New Product Friday: Chamberlain Coffee
Cold Brew Latte Ready to Drink
With the rise of social media, advertising trends have shifted. Influencers are popular by allowing people to get an insight into their (often curated) lifestyle. Most Influencers are paid to sell other people’s products; but others are branching out to create their own brand and using the platform to sell their own product/lifestyle. Emma Chamberlin is an example of this. Her brand, Chamberlin Coffee, is based on her YouTube channel that shows her genuine love and passion for coffee and the coffee lifestyle. Emma’s YouTube Channel has over 9 million followers and is being used as a platform to sell her own coffee brand, Chamberlin Coffee. Today’s New Product Friday focuses on her newest coffee line—ready to drink canned cold brew lattes. Available in three different flavors—Cold Brew, Vanilla Cold Brew, and Mocha Cold Brew—we will be focusing on the Cold Brew Latte product, for purposes of simplicity.
Cold Brew Coffee (Filtered Water, Coffee)— In the beverage industry, there is no standard of time for how long coffee sits in water to be called “cold brew” versus “regular coffee”. As such, many companies call out “cold brew coffee” even when the coffee and water do not sit together as long as is traditionally observed.
Coconut Cream—As coconut milk sits, it separates and forms a thick layer of cream on top. This layer is coconut cream and has between 20-25% fat content. Coconut cream is high in saturated fats like medium chain triglycerides.
Almond Butter—Almonds are ground together to form a paste or butter. Almonds are a very water intensive crop, but high in monounsaturated fats (healthy fats) as well as Vitamin E and antioxidants.
Natural Flavors—Flavor chemicals from natural sources (plants, vegetables, fruits, spices) are extracted and combined together to create a natural flavor.
Date Syrup— Fairly low on the glycemic index, date syrup is high in potassium, calcium, magnesium, and antioxidants. Date syrup is made by adding water to a date and heating it to make a syrup. Since dates are naturally sweet, they do not contribute to any added sugar.
Sunflower Lecithin—Sunflower are dehydrated and separated into oil, gum, and solids. The gum is then cold pressed to extract lecithin. Lecithin is high in phospholipids; which makes up the cell membrane and has been studied to support brain and liver health. Here, it is used as an emulsifier to limit the separation of the beverage.
Sodium Bicarbonate—Or baking soda. It is added to make sure the beverage does not taste too acidic.
Trisodium Citrate—An electrolyte, trisodium citrate makes the beverage not taste too acidic.
Gellan Gum—A bacterial fermentation by-product from a plant-based bacteria. It is added to make sure that any solid material from the coconut and/or almonds remain suspended in the beverage.
Organic Locust Bean Gum— A gum extracted from the seeds of a locust bean. To be organic, the locust bean needs to be grown organically (no sewer sludge, pesticides, or genetically modified organisms). It is added to make the beverage thicker and creamier.
Final Evaluation
Ingredient Quality: A-. This beverage is gluten-free, plant-based, and does not contain any gluten or dairy. However, none of these claims are certified.
Ingredient Clarity: A-. All ingredients make sense to the overall product, except for natural flavors. It does not make sense why natural flavors are included in a beverage that does not call out a specific flavor.
Functional Benefit: A-. This beverage contains 70 milligrams of caffeine per can, which is about 30% less than a cup of coffee and typical of most cold brew coffees. (The cold brew process typically extracts less caffeine than the hot brew process.) However, this is much less caffeine than its direct competitors. If a consumer perceives cold brew to have a higher concentration of caffeine, then this beverage would fall short. The addition of both coconut and almonds makes this product unique. Coconut cream is high in saturated fats like medium chain triglycerides, which, in small amounts, increases energy and provides other benefits. Almonds have high amounts of healthy, monounsaturated fats as well as other antioxidants.
Nutritional Value: A. At 110 calories per serving, this beverage is comparable to most other plant-based lattes on the market. The high amount of healthy fats (not shown on the label) improves heart health. Additionally, this is lightly sweetened with date syrup, which does not provide any added sugar and has a low glycemic index.
Overall Score: A-. This product is made with clean, simple ingredients. The cold brew contributes a low amount of caffeine, compared to its competitors (70 milligrams per can, which is 30% less than a cup of coffee). Coconut cream and almonds are included at levels that would provide healthy plant-based fats and antioxidants. The addition of electrolytes sodium bicarbonate and trisodium citrate stretches the plant-based claim since these electrolytes are not made from plants. This beverage adds “natural flavors”, despite the fact it does not call out a specific flavor. This can be perceived as a little sketchy since it is not known what these “natural flavors” actually contribute to the beverage. Otherwise, this is a great clean label plant-based latte and would be worth a try—especially given the variety of different flavors offered and the low price point ($3/can).
Would you buy this drink? Why or why not?