As director of coffee at Trade, a customized coffee subscription service, Maciej Kasperowicz tastes hundreds of coffees from roasters across the country. With cold-brew coffee season underway, we tapped Kasperowicz to recommend some of the best beans for the job. “Stay away from coffees that are highlighted by their acidity,” he says. “They won’t necessarily taste bad. But it’s like watching a movie with a brilliant score on cheap laptop speakers—you’re just not optimizing that particular coffee. Instead, choose coffees with big bodies and tasting notes like chocolate and darker fruit that’ll come through loud and clear in the cold-brew process.”
“Whether it’s coffee roasted to brew easily at home or their advanced RTD (ie. cans and bottles) facility, Massachusetts-based Atomic are experts at cold brew,” says Kasperowicz. “They roast Space Cadet specifically to taste good cold. And its candy bar notes come through loud and clear.” $15.50/12 oz., atomicroastery.com
“Blends that include both washed and natural-process Ethiopian coffees have popped off in the last few years. And Phantom Limb, from Denver’s always-terrific Huckleberry, is one of the best,” says Kasperowicz. “This kind of blend is a great way to access floral notes and bright fruit flavors, which are usually pretty tough to pull off in a cold brew. Huck was recently named Roast Magazine‘s Macro Roaster of the Year. And you’ll taste why in their coffees.” $20/12 oz., huckleberryroasters.com
“Espresso and cold brew could not be any less similar brewing methods. But they both present challenges (a short brew time and a lack of heat, respectively),” says Kasperowicz. “So it’s a decent bet that any well-roasted espresso blend will also work well as cold brew. Equator’s seasonal espresso, always syrupy and sweet regardless of the specific seasonal components, is one of my favorites.” $17.50/12 oz., equatorcoffees.com
“Like their sister roastery Good Citizen, Nashville’s Common Voice roasts delicious coffees across the roast spectrum and focuses on paying extra premiums to farmers to reinvest in sustainability,” says Kasperowicz. “For those that like a little roasty flavor in their cold brew, Terra rules.” $18.50/310g, drinktrade.com
“I think people associate cold brew with getting super caffeinated. But a lot of the increasingly delicious decafs out there are just as refreshing cold,” says Kasperowicz. “This one, grown and decaffeinated in Colombia, roasted in Brooklyn, tastes like molasses, chocolate, and a little dark fruit.” $18/310g, cityofsaintscoffee.com
