Perhaps the third time’s a charm?
That appears to be what Keurig is thinking, given the news of the single-serve coffee giant’s new technology and brewing system that allows it to deliver cold-brewed coffee drinks instantly.
The new system, QuickChill, will use advanced cooling technology to flash-chill fresh-brewed coffee. According to Keurig, QuickChill will chill hot-brewed coffee from a K-Pod in three minutes, pouring coffee into the glass at 60°F. That’s a vast difference between the company’s previous efforts at ice coffee with its K-Iced coffee line, which poured hot-brewed coffee on top of ice. Keurig says that the new technology will result in coffee that comes out of the machine three times colder than coffee brewed by its K-Iced line.
The new technology, which has an internal chilling mechanism that reduces the coffee’s temperature post-brew, will result in less diluted coffee once poured over ice, which, according to Keurig itself, didn’t always lead to coffee shop results.
“Historically, really, what you’re getting is just a hot brew over the top of ice, and it created a less flavorful, watered-down version of the beverage,” said Josh Hulett, Keurig’s SVP of product management, in a video (see below) about the new QuickChill technology.
The new QuickChill technology will be used in a new hot/cold brewing system from Keurig called the K-Brew + Chill brewer. It will be available starting this fall, and pricing has yet to be announced.
QuickChill is Keurig’s third attempt at creating a platform that dispenses cold beverages. Keurig followers might remember the Keurig Kold, an attempt to compete with the Sodastream carbonated beverage appliance. After shuttering that effort, the company partnered with AB In-Bev a couple years later to create a pod-based home cocktail-making appliance with their Drinkworks joint venture. Drinkworks didn’t make it as far as Kold, shutting down soon after a newly announced new product line.
With QuickChill, however, the company looks to be sticking to what it knows: coffee. According to the company, this move attempts to tap into strong interest in cold-brew coffee, particularly among younger coffee drinkers.
“We’re really excited about this innovation launching because it is a breakthrough for us to be able to serve cold coffee to our consumers, especially to our younger consumers and Gen Z, forty-eight percent of whom had a cold coffee this past week,” said Becky Opdyke, Senior VP of Keurig systems marketing, in an interview with The Spoon. “We want to make sure we’re delivering for them at home as well.”
The news of QuickChill was part of a slew of announcements by Keurig today, including the launch of a completely new single-serve delivery form factor and a new-generation brewing system that takes advantage of the new compostable, plastic-free pod.
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