Sampling nitro infused PR blend cold brew coffee made by Brass Clover Coffee | Full interview
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Speaker 1: Hey. What's up guys? We're here at the Caffeine and Kilos warehouse and we have a special guest, Randal. Randal is from Brass Clover Coffee. They make cold brew coffee and they kind of distribute it out. So, what they're doing for us is they actually look some of our PR blend and they put some in a bottle and they put some in a keg and so we're gonna try it and we're gonna talk about it. We don't know if it's something we're gonna do right now or something we're gonna do in the future. Whatever, but we're just gonna kind of pursue hat option. So, it's a little peak behind the curtains as we taste this for the very first time. He just showed up. We have no idea. I already gave him the fair warning that if it doesn't taste very good, I might just spit it out. You know what I mean? So, it's in the cards. I'll just say that.
Randal.: I think we're pretty proud of what we did for you guys. We are able to take your coffee. We do a 16 hour brew time on it.
Speaker 1: 16 hour brew time?
Randal.: 16 hour brew time. We brew the coffee just like we do our own. So, we do near to freezing temperatures. We're able to make the coffee be a lot smoother, less acidic, and less bitter based on our production method that we do. So, we do the same production method for you guys.
Speaker 3: So, you guys [crosstalk 00:01:15]. I'm sorry. You guys determine that 16 hours is the ideal time?
Randal.: Yeah. 16 hours. We spend about a year of doing different brewing brew times, different grind sizes. And there's a lot of different elements that really go into it, into doing the cold brew process. So, for us, we've found that the brew time that we do based on the grind size produced the best cold brew.
Speaker 1: Basically the grind size and the temperature of the room you're brewing it in? All that?
Randal.: Yeah. Time and temperature and ...
Speaker 1: The temperature has a big impact on that?
Randal.: Yeah, absolutely. So, if you recall when you do a hot cup of coffee, your gonna extract all the acid, all the bitter from the coffee, which some people really like. The purpose of cold brew is to really get away from the acidity and he bitterness in a coffee.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Cold brew tends to be a lot smoother. You know, when we kind of make it around here and stuff. That's why it's not as much acidity in it.
Speaker 3: Lets give this a go.
Speaker 1: Would you say less tannins?
Randal.: Oh, I don't think tannins is the right word.
Speaker 1: Oh, well me talking brewing, talking about tannins one time. Yeah?
Randal.: Yep.
Speaker 1: Alright, great.
Randal.: Well let me know what you guys think.
Speaker 1: It's pretty good.
Speaker 3: It's delicious. Very good.
Speaker 1: There it is.
Randal.: Thank you.
Speaker 3: Very good. It's honestly about what I expected based off of like our little ... I mean it's probably better, but ...
Speaker 1: It's really good.
Speaker 3: We've messed around with just making our own like five gallon jug worth of cold brew and it still holds that true flavor that we've enjoyed from that, but actually it's smoother and better obviously.
Speaker 1: Yeah. So, ours we make is a concentrate and you said this is not a concentrate.
Randal.: This is a ready to drink formula. So, what we do is, I mentioned, we brew everything at a near freezing temperature. We then use commercial filtration. We pull out all the sludge, all the particles and the reason why is when you're doing a bottled product ...
Speaker 1: That's why it's a little smoother.
Randal.: Mm-hmm (affirmative). It's a lot smoother that way , but also when you do a bottled product, it's gonna prevent what we call off brewing. So, if you don't remove as much sediment and particles from the coffee it's possible over time it's gonna change the flavor. It's gonna start to oxidate and get a little bit sour and rancid too.
Speaker 3: You're not gonna get any of the small fine grains in the bottom of these bottles?
Randal.: You might get a little bit, but we do a pretty good job at filtering it out to a level that we think is best. [crosstalk 00:03:23]. You're stripping the coffee of all of its flavor if you go past the filtration that we do.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 3: Very good.
Speaker 1: That's awesome. And so, yeah. So, it's smoother that way and then it's filtered so you don't have big particles or anything like that.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 1: And so, they're ready to drink. Interesting.
Randal.: Coffee can last a long time depending on how you treat it and process it. So, we aren't using any retort technology where we're applying heat to cold brew. We want it to stay in its natural state. It's supposed to be cold. We brew cold filtered.
Speaker 1: Cold cold.
Randal.: Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 1: Cold filtered brew.
Randal.: Cold filtered, cold bottled.
Speaker 3: It's like the Rocky Mountains.
Speaker 1: Half the kilos.
Speaker 3: Like Kors Light.
Randal.: Exactly.
Speaker 1: Half the kilos.
Speaker 3: Brewed in the Rocky's.
Randal.: So, we also produced a nitro cold brew for you guys. So, same recipe. The difference here is ...
Speaker 3: All the rage right now too.
Randal.: It's very popular.
Speaker 1: Big with the hipsters. Didn't wear your Birks.
Speaker 3: I didn't wear my Birkenstocks today. Not today.
Speaker 1: Alright.
Randal.: So, we have the nitro for you guys. It goes through a multi-stage nitro gen infusion process to give it that really rich signature creaminess that's known for a nitro cold brew.
Speaker 3: Very excited for this.
Randal.: You want to go ahead and pull the tap.
Speaker 1: I was thinking you would do the honors.
Randal.: [crosstalk 00:04:28]
Speaker 3: You go first. I'll do the next one. You just go full bore? All open?
Randal.: Yep. Just like you're pouring a beer.
Speaker 3: Full steam ahead? Do you let it settle?
Randal.: It's totally up to you.
Speaker 1: I think I'm gonna let that breath.
Speaker 3: Okay.
Randal.: I think you're good.
Speaker 1: Here we go. Well if I think we're doing pour your own right? So, that's you.
Randal.: Sure. Thanks.
Speaker 1: So, just full boar?
Randal.: Yep.
Speaker 1: Do I hit the side or straight to the bottom?
Randal.: Just straight to the bottom. Pull it like a beer.
Speaker 1: Hit the bottom?
Randal.: Yep.
Speaker 3: That looks good.
Speaker 1: We should do some sort of a contest. I think I'd do a pretty good job at it.
Speaker 3: So, do you still call this like the crème like you do on espresso or is that not the same thing?
Randal.: It's not the same thing. What you're really getting here is the nitrogen infusion process creates a really nice creamy head on the coffee.
Speaker 3: That's really good.
Randal.: Similar to a Guinness.
Speaker 3: Wow. I'm very excited. I'm gonna go straight to it. No ...
Speaker 1: That's what I did too, but now I'm gonna let it breath. I'm gonna double down.
Speaker 3: Oh, damn. It's good. Like no bullshit. That's probably the best nitro I've had. I've had some that's just like really overpowering and almost leaves like a really tart taste in my mouth before, but this is like ...
Speaker 1: Straight through you.
Speaker 3: Smooth criminal.
Randal.: Yeah.
Speaker 3: Wow, that's good.
Speaker 1: So, small bottles, right? Nitro. And that's kind of part of the reason why it's so smooth.
Randal.: Yep. And then, again, the ...
Speaker 3: Almost looks lik it has a cream in it and it's not bubbles because they're so fine.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Randal.: The addition of the nitrogen really just gives it that creamy texture mouth feel and flavor without adding any actually cream.
Speaker 3: Now people don't normally put ice in a nitro?
Randal.: We don't recommend serving a nitro with ice.
Speaker 3: I've never seen that.
Speaker 1: Why is that?
Randal.: You really want to be able to taste it directly out of the glass. Otherwise, you're gonna miss a lot of this and ice will water down your cold brew. And especially when you're serving it on tap, you're gonna have a keg rater set up. Your temperature will be around 38 degrees. So, you're gonna get a really cold coffee without needing ice.
Speaker 1: 38?
Randal.: Yeah. Below 42 is a normal temperature.
Speaker 1: So that after it settles a little ...
Speaker 3: Holy crap man. This is good.
Speaker 1: He's pulling out more.
Speaker 3: I'm gonna give this one to Dante.
Speaker 1: Dante.
Speaker 3: Erin can have one later.
Dante: Hey, yeah?
Speaker 1: Behind the camera. So, then after it settles a little it's still gonna be smooth. There's still nitro in there. It's just-
Dante: That's the one.
Speaker 1: -settled down a little.
Speaker 3: Fire.
Dante: That's the one.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Randal.: And there's different recommended serving glasses that are more appropriate for a nitro. On this style the glass, you're gonna lose a lot of your nitrogen as it sits, the longer it sits, but it's still gonna be infused in the coffee as part of the infusion process that we go through.
Speaker 1: Here you go.
Speaker 3: Get a close up. Oh, that works.
Speaker 1: Right on platform.
Speaker 5: Where it needs to be.
Speaker 1: And? There it is.
Speaker 5: It's fire.
Speaker 1: Behind the camera commentary. You don't get that everywhere. You don't get that on Michael and Kelly.
Speaker 5: That's good.
Speaker 1: Besides, you're way better looking than Kelly anyways. So, we're good [crosstalk 00:07:48].
Speaker 3: This is, I mean obviously I love our product. I think our coffee is very very good tasting, but this is legitimately the best nitro cold brew I've personally tasted. I've probably had five or six different ones, which is not that many compared to probably some people, but it's the smoothest one I've ever had.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 3: This is the first time I've had it today. This is fantastic.
Speaker 1: Awesome. Well, Randal, thanks for stopping by.
Randal.: Thank you guys for having me.
Speaker 1: That was too much down. Sorry.
Speaker 3: Sorry about that.
Speaker 1: These cups are defective. Randall, thank you for stopping by.