Stumptown Coffee Roasters

Born from experimentation at their cafes, Stumptown’s latest effort is, at least in our opinion, their most innovative and audacious offering to date. On the surface, the concept of blending carbonation with cold brew might not sound that exciting, but what they’ve created is much more interesting.

In effect they’ve morphed cold brew coffee into something that straddles both the coffee and craft soda spaces. The three offerings, which include Original, Ginger Citrus, and Honey Lemon, blend carbonated cold brew, sugar, and juice, which is the only source of flavoring, to create products that are truly top notch.

Of the trio, the Original is the purest coffee experience, although it, too, features a touch of juice -- lemon juice to be precise -- at the finish. That, combined with the sweetness, make this an incredibly addictive product. Next, there’s Ginger Citrus, which tastes like the combination of a ginger beer and cold brew. Yes, this isn’t a combo that sounds like peanut butter and jelly, but it works -- perfectly. The spice of the ginger, a bit of lime juice, and a dash of orange oil make this product complex but smooth. Finally, there’s Honey Lemon, which is made with cold brew, honey, lemon, and sugar. The earthy sweetness of the honey and a sharp note of citrus are a super refreshing and flavorful complement to the cold brew.

All in all, these products, each of which clock in at 100 calories per 12 oz. can, are truly standout. They not only offer a unique cold brew experience that you won’t find in any other ready to drink line, but all three of the products also manage to nail their respective formulations. That’s also a rarity when it comes to coffee drink product lines.

On the outside, this product line utilizes a slightly more retro version of Stumptown’s branding. It utilizes a script typeface instead of the block font that you’ll find on most of their other products. This helps the product have an aesthetic that almost looks the part of a craft beer, which is a similar thought that we had when we first saw their canned nitro cold brew. It’s clean, easy to read, and really catches the eye.

In the end, there’s honestly nothing that we’d change about this product. It’s timely, innovative, has a clean ingredient list, great flavor, and awesome looking packaging. Perfection in the cold-brew coffee category is something that is pretty elusive, especially given the relative subjectivity of flavor profile when it comes to strength and flavor of particular beans and roasts, but Stumptown’s Sparkling Cold Brew has, at least in our eyes, created something that’s deserving of our highest rating.

Third wave coffee roaster Stumptown, which was one of the pioneers of ready-to-drink (RTD) cold-brew coffee and continues to be an innovator in the space, is taking their cold-brew into a new segment: organic. Utilizing their organic Holler Mountain coffee, which has been offered in whole bean form for some time, Stumptown has created a really nice counterpart to their flagship RTD cold-brew offering.

Stumptown describes the flavor profile of Holler Mountain as having “bright clementine citrus with sweet notes of ganache and praline.” While those might not be the exact words that we’d use (we’d go with citrus, chocolate, and a nutty finish), it’s a very accurate description. In addition, this product is super smooth, even by cold-brew coffee standards. That makes for a product that’s really easy to consume without adding sweetener or milk.

While the flavor of this product is top notch and having an organic offering is a plus for the brand, the thing that we like the most is the look of the label. We’re still fond of the original, which features a gold oval and a more retro looking logo, but this product has a polished and sophisticated look. It’s no surprise that Stumptown is applying this branding to some of their other new products.

All in all, this is a really solid cold-brew that definitely lives up to the same standard as the other Stumptown offerings. While we don’t think that this is necessarily going to be a game changer for the brand (which now has a bunch of different offerings), it shows a continued desire to innovate and does raise the bar for the brand in terms of both flavor and packaging.