Customers at Chick-fil-A have been buzzing about the company’s new cold-brew iced coffee, especially during the record-breaking heat wave much of the country has been enduring this summer. While they know it tastes great, what they may not know is Chick-fil-A’s cold-brew iced coffee process is typically reserved for specialty coffee houses. The chain is one of the only fast food restaurants in the industry to offer a premium method of brewing its iced coffee to guests at an affordable price.
The cold-brew process is different from traditional techniques in which hot-brewed coffee is cooled and later iced. Chick-fil-A’s cold-brewed coffee is never heated; instead coffee grounds are infused with cool, filtered water and steeped using proprietary equipment for up to 24 hours to create a concentrate that is naturally sweeter with low acidity and bitterness. The concentrate is bottled, sent to the restaurants and made to order with fresh, two percent milk, pure cane syrup, and ice. Available in original and vanilla, the cold-brewed coffee is available in 16-ounce and 20-ounce servings and priced starting from $2.29 and $2.59, respectively.
“Our cold-brew process keeps the integrity of the coffee flavor and gives customers a more hand-crafted taste that we are excited to share,” says Matt Abercrombie, senior consultant of menu development for beverages and dessert for Chick-fil-A. “Cold-brew coffee is offered as a standard menu option for our guests. It is a great addition to breakfast or as an afternoon pick-me-up.”
The Atlanta-based restaurant chain partnered with THRIVE Farmers Coffee in August 2014 to introduce the iced coffee and a new hot coffee. The company is the first in the quick-service industry to offer specialty-grade hot and iced coffee. The sale of each cup of coffee provides direct revenue to the THRIVE Farmers network of family farmers in Central America, allowing them to earn up to 10 times more than farmers earn in traditional revenue models.