A bar quality Espresso Martini from a can sounds simple. Technically it is not. Four partners put Cheers Presso on the road, and everything except the coffee is made in Germany.
Why is real coffee in a can so demanding?
Because coffee is a sensitive natural product. It reacts to light, oxygen, heat and time, and it has to get along with alcohol, sweetness and carbonation without turning bitter or flat.
Most ready to drink coffee cocktails dodge that problem with flavourings. That is easier, but it tastes of coffee flavouring rather than coffee. Coffee first means facing the problem instead of avoiding it.
Who develops the recipe?
Taste Your Brand in Hamburg. We work there with Manuel Fischer, one of the two managing directors, on aromas and composition.
The task is fine tuning: balancing coffee, vodka, sweetness and acidity so the drink stays bright and light and still tastes of espresso. Every adjustment shifts the result, and in the end it has to be reproducible at industrial scale.
What makes recipe development so laborious?
The path from sample to series. A recipe that works in the lab behaves differently on a filling line, because temperature, pressure and dwell times come into play.
So it takes several rounds: sample, tasting, adjustment, test filling. The recipe is only finished when the batch coming off the line tastes exactly like the sample.
Where does the coffee in the can come from?
The green coffee is 100 % single-origin premium Arabica coffee from Colombia. It is turned into liquid form by DEK Deutsche Extrakt Kaffee GmbH in Berlin, our technology partner for the coffee.
DEK has been producing liquid coffee extracts since 1969, employs around 200 people at its Berlin site and is part of the CAFEA Group. The company works with its own fresh brewing process, which also forms the basis for cold brew.
Why does that need a specialist?
Because brewed coffee has to become a stable extract without losing its aromas. That step decides whether the drink later tastes of coffee or of roast notes.
Extraction, concentration and cooling all have to line up. A plant that can do this around the clock at consistent quality is the difference between a good idea and a product you can sell in series.
Who makes the cans?
Ardagh Metal Packaging, AMP for short. The manufacturer supplies the beverage cans and brings the nitro technology that creates the crema.
AMP runs twelve production sites in Europe and a research and development centre in Bonn where test fillings are possible. Nitro cans for cold brew coffee are explicitly part of its portfolio.
What does the nitro technology do in the can?
It replaces the shaker. Nitrogen is introduced into the can and dissolves in the drink. As you open and pour, it escapes in the finest bubbles and forms the dense, velvety crema.
The effect is the same one a bartender creates with ice, force and timing. How the two compare is covered in Can vs. bar.
Why nitrogen rather than carbon dioxide?
Because nitrogen is far less soluble than carbon dioxide. It therefore forms very small, stable bubbles instead of a sparkling perlage.
The result is creamy rather than fizzy. With the Cold Brew Fizz the opposite is intended, and there carbonation delivers the sparkling character.
Who fills the cans?
FÜLLKOPF GmbH in Steinheim-Söhnstetten on the Swabian Alb. That is where all the components come together and go into the can.
By its own account Füllkopf fills more than 20 million cans a year, holds IFS and organic certification and works for over 110 clients. Filling runs in formats from 150 to 500 ml.
What exactly happens during filling?
Coffee extract, alcohol, water and the remaining ingredients are combined to the recipe, the nitrogen is added, and the can is sealed immediately.
The critical moment is the seal. Between filling and seaming, neither oxygen nor microbes may reach the product. Filling is therefore not a side note but the step where quality stands or falls.
What does made in Germany mean here?
Everything except the coffee is made in Germany. Recipe in Hamburg, coffee extract in Berlin, the can from a European manufacturer with a development centre in Bonn, filling on the Swabian Alb.
The green coffee comes from Colombia, because coffee simply does not grow in Germany. Everything that happens after that happens here.
Why work with partners instead of your own production?
Because each of these steps is a craft of its own. An extraction plant, a can production line and a certified filling line are three completely different industries.
We decide on recipe, raw material and quality, and we work with companies that have been doing their part for decades. Questions about ingredients and production are answered in the frequently asked questions, and every variety is in the shop.
True Coffee. True Moments.
