At Expo West 2016, La Colombe launched its innovative Draft Latte in a can format, the first of its kind to be enhanced with nitrous oxide. Now, a few short months later, La Colombe is extending its lineup with two additional nitrous oxide-enhanced coffee drinks. These products, Triple Draft Latte and Vanilla Draft Latte, along with a third can-based line extension, Pure Black, give La Colombe a well rounded RTD lineup that could certainly go head to head with any brand that’s currently in the space.

The most daring move is La Colombe’s straight coffee offering, Pure Black. Like its other varieties, this one uses cold-pressed espresso, but without  the dairy and sweetener included in the others. While it doesn't have the nitrous oxide found in the latte varieties, this is still a very tasty can of coffee. There is a pronounced nuttiness to the body of the coffee, which gives the product some really nice flavor without needing any sweetener. Plus, the company has done a nice job creating some visual separation between this product and the Draft Latte offerings.

As for the two Draft Latte extensions, Triple and Vanilla, they both extend the appeal of the brand. First, Triple Draft Latte is a super caffeinated version of the original. It features three shots of espresso, although the taste is only slightly stronger than the original variety. While they don’t mention exactly how much caffeine is in the product (a shot typically has 65mg, so figure around 200mg per can), it’s hard not to feel the kick from this product. With the Vanilla, they’ve opted for something that’s a bit more than a standard vanilla flavored coffee. Specifically, the ingredients list states that they’ve used vanilla  “with other natural flavors (like maple).” It’s hard to put our finger on the flavors that we taste, but it definitely grew on us as we consumed it. And with both of the products, we think La Colombe nailed the level of sweetness.

If there’s any room for improvement with these products, it comes in the form of minor tweaks that could be made with the packaging and messaging. For starters, the quality of the shrink sleeve labels doesn’t match up to painted cans’. This was especially noticeable on the Pure Black cans, where the the label was slightly askew. With regards to the messaging, we think further explanation of “cold-pressed espresso” would be helpful, especially if they can help the consumer understand the differences between this and regular cold-brew.

Overall, we’re big fans of La Colombe’s latest offerings. They are all well-executed products that will help La Colombe establish a nice beachhead for its RTD coffees.