Brooklyn Center’s Bizzy Coffee Offers ‘Mystery’ Blends to Help Perfect Cold Brew

Tuesday, Sept. 29, is National Coffee Day. Brooklyn Center-based Bizzy Coffee is celebrating the occasion by having customers rate different kinds of “mystery” cold brew coffee blends.

The company’s goal is to create the world’s best-tasting cold brew.

Alex French, co-founder, Bizzy Coffee

“We’re constantly testing new methods, whether that’s temperature, time, grind size, different origins,” said Alex French, cofounder and CEO of Bizzy Coffee. “Even if it’s in one farm versus another farm in the same country, it might taste different because of the soil or the altitude.”

What makes cold brew coffee different from its hot cup counterpart is you replace temperature (hot coffee) with time (the cold brew method). Bizzy Coffee says they recommend letting its coffee grounds soak in water at room temperature for 18 hours.

“It’s low and slow, which brings out more of these smoother flavors, the sweetness, the mochas, the caramels that people really like in coffee,” said French.

Pandemic Stirs Up Sales for At-Home Coffee Market

During the COVID-19 pandemic, when sales at traditional coffee shops have suffered, fast-growing Bizzy Coffee has seen its sales triple since February.

“With the coffee shops being more or less shut down, that demand has shifted into grocery stores and online, which are the two places that we sell,” said French.

It’s a trend seen across the country. New research from Mintel shows that the U.S. at-home coffee market will grow by 4.9% this year alone to reach $15.6 billion. That’s compared to 3.9% total growth from 2015 to 2019.

Bizzy Coffee’s Mystery Blend Taste Test

Specialty Coffee Association of America flavor wheel.

To celebrate its success, Bizzy Coffee is starting up a new subscription service where customers get shipped a new cold brew blend each month using its new pitcher packs. Customers rate the new blend and give feedback on the taste using the Specialty Coffee Association of America flavor wheel.

Andrew Healy, co-founder, Bizzy Coffee

“You’ll literally go in and rate the coffee, what you’re tasting, what you like, what you don’t like, everything from the aroma, to the aftertaste, to the intensity, to the texture on your tongue,” said Andrew Healy, cofounder of Bizzy Coffee. “Every part of that we want your feedback on.”

Healy says it’s also an opportunity for coffee lovers to try something they may not have experienced before. Coffee will range from light to medium to dark roasts.

“Light roasts, a lot of people think they taste bright, citrus, fruity,” said Healy. “Medium roasts, those can vary widely. We really focus on a lot of the nutty, chocolatey, really bold flavors there. Then darker roasts typically, heavy, those are designed to be mixed with creamers, so heavy bodied, really smoky.”

Added Healy, “We’re trying to cover all aspects of the wheel. You’ll get to try coffees in each region, so you can decide what you like, what flavor profiles are your preference,” he said. “We think it’s the perfect combo of convenience and quality.”

Brooklyn Center