As a well-established commercial or specialty coffee roaster or a start-up RTD brand, you may be asking yourself, are cold brew coffee makers worth it?

Cold brew coffee can be made relatively straightforwardly using traditional methods. At the basic level, you need coffee grounds, cold water, a bucket, jug, or jar, and about 24 hours of time. For home brewers, creating great cold brew coffee is more than achievable.

However, from a business perspective, what appears to be a simple task can introduce all sorts of unforeseen challenges when brewing at scale. Extra labour costs, extra storage space, supply and demand issues, quality and safety controls: all can become headaches for even the smoothest operators. 

Commercial cold brew equipment requires an upfront investment, not enormous, but not insignificant. So, are cold brew coffee makers worth it? Will you see a fast return on your investment? Will your service speed and operational efficiency improve? Should you even be retailing cold brew coffee?

We spoke to Evan Berger, co-founder at Wild Card Coffee, to consider the pros and cons and ultimately to answer the question: are cold brew coffee makers worth it?

Why retail cold brew in the first place?

Cold brew is one of the fastest-growing segments in the coffee world today. Since 2020, the category has exhibited double-digit year-on-year growth and is expected to exceed $16 billion by 2032. 

Spurred on by younger coffee consumer preferences, an inherent alignment with cold coffee and health and wellness trends, and high customisability, cold brew tick all the boxes when predicting key future coffee trends. 

RTD coffee, including cold brew, is more widespread than ever, lining supermarket aisles and convenience store checkouts and featuring on more and more e-commerce platforms. As coffee drinkers seek more convenient beverage options, RTD cold brew is a ready-made answer. 

“I think RTD coffee – canned or bottled and sold in grocery stores – has grown in popularity significantly over the past five years,” says Evan.

“It has already solidified itself as a key coffee sector, mainly due to the convenience it offers. I think that for individual consumers, the market is already pretty saturated, with local coffee companies and national brands widely available.

“That being said, with RTO initiatives, I see room for growth from companies that can successfully move products into companies and workspaces, too. I’m sure there are challenges with smaller/local companies because they will likely need to bring their costs down to be able to onboard with new distributors.”

Wild Card Coffee specialises in mobilised coffee solutions, supporting office spaces and mobile events with specialty coffee. As Evan points out, RTD cold coffee is suitable not just for convenient private purchasing but potentially as a multi-serve solution to working or higher-volume environments. 

“On a local level, I think that cafés will increasingly rely on pre-bottled/kegged cold brew and cold brew-based beverages to operate more efficiently and reduce wait times at high-volume cafes,” Evan adds. 

“Ultimately, it depends on the cafe, its volumes, philosophy, etc., but I see RTD as a growing solution for increasing consistency and working around bottlenecks from espresso machines during rushes. 

There are clear signs that cold brew coffee – and RTD coffee more generally – is a rapidly developing trend in the B2C side of the coffee industry. As a B2B specialist, Evan’s insights shed light on the potential for RTD coffee and cold brew to represent a convenient, reliable and consistent coffee solution for the B2B side of the industry, too. 

Are cold brew coffee makers worth it? From a consumer and business demand perspective, it seems so.

Are cold brew coffee makers worth it?

At Hardtank, we offer two commercial cold brew coffee makers suited to different business needs. Both are capable of brewing a batch of cold brew in under 60 minutes, which means dramatically improved flexibility and superior stock control.

For more significant commercial operations, the Hardtank 20 is capable of producing up to 1,250 200 ml portions of cold brew per day. The Hardtank 20 can also be fitted with one or two nitrogen draught taps for immediate nitro coffee dispensing. 

For smaller businesses or those with limited space or lower volume requirements, the Baby Hardtank has been designed to fit seamlessly into your café or coffee shop operation. Boasting a small 30 cm x 30 cm footprint, capable of producing 250 200 ml cold brew portions per day, as well as other infused beverages like cold brew tea, cascara, or non-alcoholic and alcoholic cocktails, the Baby Hardtank helps companies improve the menu diversity while improving operation efficiency. 

When you are asking yourself: “Are cold brew coffee makers worth it?” it’s essential to consider your business-specific needs. If you’re looking to level up your beverage offering, expand service to more day parts, or add an engaging element of customer experience, the Baby Hardtank is the right option. 

If you’re looking to scale up cold brew production at your business, are considering launching your own line of RTD cold brew or looking to incorporate dispensed nitro coffee, Hardtank 20 will suit all your needs. 

From a return on investment perspective, both machines offer surprising results. 

The Baby Hardtank retails at €4,200+VAT. By selling 20 200 ml portions of cold brew coffee per day at your store(s) for €4 each, you can expect a return on investment in just 58 days and a profit per serving of €3.61. 

With the Hardtank 20, ROI comes even quicker. Selling 90 200 ml portions of cold brew per day will mean a return on investment in just 39 days and a profit per serving of €3.68. 

Both machines use our patented recirculation technology, which ensures a superior yield to that of traditional brewing. Recirculation ensures a constant flow of water across the coffee grounds instead of it remaining stationary, as is the case with regular cold brewing. As a result, Hardtank commercial cold brew equipment improves the extraction yield by almost 100%. That means lower cost per portion and more accurate TDS (total dissolved solids) ratios.

Hardtank machines also brew to a ready-to-drink TDS level. Whereas traditionally brewed cold brew needs to be diluted from its concentrated state to balance TDS, Hardtank is ready to dispense and serve immediately. 

So, are cold brew coffee makers worth it? If you want a faster cold brew, more consistent beverages, extended menu options, smoother operations, better hygiene and health and safety, and a better quality coffee for your customers, then yes.

To find out which Hardtank commercial cold brew machine is right for you, visit our website or get in touch with us directly. 

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Are cold brew coffee makers worth it