Toby’s Estate is making its foray into frozen coffee with the launch of ready-to-freeze coffee for the home and retail market.
Called Freezus, the box includes two 50-gram bags of freshly roasted coffee to start enjoying immediately, and five 20-gram bags of coffee already aged appropriately, vacuum sealed, and ready to pop into the freezer to use next week, next month, or even next year.
Nich Rae, Head of Coffee at Toby’s Estate, says its decision to launch Freezus to the consumer and retail market speaks to the company goal of “pushing the boundaries” of specialty coffee.
“Freezing coffee has slowly become more prominent within the specialty scene and we believe it will become an integral part of our brand to lead the charge into this space,” Nich says. “It allows customers and consumers to create libraries of coffee from years past while not having to worry about freshness, which the industry has leaned on so heavily until now.”
Specialty coffee has always been a “fresh-only” product. Farmers have to move their coffee within a few months or the opportunity for a good season quickly diminishes. And at the café, baristas have an added time pressure to serve their coffees within a limited window.
By freezing coffee, it not only allows Toby’s Estate to lock in flavour but also gives coffee a massively extended shelf life for customers to enjoy year-round.
“Cafés could make their money back selling the fresh component as batch brew and offer the frozen doses as a more premium, hand brewed experience,” says Assistant Head Roaster, Josh Haidinger. “It also allows our customers to offer a unique experience in comparing the fresh versus frozen product side-by-side.”
To kick off the Freezus range, Toby’s Estate is releasing their Red Honey Geisha from Costa Rica and partner Mario Marin’s farm, Vara Blanca, boasting notes of rose, lychee, rockmelon, and red papaya.
“From a processing perspective, this coffee nails everything a well processed honey coffee sets out to achieve – enough acidity to provide some sparkle, sweet fruit flavours, an incredibly rich mouthfeel, and amazing complexity. This is a true ‘best of all worlds’ situation” says Josh.
To experience Freezus and for more information, visit www.tobysestate.com.au