Cold brew coffee manufacturer Brew Projects has launched its end-to-end contract brewing services in Burleigh Heads, Gold Coast.
According to Brett Bolwell, CEO of Brew Projects, the business is the only contract brewing company in Australia to use cold press equipment.
“Cold press is the standard brewing process over in America but hasn’t been adopted here in Australia,” Brett says.
“Our proprietary cold pressing equipment gives us a competitive advantage to other players in this space. Thanks to its unique configuration, we are able to create stronger brews with a lower cost to the customer.”
The cold pressing process takes approximately 18 hours and involves placing ground coffee into large vats along with triple filtered cold water. Water then pressurises the brew with two-tonnes of force.
“As for the taste from cold pressing coffee, we find the brew is sweeter than conventional cold brew with a more rounded flavour,” Brett says.
Brew Projects has acquired a Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points Certification (HACCP) for its methods, as brewing liquids for extended periods can lead to contamination. HACCP is an internationally recognised food and beverage food safety acknowledgement.
“We wanted to ensure our cold brew was being produced according to HACCP food and safety standards. We conduct lab tests to produce reports that back up the shelf stability of the products which gives our customers confidence,” Brett says.
He adds t
hat gaining this certification is especially important as Brew Projects’ cold pressing technique leads to a product that has a far longer shelf-life than conventionally manufactured cold brews.
“Traditional cold brew products have an ambient shelf-life of seven days and a chilled shelf-life of up to four weeks. Our products have an ambient shelf-life of four weeks and a chilled shelf-life of 12 weeks,” Brett says.
“We achieve this with no preservatives or pasteurisation. It’s a really unique process.”
Although Brew Projects is a new venture, Brett says the business is an amalgamation of the his personal, and the team’s, experience.
“I have over 20 years of experience in the coffee industry and we have staff with over 15 years of experience in beverage production,” he says.
Brew Projects offer beverage production, bottling, and canning services, as well as branding and label design. This includes the opportunity for customers to have their products lab tested during production in order to fully understand its scientific components.
“We also have a graphic designer who has been working in the coffee industry for two years and has five years of marketing experience,” Brett says.
“We pride ourselves on providing solutions from start to finish for our customers.”
Brett also says that while Australia has an influential coffee culture, the market hasn’t had a high demand for cold brew in the past, but that is starting to shift.
“From monitoring the trends overseas, we have found that Australia is behind the trend in cold brew coffee uptake,” he says.
“We have noticed the overall market growth here in the last few years though, especially with major franchises starting to offer nitro cold brew and we’re excited to see where it will go when more specialty coffee roasters jump on.”
For more information, www.brewprojects.com.au