Secret Squirrel Cold Brew Coffee (Discontinued)

After being acquired last year by private label tea giant Harris Freeman (and placed into a new subsidiary called Pure Steeps), it should be no surprise that Secret Squirrel is expanding from cold brew coffee into cold brew tea.

Cold brew tea is something that’s been tried by several other players, such as Suja and Harmless Harvest, without much in the way of commercial success. One might argue that those products, which were bolted onto a cold-pressed juice brand and a coconut water brand, respectively, weren’t exactly complementary to their company’s core offering. In the case of Secret Squirrel, cold brew tea seems slightly more logical, especially in that other players, all the way up to the big guys like Starbucks, have established the ability to play in both coffee and tea.

For their cold brew tea offering, Secret Squirrel has taken somewhat of a purist approach. The three blends, which include Rwanda Black, Sencha Green, and, for the only flavored variety, Mint Green, are very lightly sweetened and have rather assertive tea flavors. Cold brewing the tea makes for something that tastes less tannic than hot brewed tea, but it’s the use of high pressure processing, which eliminates the need to add citric acid (or a similar acidifier) that makes the more meaningful flavor difference.

When it comes to the three flavors that we sampled, we’re left feeling as though the lone flavored offering, Mint Green, is the winning direction. It successfully creates something that’s light, refreshing, and has depth of flavor. The Sencha Green and Rwanda Black products are fine examples of straight brewed tea, but they have a more niche audience. Adding some additional flavoring element would be worth considering.

The branding and design of these products is, like the rest of the Secret Squirrel line, very polished and appealing. These look like very credible and well-crafted products and they’ve done a nice job of utilizing the Secret Squirrel brand to give the line its own identity but still feeling like part of the family.

All in all, we really like the concept of a Secret Squirrel cold brew tea line. The execution of what they’ve created is thoughtful and well-done, but we feel as though they could broaden their reach if they adapt the flavor lineup a bit.

With over three years of business under their belt, Los Angeles-based Secret Squirrel is a relative veteran of the cold-brew coffee space. Over these three years, the company has offered cold brew in a variety of forms, including concentrate, ready to drink, and even dairy-based offerings. However, things always felt slightly incomplete -- and as a result Secret Squirrel seemed to be unable to fully capitalize on the growth of the category.

But now, with its latest revision, things seem like they are about to change. The new lineup, which has moved to plastic and is high pressure processed (HPP), is cleaner looking and better tasting. While this review is focused exclusively on their dairy-based offerings, the flagship black cold brew looks just as slick.

As far as the flavors go, it’s honestly pretty hard to choose which of the three (Caffe Latte, Vietnamese Coffee, and Dark Chocolate Mocha) we liked the best. Using whole milk, rather than low-fat, these are unadulterated offerings and it definitely shows in the flavor. All three start with a bold base of coffee and the rich flavor and body of the whole milk. It’s right on the edge of being too milky, but the products straddled the line nicely. From there, the company adds condensed milk to create a slightly richer and sweeter variety called Vietnamese Coffee. In addition, they’ve paired it with cocoa and sugar to create Dark Chocolate Mocha. This particular flavor is the most indulgent of the bunch.

In addition to flavor, we expect these products to really thrive because of their clean list of ingredients, one made possible, at least in part, to the use of HPP, which means they produce these products without added preservatives or flavorings. In the end, we wouldn’t be disappointed with any of these products -- they can definitely hold their own with any dairy-based cold-brew that’s out there right now.

On the outside, we really like the switch to the plastic bottle. It gives the product a visual point of differentiation from the competition, which generally uses dark brown glass bottles and similar color palettes. For Secret Squirrel, this move has also resulted in much sharper-looking graphics, which is a big step forward from what they’ve created in the past. However, the core of the brand has stayed put and it’s nice to see that they’ve figured out how to evolve it into something that feels much more polished and mature.

All in all, this is a very big step forward for Secret Squirrel and they now seem ready to be a serious competitor in the space.