From left: Jonathan Bonchak and Jenny Bonchak (Slingshot Coffee), Diane Aylsworth and Brent Wolczynski (Stumptown Coffee Cold Brew).
Breaking collabo news here at the 2017 SCA Symposium, where the teams at Slingshot Coffee Company and Stumptown Coffee Cold Brew have debuted a first-of-its canned collaboration. Dubbed “Long Distance Relationship”, it is comprised of equal parts Stumptown Huye Mountain cold brew and Slingshot’s cascara tea, made using dried coffee cherries from Aida Batle’s Finca Kilimanjaro in El Salvador.
Some 400 cases of this limited edition canned coffee product were brewed. Cans are available today at Stumptown cafes across the United States, as well as at Whole Foods locations in the American Southeast (courtesy of Slingshot) and New Seasons grocery stores in the American Pacific Northwest (courtesy of Stumptown).
Cans are being poured for the first time at the 2017 SCA Symposium in Seattle, which is fitting: the collaboration was born from a cold brew panel at the 2016 event in Atlanta. That’s where Slingshot founder Jenny Bonchak met Diane Aylsworth, Director of Cold Brew at Stumptown, and a mutual admiration was formed. “It was one of those things where we kind of realized, you know, we’re both doing great brewing,” Bonchak tells Sprudge, “so let’s come together and do a collaboration. Nothing like this has been done before—so we wanted to do something a little crazy and wild.”
Crazy and wild is a fair descriptor for the concept on paper, comprised of equal parts single origin cold brew and single origin cascara, but in the can the whole thing lands cool, tangy, and refreshing—evocative of spring sunshine. Big notes of fig are tempered by ringing lemon acidity, paired up with fresh pouch tobacco and a long, clean finish. A modicum of sugar is added to temper the product, which clocks in at 50 calories per can.
“We picked Huye Mountain because it’s really fruit forward,” says Brent Wolczynski, Stumptown’s Head Brewer. “We tried a few different ratios, but really it just kind of magically worked out to be one to one—equal parts cascara and cold brew. It’s kind of nice, you know?”
We do know, and can report the finished product tastes pretty nice as well. Limited edition cans launch today and are available in select grocery locations and Stumptown cafes across the United States.
Jordan Michelman is a co-founder and editor at Sprudge Media Network. Read more Jordan Michelman on Sprudge.
Photos by Zachary Carlsen for Sprudge Media Network.
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