Pour Overs specialty coffee kits from Will & Co provide cafés with a new source of revenue while making specialty coffee accessible to more people on the go.
COVID-19 has provided many twists and turns for the coffee industry, but for coffee roaster Will & Co, it was an opportunity to try new things and expand its product range.
“During lockdown, a lot of our café partners switched to takeaway and took the opportunity to create dedicated retail sections so they could continue to sell products to people working at home,” says Josh Passaro, Head of Will & Co.
“A lot of café owners approached us, asking if we new products that they could sell outside of traditional beans and ground coffee. Also seeing a growing demand for convenient coffee solutions, we developed our Pour Overs specialty coffee kits so people could brew a filter coffee anytime, anywhere.”
Will & Co’s Pour Overs come in two varieties – Guatemala Dreamin’ and Tanzania Honey – with each box holding five single-serve pour over pouches.
The coffee is grown, sourced, roasted, and ground as it would be for any filter coffee, then it’s packed into a paper filter, nitrogen flushed to maintain freshness, and individually sealed in airtight packaging. All the customer needs to do is place the filter over the rim of a cup and add hot water.
“It’s all about making specialty coffee more accessible to the masses, even if they don’t know how to make a filter coffee or have the equipment for it at home,” Josh says.
“Our original target market for the Pour Overs was black coffee drinkers, but there’s been much more mass appeal than we’d anticipated. We’ve actually been surprised by the take up, which comes back to their ease of use for a great coffee experience.”
For the initial round of Pour Overs, Will & Co decided to focus on two origin coffees to showcase and educate coffee drinkers on the unique flavours and processing methods that come from two vastly different growing regions. Josh says a coffee from Africa and another from Central America was a great place to start.
Guatemala Dreamin’ is a washed coffee with pleasant acidity, full body, and notes of cocoa, toasted nuts, and caramel. The “fruit forward” Tanzania Honey, on the other hand, delivers sweet aromas of melon, bergamot, and candied lemon, with a lingering aftertaste of honey and burnt brown sugar.
“We’ve worked with great Guatemalan coffee since day one of Will & Co and we’re extremely passionate about this origin,” Josh says.
“With the Tanzanian coffee, highlighting the origin was one part of why we chose it, but the other is its honey processing method. It gave us an opportunity to showcase the great quality coming out of Tanzania.”
Launched in May 2021, Josh says the Pour Overs have been flying off the shelves, with three clear reasons they’re catching on with coffee drinkers: quality, convenience, and freshness.
“Australia is one of the most discerning coffee drinking countries in the world. People are well educated, interested in exploring new flavour profiles, and are actively seeking out quality coffee products,” he explains.
“The Pour Overs combine this with a really low barrier to entry. So if you don’t have a v60 or Chemex at home you can still enjoy a great filter coffee experience, especially when you’re on the go, out camping, or at the beach. Being nitrogen flushed and individually packed, you also don’t have to worry about opening a full bag of coffee and getting through it before it becomes stale.”
Will & Co has made Pour Overs specialty coffee kits available online or through its café and retail partners, providing venues with retail stands and counter signs to help drive up transaction value and customer spend.
“Pour Overs are a product for a different occasion to the coffee you’d usually buy in a café, so it’s not cannibalising their instore and takeaway sales,” Josh says. “It’s instead increasing their retail range so they can provide their customers with innovative products that complement their existing coffee offering.”
The Pour Overs are one of many projects Will & Co has brought to the market in the past year and Josh says the roaster will keep finding new ways to support its café customers.
“We’re rolling out a massive café support program, featuring our cafe partners on billboards, bus shelters, and socials, supporting our café clients while looking for new ways to grow our businesses together,” Josh says.
“2021 has already been a massive year for us, with 13 new products launched across beans, pods, and Pour Overs, but we’re going to continue innovating and launching new products that get specialty coffee into the hands of more people.”
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For more information, visit www.willandco.com.au
This article appears in the August 2021 edition of BeanScene. Subscribe HERE.
