Driving the cold brew trend on campus

Sponsored by Java House 

Cold brew coffee is a hot product across channels and segments of the food and beverage industry, growing in coffee shops, retail stores, restaurants and onsite operations such as colleges and universities. It burst onto the scene a few years ago, growing by 580 percent from 2011 to 2016, according to Mintel research.

The great appeal of cold brew is that it has a smoother, naturally sweeter and less-acidic flavor than hot-brewed drip coffee and espresso, plus it is delivered as a refreshing cold beverage. Add the fact that it can be customized with any number of additional flavors and sweeteners, and it becomes clear why cold brew has become so popular.

Against the backdrop of robust demand, campus foodservice operators are finding ways to expand coffee distribution and make it even faster and more convenient for students to take a caffeination break. Coffee kiosks and small-footprint coffee stations are popping up in classroom and administration buildings, dormitories and libraries. They save students a trek across campus or waiting in line in the dining hall.

For instance, students at the University of Massachusetts Amherst can visit the ISB Café, which is situated in a science building, the Quad Café in an engineering building and the Procrastination Station in the library.

Saving labor, mess and fuss

The principle of cold brewing is a heat-free preparation method. The basic process entails steeping coffee grounds in cold water overnight or longer, straining out and discarding the spent grounds and saving the resultant concentrate for beverage service. This process extracts delicate nuances from the beans, but not the harsher compounds that hot water pulls out in drip coffee or espresso.

However, making cold brew from scratch by the above process is notoriously time-consuming, laborious and messy. But thanks to the emergence of convenient single-serve pod brewers and liquid coffee concentrate systems, dining services directors have viable alternatives to the do-it-yourself method. They can easily expand cold-brew coffee service to additional campus locations as a flavorful, thirst-quenching and energy-boosting premium beverage.

Changing the game

Java House Authentic Cold Brew Coffee in dual-use liquid pods is a game changer, versatile for either cold or hot coffee. It is made with only two ingredients: 100-percent air-roasted arabica coffee beans and cold water. There are no preservatives, additives or coffee derivatives. Java House steeps the grounds for 12 hours to make a ready-to-use product for operators.

Each pod contains the perfect portion of coffee concentrate to be prepared cold or hot. To enjoy cold, simply peel open a pod, pour over ice and add 8 ounces of water. To prepare a hot cup of coffee, simply place the pod in a single-serve pod machine and brew in the normal way.

Single-cup brewing systems offer several advantages over conventional coffee brewing:

The liquid coffee concentrate advantage

Liquid coffee concentrate is a solution for serving coffee in greater volumes, either cold or hot. As with single-serve coffee, the equipment and labor costs and skill requirements are lower than those of conventional hot coffee brewing methods.

An expanding flavor lineup

Java House Authentic Cold Brew Coffee pods are available in Ethiopian (light roast), Colombian (medium roast), Sumatran (dark roast) and Decaf (medium roast). In addition, Java House has partnered with Kauai Coffee to expand the pod flavor lineup even further with Pure Black, Coconut Caramel Crunch and Vanilla Macadamia Nut flavors.

Given the strong demand for cold brew coffee, there’s a compelling argument for making it even more accessible for students. The emergence of convenient, labor-saving, single-serve and liquid concentrate coffee systems are practical solutions for expanding the cold brew presence on campus.