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The coffee/tea biz is a whirlwind of reinvention these days, with new processing techniques, equipment and formats proliferating. The Coffee Fest NY event held earlier this month at NY event space offered substantial proof of that during its 3-day span, drawing throngs of trade visitors on first day and welcoming consumer visitors to the mix the next 2 days, with diversions provided by barista tourney, latte art competition, coffee cocktail bar and array of musical performers. The post-pandemic return of event to city drew 8,100 attendees, per Allegra Group Events, which organizes show in several US cities. Cometeer Adds Smaller Multipacks as It Heads to Retailers Like Foxtrot, Erewhon Cometeer, the Boston-based developer of refrigerated coffee "pucks" that offer "incredibly delicious coffee made incredibly convenient," has created quite some buzz and drawn substantial institutional investment, over $100 mil to date. At Coffee Fest, where it was supporting some of its roaster partners, booth staffers said brand has 12 roasters aboard so far. They include likes of George Howell, Counter Culture and Joe on domestic side, and a single overseas partner so far, Square Mile in London. So far, it's mainly been sold in coffee shops but a concerted retail move is under way, with Foxtrot Market aboard and Erewhon just launching. Given pricy nature of offering, it's inaugurated 4-pack, which goes for $10 at Foxtrot, they said. Merchandising is a challenge: for now, the default choice for retailers is in freezer cases but Cometeer sales/marketing team is aiming to get placements closer to other coffees.Terra Kaffe Debuts Flagship Internet-Connected Brewer Coffee Fest was the platform for debut of Terra Kaffe's TK-02 flagship coffeemaker, an internet-connected machine targeting home and small-office users that weighs, grinds and brews the coffee to the user's taste, no pods required. "Built from the grounds up," the company promises. Founder Sahan Dilmaghani was working in EV development in Berlin when he began developing Terra Kaffe in 2017 but has since relocated to Brooklyn. At booth, it was clear he has a Steven Jobs-like penchant for perfectionism, for instance in insisting on using a glass rather than acrylic screen for the touch screen on crisply designed units that are produced in China. Its app lets you program features like brewing temperature and grind size and alerts you to reorder coffee or cleaning supplies, with direct purchasing of the necessary supplies. It's taking pre-orders for machines priced at $1,400. An earlier, more limited-function unit, TK-01, goes for $825 on website.4 Jacks Aims to Simplify Draft Cold-Brew Former auto parts pro with a mechanical knack has devised bag-in-box (BiB) cold-brew dispenser that considerably eases what can be time-consuming process on both the production and serving ends. Under the name 4 Jacks Nitro Cold Brew (named for Jack Russell mascot), the concept was launched by David Barbag, the auto parts guy, and Sahba Salimi, from legaltech area, with promise of offering outstanding cold-brewed coffee with 6-month shelf life in easy-to-use machines that accommodate bag change in under a minute and pour in 10 seconds. Among other features, they dispense with need for nitro tank in favor of smaller device with long life span. They're out in floorstanding kegerator unit that uses 760-oz BiB and countertop unit using 210-oz bags, filled with cold-brew produced from blend of African, Costa Rican and Colombian beans. Co says profits average $4 per serving. By now 4 Jacks is in about 300 accounts, including high-visibility ones like Citi Field, Look dine-in movie theater chain (which serves mochatinis via the gizmo) and Foxwoods casino/resort, via distributors like Sysco and UNFI.Parlor, Nguyen Throw Hats in Ring of RTDs The third-wave coffee segment seems to bring constant churn of roasters and retailers who launch RTDs into retail and those who pull back on effort in recognition of cost and complexity of undertaking. Among those throwing their hat in at Coffee Fest were Nguyen, launched by young Vietnamese entrepreneur named Sahra Nguyen who wants to bring respect to despised robusta bean, and Parlor Coffee, both Brooklyn-based. We'd earlier chronicled Nguyen move (BBI, Mar 1 and Aug 3). As for Parlor, it was launched by Portland, Ore-raised Dillon Edwards, who'd never visited NYC when he moved here at age 19 and opened Parlor a couple of years later, in 2012, with an espresso machine in back of a barber shop called Persons of Interest. By now its beans are available at prestige accounts nationally and it's been quietly diversifying, including by quietly producing cold-brew for the fast-expanding Blank Street chain over that co's 2-year history. By now Blank Street has begun its own roasting operation, so Parlor is expanding under its own name, with in-store draft offerings and now an 8-oz canned offering, said cofounder and biz development chief AJ Walzer. The draft offering is via 3-gal bag-in-box good for 12 servings, made shelf-stable via touch of potassium, and the canned offering is simple uncreamed and unsweetened offering in dark-brown package. Among the co's outside customers for the cold-brew are Google, Barclay Center and Facebook.What's Almost about Almost Tea? The Dessert Part The craze for salted-caramel cold-brew and Starbucks' Pink Drink shows that even consumers of purportedly sophisticated drinks haven't lost their yen for nostalgic indulgence. On tea side, that's premise of Almost, DTC player that assures visitors to its website that "Tea stopped being boring" via blends like Brown Butter Bourbon Blitz, Raspberry Caramel Fudge and Cinnamon Toast Munch. It was founded by Monique Zauner, NJ-based entrepreneur who operates subscription snack co called Universal Yums with her husband Eli. So this tea that's almost like dessert was logical extension, staffers said. At time show opened, co was all of 3 days old, they said. The original batch of recipes were developed in collaboration with Brownie Points Bakery in Columbus, Ohio, operated by Monique's sisters-in-law. The plan, starting in Jan, is to launch a new batch of 6 teas every month, in partnership with a different small-batch dessert maker somewhere in US. Boxes of 5 sachets of each of the 6 flavors start at $26.Bee 10 Coffee Offers Honey-Based Paste Quite a few honey-based RTDs have been seeking to mate functional or refreshing bevs with efforts to combat colony collapse disorder that's been decimating bee populations. At Coffee Fest, a pair of Florida beekeepers were seeking to extend those efforts to coffee category. Bee 10 Coffee offers a coffee paste made from 100% pure, raw natural honey and concentrated coffee, without processed sugars, preservatives or additives. Just add hot water or milk. The "10" in name refers to mission of sending 10% of net profits to bee-protection efforts.

COFFEE FEST NY: Reinvention Whirlwind Spans Formats, Equipment, Tech: Cometeer, Terra Kaffe, 4 Jacks, Parlor, Almost, Bee 10

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