Summer is upon us, and that means one thing for many coffee lovers: cold coffee. It sounds like such a simple beverage, but the number of brew methods and packaging technologies currently on the market, many of them proprietary, make choosing a ready-to-drink (RTD) coffee confusing. We decided to cut a path through the complicated landscape of RTD products in hopes of getting some clarity.
According to a recent report by Allied Market Research, if the $33 billion RTD coffee market keeps pace with its predicted compound annual growth rate of 5 percent, the sector will be worth $53.5 billion by 2032. That’s a whole lot of convenience for the consumers who most demand it: younger people such as Millennial and Gen Z coffee drinkers. But do those same consumers also demand quality? And if so, is it possible to find both convenience and quality in one product? If not, is RTD coffee simply a caffeine-delivery system for those on the go? We at Coffee Review, of course, seek quality coffee above all else, however fast or slow the access.
Of the 44 RTD black coffees we tested for this report, ranging in brew method from classic long-steeped cold brew to hot-brewed and high-tech flash-chilled (often nitrogen-infused), only nine scored 90 or higher. This was a surprising finding given that the quality of small-lot green coffee worldwide seems to be rising each year, along with the quality of high-end retail-roasted specialty coffees, of which we cup hundreds each year. Shouldn’t these RTDs, collectively, have been more impressive by virtue of this alone? RTD coffees are, by their nature, convenient, but one thing we learned is that making a good one is not as simple as choosing a high-quality green coffee.
A Range of Contenders, Only a Handful of Standouts
While roughly 80 percent of the RTDs we tested scored below 90, a full 17 percent of these scored in the mid-to-low-80s on our consumer-facing 100-point scale. It’s difficult to know whether the green coffees used for these lower-scoring RTDs or their production methods were most at fault, but our sensory notes recorded many “off” flavors ranging from sour to overly savory (salty) and bitter to somewhat vegetal. Some of these samples used ostensibly good-quality green coffees, in which case, either the roast profile or the brewing method was likely their downfall, or possibly the specific methods used to transform them into RTD format. In other cases, the green coffee was unnamed, which might’ve been a contributing factor to low scores if the undisclosed coffees were poor in quality.
But let’s focus on the good stuff. Of the nine RTDs we review here, two scored 94; two scored 93; two scored 92; two scored 91 (including a decaf!); and one scored 90. What made these nine rise above the others?
We use slightly different evaluative categories for RTD coffees than we do for both cupping and espresso. We don’t score aroma, a key cupping category (because cold beverages don’t have volatile aromas), but we do test with milk, a key espresso category, as many consumers drink their cold coffees in with-milk preparations. (Our ratio of coffee to cold whole milk was 5:1.) The other categories are acidity, body, flavor and aftertaste. Some successful RTD coffees (usually light-roasted) center on vibrant acidity and are designed for people who will likely drink them black. Others (often darker-roasted) are explicitly focused on low-acid profiles and lend themselves to combining with milk. And some manage to strike a balance that works well both black and with milk.
Two Single-Origin Microlots at 94
The two top-scoring RTDs in this report are variations on the classic cold brew theme, meaning they are brewed cold (rather than brewed hot, then chilled). Both are from roasters in Taiwan, and both are presented in little flask-like whiskey bottles that invoke a single-serving specialness and care. (We tested all coffees blind but were delighted to discover the aesthetically pleasing packaging after scoring.)
Euphora Coffee’s Plumeria is as floral as its name implies, but instead of tropical flowers, we got heady, sultry wisteria notes alongside ginger, citrus zest and ripe stone fruit. While its acidity is high-toned and juicy, adding milk knocks this cold brew out of the park, as all the flavor notes coalesce and harmonize, somehow elevated by the fat carried in on the milk—a perfect 10 in our book. This coffee, a combination of microlots from Costa Rica (one washed and one honey-processed), was brewed simply by immersing the coffee in cold water (at an undisclosed temperature and length of steeping), then filtering.
GK Coffee’s Colombia El Paraiso Lychee Rose Cold Drip, which was brewed in the refrigerator by the slow-drip method over four to six hours at a coffee-to-water ratio of 1:15, starts with a highly pedigreed green coffee grown by Wilton Benitez and processed by the anaerobic thermal shock method (see review for more details about this elaborate multi-step process). Its savory-tart profile is anchored by notes of Asian pear, blood orange, pink peppercorn and pipe tobacco, with a lovely cocoa nib throughline. Adding milk amplifies this RTD’s complex richness.
GK Coffee’s Colombia El Paraiso Lychee Rose Cold Drip tied for the highest score in this month’s RTD report. Courtesy of GK Coffee.
Two Opposite Styles, Each at 93
A single-origin and a thoughtful blend, the former bright and juicy and the latter chocolaty and deep-toned, both land at a solid 93 for their balance and finesse. Four Barrel Coffee’s Halo Hartume Cold Coffee is a light-roast washed Ethiopia that’s brewed hot then chilled quickly without exposure to oxygen before being canned. It’s brightly fruity (think tart guava) and richly floral (lush magnolia) with ballast from baking chocolate, lemon thyme and cedar. It’s fresh, it’s juicy, and taken black, it offers an elemental experience of this origin in an RTD format.
Olympia Coffee’s Cold Brew is manufactured by Cool Crafted Beverage in a proprietary process that involves steeping a precise dose of coffee in mineral-enriched cool or room-temperature water, then canning. The green coffee used is Olympia’s medium-roast Morning Sun blend of coffees from Latin America, which has deep-toned notes of chocolate and hazelnut against a backdrop of vanilla-like florals and complex citrus, perhaps the closest thing we tasted to a “classic” cold brew, in that it is even-keeled and solid both black and with milk.
Olympia Coffee’s Cold Brew scored 93 in this report. Courtesy of Olympia Coffee
A New Technology and a Precision-Tuned Classic Method, Both at 92
Of the 44 coffees we tested, 10 were manufactured by Snapchill, a company that seems to be on a rapid growth trajectory, partnering with specialty coffee roasters to produce custom RTDs under co-branded labels. The roasted coffee is brewed hot using Curtis Omega large-batch brewers, then filtered with a standard coffee filter. The coffee is then pushed through a secondary micron filter that is intended to remove any remaining nonsoluble particles, which prevents over-extraction in the can. Snapchill’s game-changing technique is to instantly chill the coffee to 38 degrees Fahrenheit without the use of ice and immediately canning to prevent oxidation.
The best exemplar of this style we found is George Howell’s Montecarlos Snapchill Coffee, a single-origin El Salvador that’s cocoa- and caramel-toned, supported by bittersweet walnut, crisp citrus and sweet herbs. It has a particularly nice malic (apple-like) acidity.
Snapchill works with roasters to create customer RTD coffees. Courtesy of Snapchill.
Kyle Bosshardt, director of business development for Snapchill, describes the company’s way of working with roasters: “Our process is very flexible, so we can work with any bean, origin, blend and roast profile. We ask roasters to provide us with information about the coffee they are sending, including flavor and roast profile, and if they have a target TDS [total dissolved solids]. It’s a collaboration to find the temperature at which we ‘Snapchill’ the coffee to arrive at the desired flavor profile, which is the artistry we love to steward for roasters.”
One mystery we couldn’t untangle is the lack of clarity across the board in the Snapchill RTDs we tested. Most of the lighter-roasted products we tested that were produced by brewing methods other than Snapchill were translucent, but all of the Snapchill-processed coffees, regardless of roast level, were opaque, even cloudy, and all contained some tangible amount of undissolved solids. It’s impossible to say how this influenced the flavor, specifically, but it definitely made the texture velvety, at best, and somewhat sludgy in the case of several examples that are not included in this report.
Like so many coffee drinkers who look for quality in a convenient format, I stumbled onto Wandering Bear Extra-Strong Cold Brew in a health food market in rural North Carolina, when I knew I didn’t want to do battle each morning with my parents’ elaborate coffee maker (that has more bells and whistles than I can count)—and it was really hot and humid—a perfect formula for opening up the possibility of discovering convenience and quality in an RTD coffee, which is exactly what I found in Wandering Bear.
I brought it into the lab for my colleagues to test blind, and we all agreed that it was exactly the kind of coffee that could soothe a weary traveler’s soul—and make her morning. This “extra-strong,” i.e., high-dose blend of certified USDA Organic washed-process coffees from Peru, Mexico and Nicaragua, is produced by a proprietary cold-brew method and flash-pasteurized for shelf stability prior to opening. It was a win on the road for me, and it can fill that niche for anyone looking for a summer daily drinker who wants consistency and a whole 32-ounce carton instead of single-serve packaging.
Two Nitros at 91 (including a decaf!)
Dean’s Beans Nice Nitro Organic Black Cold Brew Coffee is especially good with milk—deep, balanced, pleasantly roast-rounded without tasting burnt. Notes of date, salted caramel, walnut, orange zest and gently smoky cedar make for a familiarly satisfying blend of coffees from Colombia, Nicaragua, Honduras and Indonesia. The added nitrogen gives it a fluffy mouthfeel that we found somewhat addictive.
Dean’s Bean’s Nice Nitro is presented in fun, eye-catching packaging. Courtesy of Brigade Branding.
A surprise hit is the Quivr Nitro Decaf Cold Brew Coffee—yes, decaf—from this Boston-based company that nails the genre with its Select Water Process decaffeinated green coffee selected in partnership with Barrington Coffee Roasting Co., sourced from farmers in Southeast Asia and Central and South America. It displays notes of caramel, sweet herbs and citrus. We didn’t identify it as a decaf in our blind tasting, which is perhaps the biggest compliment we can give it.
Quivr’s Decaf Nitro Cold Brew scored 91 in our blind tasting. Courtesy of Quivr.
A Corporate Success at 90
It’s nice to see that Blue Bottle Coffee, once the darling of the third-wave coffee movement and now owned by Nestlé, is sticking to its branding aesthetics—but how’s the coffee? Based on the Bold Cold Brewed Coffee we scored at 90, Blue Bottle is still striving for quality as well. The cute little cans are nothing to go out of your way for, but they offer an excellent oasis in an airport or other outpost far-flung from your usual local go-to. The Bold Cold is chocolaty, nutty and straight-ahead.
Lots of Room for Personal Preference
For all our difficulty in finding high-quality coffee in the context of convenience, when we did, it was quite good, and just as wide-ranging in style and flavor profile as one would hope. As RTD coffee technologies evolve, and evolve they will, there are a great many kinks to iron out, such as how to avoid extremes of sourness, saltiness and sludginess, but these nine coffees prove that quality can be had across multiple production methods and green coffee choices. Oh, and did we mention, they’re really convenient?
Drop us a virtual line at [email protected] and let us know your favorite styles and brands of RTD coffees.
*Note that some of these recommended RTD coffees are only available in their local markets.
