Black Medicine Iced Coffee

Black Medicine’s Lavender Latte is the latest flavor from this line of ready-to-drink cold-pressed coffee. Announced in August, Black Medicine is adding this variety to complement their existing Iced Coffee, Mocha, and Latte SKUs.

Now you might be reading this wondering why someone would flavor a ready to drink coffee with lavender. Don't worry-- we had that same reaction when we first saw this product come across our desk. Lavender and coffee are definitely not two flavors that naturally go together. For Black Medicine, the idea is to leverage an herb that is, according to the company, increasingly used as an ingredient in food and beverages. So, we tried to keep an open mind before we tasted the product.

Fortunately, it actually tastes quite good. The lavender is mellow to the point where you might not immediately identify it if you didn't see it listed as an ingredient on the can. It adds a somewhat ambiguous floral and spice note, but otherwise this product is very much like their Latte offering. The base of coffee is, as is the case with all of Black Medicine’s offerings, bold and smooth, while the body is milky and sweet. At the drink’s finish, you can definitely tell that there's something extra in this product, but again, the lavender flavor and aroma is quite light and balanced.

Nutritionally, each 9.5 oz. can has 150 calories, 7 grams of fat, 15 grams of sugar (including 5 grams added sugars). Each can has 185 mg of caffeine, which is on par with other products in the category.

The design of the can also looks the part of the rest of the Black Medicine lineup in terms of its overall layout. There is a lavender accent color to denote the Lavender flavor, which is pretty intuitive. But back to our original point, we feel as though it’s going to be somewhat challenging to get consumers to pick this flavor up instead of one of their other offerings that utilize tried and true coffee flavors. To that end, we wonder if a different approach to the naming -- one that isn’t so matter of fact -- might help this product pull better.

In the end, we appreciate both the innovative approach and the execution of Black Medicine Lavender Latte. However, given its unique flavor, we feel as though the brand will need to do a bit more to strengthen the product’s appeal.

Black Medicine, which initially started out in aluminum bottles and then shifted to cans in early 2017, is back with another packaging update.

This time around, the company has given each can its own more prominent accent color and they’ve dialed down the emphasis on “cold pressed coffee.” Furthermore, the product now features a callout for the caffeine content on the front of the can, which certainly isn’t a bad thing to be up front about.

For the most part, we see this as a good move for the brand. When paired side by side with the black and silver look of the former design, this one feels more approachable and a bit less serious looking. Regardless, the name Black Medicine still feels pretty edgy and might not appeal to everyone.

While the design update is positive from a purely aesthetic point of view, we do feel as though their point of differentiation is somewhat lost in this new design. The explanation on the back, which describes a hot brew under oxygen-free pressure, is a bit too technical sounding. Plus, we think that the successful marketing of cold brew coffee has effectively educated consumers that there are two types of brewing: hot or cold. And this explanation will probably put it in the same bucket as the former and potentially undermine what they’ve created.

Fortunately, the flavor of the coffee itself is quite good and all three are smooth and non-acidic. From our perspective, the Iced Mocha and Iced Latte flavors are more interesting and memorable. Both of these products offer flavor that is in the top tier of RTD coffee drinks.

As for their Nitro Coffee, it’s definitely an offering that can hold its own, but nitro coffee in general feels like something that has largely evolved into a commodity offering. That said, we’d love to see Black Medicine add an additional flavor or two.

Overall, Black Medicine’s latest update is ultimately a step forward. However, there’s some lost opportunity for the brand to really establish its point of differentiation and to establish itself as an alternative to the plethora of cold brew coffee products out there right now. We’d love to see the brand take a more assertive position on this in a future update.

As announced in September, Black Medicine, which is a line of cold pressed (not to be confused with cold brewed) coffee drinks, has shifted their product from an aluminum bottle over to an aluminum can.

Normally, we applaud companies that choose to shift into a more proprietary or premium package, but, in the case of Black Medicine, moving to a 9.5 oz. slim can is great move. This feels like a much more appropriate and intuitive package for the brand. Plus, it looks really sharp with their black and metallic motif.

However, what it doesn’t address are our concerns about having to explain what cold pressed coffee is. While the climate for “cold” coffee processes is as good as it has ever been, it still requires a slight amount of education that will probably be slightly more involved than the text that they’ve placed on the back of the can. Still, we feel as though it’s something that’s memorable and unique, which is more than we can say for the majority of cold-brew coffees that are coming to market.

Giving the products a taste test, we’re pleased to say that this version of Black Medicine is just as good as the original, if not slightly more consistent. The Iced Latte and Iced Mocha are still our favorites, with the addition of dairy making for an experience that’s rich, smooth, and balanced in such a way that’s rare for an RTD coffee drink. Their flagship Iced Coffee SKU, which is unsweetened and unflavored, has an almost tart flavor. While it’s enjoyable, it’s not as standout as their dairy offerings.