For most Americans, coffee in a can is the realm of the Starbucks Doubleshot popped open on a road trip, filled with lots of sugar, milk, energy supplements and plenty of other additives. But specialty roasters and restaurant groups in Chicago are increasingly entering the fray. They largely brew their coffee black, listing coffee and water as the sole ingredients.
Cans are a portable way to highlight the quality of their product and get it into the hands of more customers. The Tribune Dining Team tested six local specialty canned coffee offerings to see how they stacked up against each other. We selected a range of options: a national brand that launched a can rebrand in Chicago (La Colombe’s cold brew coffee), a national brand with roots and a roastery in Chicago (Intelligentsia’s cold coffee), an expanding local brand (Dark Matter’s cold coffee in Chocolate City and Vanilla Suburbs nitro), a newer local player from a hospitality group (Beatrix Cold Brew, which debuted a can line December 2023) and an artisanal small batch variant (Kyoto Black cold brew, with beans from local roasterie Metropolis).
Beatrix and La Colombe make traditional cold brew, while Intelligentsia and Dark Matter make “cold coffee,” brewed hot and immediately chilled down. Kyoto Black, as its name suggests, specializes in Kyoto-style, which is a specialty drip cold-brew technique. Each results in a different flavor profile.
A nitro cold brew from Dark Matter was also included — panelists no.