Cold brew was on our minds in the lead up to Memorial Day, the official kick-off to summer. So, once again, we selected a few coffees that we imagined could be summer favorites. We brewed five of them with room-temperature water at a ratio of 1:8, let them steep for 18 hours, diluted them to taste and then invited a few colleagues into the QC lab to sip and share their thoughts.
Our biggest revelation (spoiler alert) was that we’d initially imagined tasting them and then testing out a few blends, to further elevate the profiles. But — after setting aside one coffee that tasted under-extracted and was likely too-lightly roasted for cold brew — nearly everyone preferred each coffee as a standalone. Each was wonderfully distinct and (though we’d expected them to be tasty) truly delicious.
Mexico Chiapas Turquesa HG EP
This regional blend from Chiapas was sweet and chocolatey, with notes of toffee, caramel, raisin and toasted almonds. It was “delightful,” in the words of one cupper — reminiscent of a Chunky candy bar, with none of the sugar or guilt.
Guatemala Santa Rosa Los Alamos
Toffee was again present here but this time it prevailed, alongside notes of chocolate, pear, maple and Golden Delicious apple. Early on, with our thoughts still on blending, Neumann Gruppe North America CEO Nicolas Rueda, who gamely selected a spoon and joined in, took one taste and announced: “It would be a sin to mix this with anything else.”
InterAmerican Coffee QC Manager Ed Kaufmann, whose previous lives in coffee have included coffee trader, green buyer and roaster, added that, of the four, he thought it the best suited to serve with milk, given its substantial body.
All agreed that it was delicious, refreshing and a perfect cold brew candidate.
Costa Rica Los Santos Diez Pueblos
This regional blend, which was somewhat recently renamed, could have been labeled “iced tea,” and few would have been the wiser. Michelle Maisto, Neumann Gruppe U.S. head of Marketing, insisted it tasted like “peach sweet tea” and would be her hands-down, deep-heat-of-August go-to.
Everyone agreed with the tea-like assessment of this coffee’s body, adding in tasting notes of strawberry, hibiscus and florals. Sans milk, in a perspiring glass with ice, it would be easy to sip this all day.
Kenya NKG Bloom Ngugu
Many of us expected this coffee to perform well, and still it exceeded hopes — in true Kenya fashion. As a cold brew, Nguvu NKG Bloom had a bright summer quality, with notes of peach, cherry, plum, caramel and a subtle grapefruit zing of acidity. It was an easy favorite for Zakiya Mason, the Hoboken-based NKG PACE Partner.
“Kenya isn’t a very common choice for this. Not everyone wants an ‘experience’ with cold brew,” she noted. “Some Kenyas are also just too acidic for milk. But this one has such a nice body and rounder flavors — it could easily work with milk or without.”
Zakiya was also steadfast in believing that each of the coffees was best on its own, ideally served as a single origin. Though, when Nicolas mixed the Kenya Nguvu with the Mexico Turquesa and quietly declared it “fantastic,” everyone reached for final sips and found it impossible to disagree. •
Ready to taste for yourself? Please contact the Trade team at traders.iacus@nkg.coffee!
