8 STEPS TO
COLD BREW
PERFECTION
Inside Finlays' state-of-the-art cold brew coffee facility in the UK
Words: Tracey Mattock
With cold brew coffee tipped to take the UK and Europe by storm, Finlays' state-of-the art facility in the UK is ready and waiting to help brand owners and operators capitalize on this exciting opportunity.
After astronomical growth in the US over the last two decades, cold brew coffee is now hotly tipped to take the UK and Europe by storm. While still an emerging market, there’s a real buzz around cold brew coffee, supported by the wider RTD and cold coffee boom. Consumer understanding of cold brew remains relatively low for now, but with cold brew widely available on shelves and menus across Europe, we think that’s about to change.
For those in the know, cold brew delivers a smoother taste and better flavor than a regular iced coffee* making it the perfect option for tapping into the trends for premiumization, health and wellbeing, and natural energy. All of which makes for a very exciting proposition for brands and operators looking to differentiate their offering and explode this trend.
Against this backdrop, we’re delighted to welcome you inside our state-of-the-art cold brew coffee facility in Hull, UK, built with the decades of experience in cold brew Finlays has in the US. Following a multi-million-pound investment into the site, the first cold brew coffee was produced during the end of 2023 and the site is now well and truly open for business.
Each step of the cold brew process has been developed to the highest standards to ensure that only premium quality product leaves the site. Let’s take a tour of what makes Finlays’ cold brew coffee so special…
1. Meticulous sourcing: 100% of our green beans are sourced directly from origin for quality assurance and full traceability.
2. Masterful roasting: On arrival in the UK, our coffees are carefully roasted at our Yorkshire roastery before a short journey to our site in Hull.
3. Beautiful blending: Once on site we create our own unique blends or develop bespoke profiles that match our customers’ needs.
4. Expert grinding: We calibrate our grinding for the extraction of the best flavors from the coffee. This also ensures clarity and brightness of liquor as well as optimal flavor.
5. Gentle steeping: The carefully roasted and ground coffee is then steeped in ambient temperature filtered water in a reduced oxygen environment to start the extraction with the best flavors possible.
6. Optimal extraction: Using a bespoke, fully automated, carefully calibrated process, our cold brew is triple filtered and gently extracted to preserve the character and full-bodied flavor of the coffee.
7. Careful concentration: Our cold brew is stored in an inert atmosphere to avoid oxygen contact which stabilizes and enhances the shelf life. Our non-thermal concentration process ensures our cold brew is never exposed to heat to deliver consistent quality every time.
8. Perfectly Packaged: We offer a range of packaging formats, from bulk concentrate, suitable across multiple channels and applications, or a wide range of ready-to-drink packaged formats tailored to customers’ needs.
And the final results? A delicious and rich cold brew ready to delight consumers.
Find out more here
Tracey Mattock
Marketing Manager Tracey.Mattock@Finlays.net
*Source: Finlays proprietary research 2022. UK only, sample size 250+
