Warmer weather is headed our way, which means it’s almost time to trade that hot cup of morning coffee in for something a little colder.
There’s something magical about a nice iced coffee on a warm summer morning. While certainly something you can brew at home, there are a number of companies making pre-packaged cold brew coffees these days that offer phenomenal flavor and make it so you can give that coffee maker of yours a rest for a few months.
Here are five of our cold-brew faves. Be sure to tell us about your own favorite iced coffees in the comments.
Blue Bottle New Orleans Iced Coffee
Blue Bottle’s New Orleans is a sweet iced coffee that’s cold-brewed with French chicory to give it that New Orleans flavor. The brewed coffee is then mixed with whole milk and cane sugar to form a beverage that’s truly out of this world. You can purchase the coffee already made in small milk cartons, or buy a kit from Blue Bottle’s website for making it at home instead.
Stumptown
Stumptown was one of the first coffee roasters we saw go the pre-packaged route. Now you can find different versions of the cold brew in milk cartons similar to Blue Bottle, as well as in bottle and cans on Nitro. If you’ve never had a cold-brew nitro coffee, do yourself a favor and go grab a can of Stumptown now. We promise, it’s worth it.
Cuvee Cold Brew Nitro Black Coffee
Speaking of nitro cold brews, Cuvee’s Cold Brew Nitro Black Coffee was the first to include a nitrogen widget, earning it BevNET’s Best of 2015 Award for “Best Packaging Innovation of the Year.” You can grab it in 375ml can at locations across Texas, as well as at Whole Foods locations nationwide.
Grady’s
Grady’s New Orleans-Style iced coffee is brewed and hand-bottled in Brooklyn, New York. The cold brew is made by steeping a mixture of coffee and chicory in water overnight and then filtering the grounds out through a two-step filtration process. Rather than buy a cup at a time, Grady’s is purchased in concentrated form. Mix it with water or milk to get the perfect strength and flavor for your palate.
Slingshot
Slingshot offers its cold brew in both ready-to-drink form as well as a concentrate that can be diluted as you’d like, similar to Stumptown’s offering. Based in North Carolina, the coffee is brewed in small batches to ensure every sip is as perfect as the first. You can pick up a bottle at a number of locations throughout the Southeast as well as online.