From stealth to shelf: Diamond Brew’s instant coffee breakthrough

Chicago-based startup Diamond Brew has emerged from stealth with an on the spot espresso that absolutely dissolves in scorching or chilly water, delivering the flavour, aroma, and caffeine content material of premium brewed espresso.

Based early final 12 months by Douglas Yu and backed by traders together with GNC CEO Michael Costello, Dream Ventures, Entrepreneur Ventures, and the Kali Mata household workplace, Diamond Brew is concentrating on Gen Z and Millennial shoppers which might be searching for inexpensive luxuries and ‘barista high quality’ merchandise with out forking out a whole bunch of {dollars} for a flowery espresso machine.

Launching direct to consumer and on TikTok Store this week, the “brewless” espresso is bought in individually portioned recyclable aluminum pods to protect freshness and aroma in packs of 12 (MSRP $29.88 or $2.49 per serving). The roasted grounds are upcycled and despatched to corporations that use them to make every part from furnishings to pens.

‘Barista high quality,’ no machine wanted

Immediate espresso—which is commonly considered the poor cousin of the brewed selection, though this notion is starting to alter—is usually made by roasting, grinding, and brewing beans.

The brewed espresso is then concentrated and spray dried or freeze dried to create soluble powder or granules, processing steps that cut back the caffeine content material and take away oils answerable for taste and aroma. Whereas merchandise differ, spray dried merchandise specifically can typically have a stale or burnt style.

To deal with these issues, Diamond Brew works with a espresso roaster in China that has developed a proprietary freeze-drying course of that locks in caffeine, taste, and aroma. This creates a extremely soluble product with 160mg of caffeine per serving and no residue, that smells and tastes like an espresso from a espresso store, claims Yu, who was born in China and moved to Boston 12 years in the past.

The espresso crystals have a luminescent high quality that impressed the model title and kind a crema on prime after stirring, explains Yu, a former journalist protecting the buyer packaged items (CPG) sector who spent three years at VC agency Springdale Ventures earlier than occurring his personal entrepreneurial journey.

“All of those years of studying from hundreds of CPG innovators and visionaries seems like a paid MBA, plus working at Springdale Ventures gave me the chance to speak to founders differently than you do if you’re a reporter.

“I knew I wished to get into the trade however I used to be afraid of touching something too area of interest or buzzy, regardless of how attractive or interesting it’d sound. The beauty of espresso is that consumption is rising and it’s very broadly consumed, but it surely’s additionally shelf-stable, very mild and straightforward to ship, and excessive margin, which is essential as my strategy to entrepreneurship is a mix of idealism and pragmatism.”

“Diamond Brew represents innovation at its most interesting within the espresso trade. I’ve been searching for a product that solves a necessity for top of the range caffeine and comfort, and that is the one.” Michael Costello, CEO, GNC

‘A mixture of idealism and pragmatism’

In response to Yu, there’s a “big white whitespace alternative for immediate espresso” for Gen Z and Millennial shoppers that began moving into espresso and different “inexpensive luxuries” in the course of the pandemic however discover the array of machines for making it at residence each expensive and “intimidating.”  Diamond Brew, against this, is “mess-free, hassle-free and handy.”

The truth that a number of gamers have gotten into the upmarket on the spot espresso house in recent times, from Starbucks VIA and Nestlé’s Blue Bottle craft instant coffee to Cometeer, validates the market, says Yu, who began speaking to espresso roasters all around the world in early 2023 to discover a firm he wished to work with.

“It took me three to 4 months to discover a roasting accomplice and this can be a expertise that now we have unique entry to. Freeze drying is nothing new; the key actually lies within the brewing course of and the way we protect the flavour and caffeine content material in an hermetic tunnel. The flavour mimics what you’ll get from a machine-made espresso which is admittedly beautiful and the caffeine is on par with a double shot espresso.”

He provides: “We’re a digitally native model with ambitions of in the end turning into an omnichannel firm. Our preliminary focus is direct to shopper however down the road we’re additionally planning to construct a b2b platform so we might provide bartenders, eating places or company workplaces.”

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