback before a production model is formed.

Building prototypes for beta testing
Completed beta test prototype

How Swift Cold Brew Coffee is Made in 10 Minutes

Cold Brew coffee is traditionally made by steeping coffee grounds contained in some type of filter/mesh for 12-48 hrs in cold or room temperature water. This process results is a smooth and concentrated coffee that is different in taste, feel, and smell than hot brewed coffee. Cold brew takes longer to brew because the solubles in the grounds are not released as fast in colder temperature water. They are also different solubles than you would get when brewing hot coffee. This is why cold brew taste different. The hot water can pull the solubles out faster, but it also degrades/oxidizes the solubles making them more bitter and acidic than cold brew. A longer description of the differences can be found here.

The Swift cold brew device (Patent Pending) is a completely new process that can brew cold brew coffee in as little as ten minutes. The key difference is the extraction method. Colder or room temperature water is still used which results in the same solubles as normal cold brew being released. During the normal 12-48 hr. steep the water slowly moves at a molecular level through the grounds and filter releasing the solubles at a certain rate. This rate and number of solubles released can be increased if agitation and energy is introduced. This is where the Swift cold brew device excels. The device moves the water from the bottom of a container through the device back to the top of the grounds/filter mesh using a pump. This process forces the water through the grounds at an accelerated pace. The cycle repeats for 10 minutes taking the water from the bottom back through the grounds over and over again. A fresh cup of cold brew results. A more concentrated cup can be made through a longer cycle time or a higher coffee ground to water ratio. A picture of the process is shown below.

You can visualize the science of this process by thinking about how salt dissolves in a glass of water. In the description below, you can think of the coffee ground solubles as the salt. Left to sit for a while, a salt block will dissolve similar to how the solubles in coffee are eventually released. Stirring increases this rate, similar to how the Swift cold brew device moves the water to increase the rate. However, the Swift device moves the water vertically through the grounds. This provides a further increased rate of extraction compared to a traditional circular stirring motion.

“In order for a solute to dissolve, the water molecules (or the solvent molecules, in general) must come into contact with the solute particles. For example, in the salt example, the water molecules must be able to interact with each ions. Stirring exposes more of the solute, and makes more of the solute come in contact with the solvent, thus increasing the rate of dissolution. Put in another way, stirring brings  “fresh parts” of the solute into contact with the solvent. If you simply leave a chunk of salt in the middle of a glass full of water, the dissolution will be slow as initially, water can only interact with the particles that are on the surface of the block of salt. If you stir the system, however, you are exposing not only those in the surface, but also the other particles in the bulk of the salt, and hence water can come into contact with them and dissolve the particles simultaneously. “