Finlays Europe, a B2B supplier of tea, coffee, and botanicals, has revealed plans to grow the United Kingdom’s cold brew markets with its multi-million-dollar coffee extraction plant located in the north of England.
The plant is set to begin producing quality cold brew coffee for branded and own-label suppliers in the UK and European grocery and hospitality sectors in 2022.
Located next to Finlays Europe’s tea decaffeination facility in Hull, the new facility will allow Finlays to supply bulk concentrate, ready-to-drink cans, and bag in box solutions through its ambient and refrigerated supply chain networks.
The facility will produce pure cold brew from beans roasted at its nearby roastery in Pontefract, West Yorkshire. Through starting with high-quality, in-season coffee beans, the brand can create tailored blends which are optimally extracted using the unique filtered water process.
According to Finlay Europe, this will deliver consistent, bespoke solutions of premium quality in contrast to many products currently on the market which contain soluble coffee and are therefore not “pure”.
Packaging formats will be flexible to suit customer needs while also maintaining Finlays’ commitment to sustainable sourcing. These solutions are predicted to satisfy the UK and Europeans consumers growing thirst for premium, flavourful coffee.
According to Finlays Europe, the cold brew coffee market is booming with an annual sale of US $76 million achieved in 2020. The brand predicts the UK and European market will mirror the cold brew boom that occurred in the United States coffee market where its annual sales are US $1248 million and counting.
“Cold brew coffee is one of the most exciting trends in food and drink. After explosive growth in the US, we believe we are about to see the same thing happen in Europe,” says Ian Bryson, Managing Director at Finlays Europe.
“Our new extraction facility is about helping beverage brand owners across Foodservice, B2B and retail tap into the cold brew opportunity by allowing us to manufacture in a flexible range of formats and being able to develop bespoke solutions.”
Finlays Europe says its cold brew process produces a smooth, naturally sweet flavour profile that is perceived to be less acidic than coffee brewed with hot water. Coffee beans are steeped in room-temperature water for several hours to produce concentrate that can be used for a variety of food and beverage applications.
The brand states that the cold brew segment is the fastest growing in the RTD and Iced Coffee market, with the average price paid for coffee in supermarkets rising by 0.8 per cent. This is being driven by soaring demand for more premium formats and take-home sales for RTD iced coffee which have surged by 37.6 per cent, says Finlays Europe.
“Our plan in Europe is to emulate the successful model we have in the US to deliver the same premium quality, pure cold brew that has taken the North American market by storm,” says Bryson.
“Combining our rich coffee heritage with our pioneering extraction expertise, we are able to work closely with UK and European brand owners, retailers and food service outlets to provide bespoke cold brew coffee solutions.”
Finlays is part of the Swire Group that was founded in 1750. Finlays Europe encompasses Finlay beverages and is one of the regions region’s largest processors and packers of tea and coffee. Finlays Cold Brew was also founded in 1750, and has a global presence across US, Asia, and Europe, with a major coffee extraction facility in North America and one soon to be in the UK.
For more information, visit www.Finlays.net.
