Just a few decades ago, American coffee was pretty much only ever served one way: drip brewed and hot, in a mug. If you really wanted to get wild, you could add cream and sugar. The possibilities were...limited.
The next coffee revolution: concentrate
The arrival of the modern coffeehouse expanded those options enormously. Today, there are infinite ways to drink coffee, from a standard cup of joe to a frothy cappuccino to an iced oat-milk latte and on and on.
But the wide range of styles has traditionally required specialty equipment – such as espresso machines or cold-brew setups – that are simply too expensive or too low quality for making a good cup in a home kitchen.
That’s where concentrates come in.
What is coffee concentrate?
Concentrated coffee is basically super-strong coffee, so strong that you have to dilute it.
It costs much less per cup than a drink from a coffeehouse, and it is very versatile. You can use it for hot or iced drinks, black or with milk, or even as a cooking ingredient or drizzled over ice cream.
While some liquid coffee concentrates require pasteurization and preservatives, Jot Ultra Coffee is made with just coffee and water and can stay fresh for weeks thanks to a unique brew method.
What’s the difference between coffee concentrate and espresso?
While espresso is certainly more concentrated than drip coffee, usually about 4x as strong, it’s still different from a “coffee concentrate.”
Liquid coffee concentrate is actually a relatively new form of coffee, one that is much more potent than what gets produced by traditional brew methods like pour-over, French press, cold brew process, or espresso.
For example, here’s the caffeine breakdown for our Jot Ultra Coffee vs. other forms of coffee:
- Jot Ultra Coffee (liquid coffee concentrate): 150 mg of caffeine per tablespoon (undiluted)
- Hot brewed coffee (drip, Chemex or pour-over, French press, Aeropress, etc.): 7–8 mg per tablespoon
- Cold brew coffee: 8–11 mg per tablespoon
- Espresso: 30 mg per tablespoon
The real difference is that other forms of coffee are meant to be consumed at the concentration at which they're brewed, whereas coffee concentrate gets diluted in water or milk. Once diluted, the caffeine in a drink made from coffee concentrate is roughly comparable to traditional forms of coffee.
Why use coffee concentrate?
The great thing about coffee concentrate is that it lets you make a great cup of coffee – however you want it – in seconds.
If you’re the type of person who wants a hot black coffee first thing in the morning and then a milky iced latte after lunch, you can use liquid concentrate for that. If you’re an E.R. nurse working a night shift and want to have great coffee handy all the time without waiting for a full pot to brew, try liquid concentrate.
But is coffee concentrate good?
There are a few types of concentrates out there, all produced using different methods and beans, which affects the overall quality, concentration, and flavor. But the very best liquid coffee concentrates use high-quality organic coffee beans and brew methods that highlight the nuance and character of the coffee.
As Forbes describes them: “[Concentrates] tend to be sweeter and while often served cold, most coffee concentrates can be made into a hot beverage or used as an ingredient in desserts.”
For Jot Ultra Coffee, we source only the finest organic coffee and our unique brew method allows for a 20x concentration without compromising flavor. It highlights all of the rich aromatics and subtle undertones of the finest barista coffee in the world.
Benefits of Liquid Coffee Concentrate:- Versatility
- Long-lasting freshness
- Flavor
- Convenience
- Value
How is coffee concentrate made?
There are a few different ways of making coffee concentrate. The most common form is the cold brew method, which involves slow steeping ground coffee in cold or room temperature water for hours.
Cold brew concentrate tends to be sweeter than hot brew, with lower acidity. However, even when making cold brew coffee concentrate at home, it is usually only 2–3x more potent than drip coffee.
Because of this, cold brew is not very versatile. It’s primarily just for iced coffee and can’t easily be used to replace espresso in drinks like hot lattes, breves, and cappuccinos.
Because of its relatively low concentration, cold brew or iced coffee concentrate also doesn’t last quite as long as a concentrate using a more potent brew method.
Jot tastes like concentrated perfection because it literally is concentrated perfection.
For Jot Ultra Coffee we use a unique “progressive enrichment” process that creates such a strong concentration that harmful bacteria simply can’t grow in it.
Our exact process is a closely guarded secret, but we can say that we only use two ingredients in our concentrate: coffee and water. No additives, no synthetic chemicals, no processing or pasteurization, or preservatives...no funny business. Just pure coffee.
Because of our unique method, Ultra Coffee lasts much longer than cold brew concentrate. It’s also more versatile since it can be used to make espresso or drip coffee drinks, hot or iced.
How do you use coffee concentrate?
The really great thing about concentrate is that when you dilute it, it easily transforms into any style of drink quickly, simply, and with no mess, extra machinery, equipment, or expertise.
Here are a few basic recipes for transforming concentrate into traditional coffee drinks:
Black Coffee (hot or iced)
1 tbsp ultra coffee concentrate
8 oz water (hot or cold)
Ice (optional – to sweeten, use agave or simple syrup, or dissolve sugar in Jot and milk before adding ice)
Espresso
1 tbsp ultra coffee concentrate
3 oz hot water
Latte (hot or iced)
1 tbsp ultra coffee concentrate
8 oz milk (hot or cold; dairy or non-dairy)
Ice (optional – to sweeten, use agave or simple syrup, or dissolve sugar in Jot and milk before adding ice)
What is the best coffee concentrate?
In our humble opinion, Jot Ultra Coffee concentrate is the best organic liquid coffee concentrate. We source only fine organic beans from some of the world’s top growers. Our unique “progressive enrichment” extraction process highlights the full flavor profile, and the liquid form lets you make any kind of drink, hot or iced, in seconds.
(And what makes it even more convenient is that Jot Ultra Coffee is also available for subscription risk-free. You can have the coffee of your dreams delivered right to your front door as often as you like.)
