Nitro Cold Brew Coffee: What’s the fuss?

Coffee that looks like Guinness which is served from a tap? Who would have thought that this unusual type of coffee would be the next big trend, with nitro cold brew coffee taps appearing everywhere, including Starbucks, we caught up with Christopher Beach, founder of New North to give some clarity on all the hype...

A smooth, creamy, nitrogenated cold brew coffee, high in antioxidants and low in acidity. New North is served ice cold and contains no sugar, dairy or calories. It does contain natural caffeine, which will invigorate you and lift your mood, leaving you ready for any adventure.

We've developed a distinctive flavour profile of dark chocolate and almond, by carefully selecting and roasting a blend of beans from Nicaragua, Peru and Mexico. We then coarsely grind the freshly roasted beans and brew them in filtered cold water for 18 hours.

To nitrogenate our cold brew coffee, we add liquid nitrogen during the canning process, at a temperature of -196 degrees Celsius. The cans are then sealed. As the nitrogen warms up, it rapidly turns from liquid to gas, increasing in volume. This forces the nitrogen into a specially designed widget in the bottom of each of our cans.

When you open a can of New North, you’ll hear a ‘rush’, which is the nitrogen being released from the widget into the coffee, frothing it up and giving New North its signature smooth, creamy texture. The nitrogen has the added benefit of displacing all oxygen from the coffee, keeping New North extra fresh. 

New North nitro coffee is dairy and sugar-free. It contains 0 calories, is high in antioxidants and 67% less acidic than regular coffee. It also contains the following essential nutrients: Riboflavin (Vitamin B2): 11% of the RDA. Pantothenic Acid (Vitamin B5): 6% of the RDA. Manganese and Potassium: 3% of the RDA. Magnesium and Niacin (B3): 2% of the RDA.

Traditionally, nitro coffee was only available from a tap, since it's tricky to get the same nice, frothy head from anyting bottled. But finally, we figured it out.

Nitrogenating the coffee added another layer of complexity. Nitrogen is less soluble in liquid than a gas such as CO2, and so creating a consistent nitrogenation of the coffee proved difficult. If the nitrogen pressure in the keg was too high, the coffee was overly frothy when poured. Too low and the coffee would start to pour with a creamy texture, but quickly became flat.

Once we finally got a great tasting coffee, keeping nitrogen from escaping the liquid especially once packaged is extremely hard. We work with a great company in Germany known for their canning innovation. Having specifically designed a widget that fixes to the bottom of each can, nitrogenating the coffee as the can is opened.

An adventure had begun.

New North represents a new direction for coffee and of adventure, challenge and discovery.