Tasty and Convenient: Ready-to-Brew Steeped Coffee
As someone who has a special place in their heart for 3-in-1 packets of coffee, I went through a bit of a grieving process as I went farther down the specialty coffee rabbit hole. I entered the industry as a barista during a time when some of the most well known specialty shops frowned upon sweet coffee beverages, dark roasted beans, automatic brewers–and heaven forbid that you think of drinking coffee that was two weeks past its roast date. I was taught that many of the things I loved about coffee growing up were subpar, and I’m embarrassed to say that at one point in my coffee career, I became one of those coffee people. You know, the one that drops their jaw when I see someone add creamer to a fruity coffee that was intended to be enjoyed black and unadulterated.
I came into the industry swallowing the blue pill, then spitting it out; taking the red pill, dissolving it in water and began sipping. The longer I worked in coffee, the more I learned about its history and why people choose to drink it, the more I realized that coffee is just coffee–and there is a time and place for every kind of coffee out there in the world. If it were not for the instant coffee granules, powdered milk and sugar that I enjoyed so lovingly as a child with my grandma, I know my appreciation for coffee wouldn’t exist as it does today. It was quick, easy, delicious–something that my grandma and I could easily bond over.
If you’re a regular reader here, you’ll often hear me say that we curate our coffee menu in the hopes that every person who walks through our doors will find something that they like. Approachability and accessibility is something that we’re always thinking about, wondering how we can take it a step further. We’ve been paying attention to the innovative technology on instant and ready-to-brew coffee the past several years, and we were finally in a place to be able to explore our options. We’re excited to now offer Steeped coffee bags as our solution for quick and convenient coffee! If you’d like to learn a little more about our R&D process, continue reading. Or, you can skip to the bottom and click on the button to purchase your bags of Steeped coffee.
Taste Testing: Steeped vs. soluble coffee
We decided to test two different products: Steeped, which makes single serve, full immersion coffee bags, and another company that makes soluble granules for specialty coffee. We sent both companies three of the same beans so that we could do a fair comparison between products.
There were four people involved in this evaluation process: me, Michael, Corey, and Lauren. Each coffee was prepared according to the brewing instructions specified for each product. I made three sets of two samples: each individual set had the same coffee, but one would be Steeped, and the other soluble. As the person who prepared the samples, I was the only person who knew which coffee was which. Michael, Corey, and Lauren were only told what coffee we were drinking in each set. They blindly tasted the coffees, and their goal was to determine which sample in each set best represented the particular coffee they were tasting.
Lauren and Corey sharing their thoughts on the blind coffee samples I prepared during our Steeped vs. Soluble coffee taste test
While I kept my evaluations to myself until the very end so as not to influence the others, we were all in consensus. We consistently preferred the Steeped samples, citing clarity of flavors and a silkier mouthfeel. The flavors in the soluble coffees were a little muddled, and there was a slight oxidized flavor at the finish. While we thought the soluble coffees were still pretty tasty and gave us some nostalgia for drinking coffee with our parents when we were kids, Steeped was the clear winner for us! Soon after, we had our café trainers run a similar tasting experiment with baristas on their team, and their feedback matched ours.
Control the strength of your coffee with Steeped! Dunk the bag continuously for 30 seconds or longer to agitate the coffee grounds, and let it sit for at least 5 minutes before giving it a taste. You can also leave the bag in your mug for a full-flavored, full-bodied experience.
After almost a year in the pipeline, we’re excited to launch our Steeped coffee bags! While we intend to add more coffee options in Steeped bags in the future, we’re starting with Wind & Sea, our bread and butter that you’ll find on drip at all of our locations. The flavors in a Steeped bag are clear and structured, and the mouthfeel is smooth like a pour over. If you drink it to the last drop, you may find that the coffee reminds you a little bit of a french press. Steeped coffee is great for camping, traveling, or even for every day drinking if you want to skip a more involved brewing process. All you need is a mug and 8oz of hot water!
Questions about brewing Steeped coffee? Check out this “How To” video.
