Disclosure: Pull & Pour received coffee samples for this post, however, as always, all opinions are 100% my own.
I ended the cold coffee series last summer with Snapchilled Coffee’s Single Origin Sampler. They were by far one of my favorite from the series last year, so I thought they would be a great option to lead off with this summer. Since last summer Elemental has begun pairing their snapchilled process with roasters around the country to create some delicious collaborations. The collaborations feature some of my favorite roasters including Cirque Coffee, Little Wolf and George Howell. Cirque Coffee holds a special place in my heart ever since I was swooned by their Wush Wush Ethiopia coffee earlier this year, so I thought they would be a great coffee to start with.
The Cirque Snapchilled Coffee features a Peruvian from the Cusco region. One of the reasons I have come to love Snapchilled coffee is that it is able to preserve all of the attributes you’d expect to find in the pour over equivalent of the coffee. While I haven’t tried this coffee as a pour over, the aroma, sweetness and brightness I’d expect to find in that brew method are all present in this Snapchilled canned coffee.
The coffee has a wonderfully fruity sweetness and a crisp, lemon citrus acidity that adds some wonderful brightness to the can. In the flavor I tasted notes of lemon, cream and subtle chocolaty undertones with a really nice finish that lingers a lot longer than I expected. The coffee is extremely well-balanced and easy to drink, while still having the complexity of a high-quality South American coffee. As with the other Snapchilled Coffees I have tried, it reminds me a lot of flash-brewed or Japanese iced cold brew—nothing seems to have been lost flavor- or complexity-wise from brewing to cooling to canning.
The Bottom Line
What I love about Snapchilled vs. other traditional cold brew is that they are able to achieve acidity and sweetness you just don’t find in cold brew. The lemon citrus brightness is amazing in the coffee. It has a great, fruit-forward sweetness while still being extremely well-balanced. I’d encourage you to try any of the Snapchilled collaborations, but especially this delicious option from Cirque Coffee.
