Good Vodka is making premium vodka from coffee fruit (which would probably be discarded)
A New York start-up Good Liquorworks is using the by-products of coffee fruit to make Good Vodka. This waste product would normally be discarded or turned into fertiliser, but they’re making good use of it.
[Sassy_Social_Share]Who thought of making coffee into vodka?
The co-founders Tristan Willey and Mark Byrne met about a decade ago. They were working together at the time in a Brooklyn distillery.
The idea came about when Tristan was travelling in Guatemala to learn about how coffee is harvested and processed. He saw a mountain of discarded coffee fruit which was decaying in the corner of a farm. Meanwhile, he learned that most of it would be washed downhill into the river, or trucked out into landfill. Mark said that “For a former distiller, a sugar source is all you need to make alcohol, so to see this massive pile of sugar just going to waste is kind of a shame. [Tristan] figured it could be interesting to see what it tasted like if fermented and distilled. That was the start. From there, we spent years building out a supply chain to move the discarded fruit and harness its sugar.”
After six years of R&D, they finally had a premium vodka. They say it has a rounder mouthfeel and more full-bodied flavour as a result than vodka made from potatoes or grain.
Mark continues: “If you pay attention, you’ll find notes of vanilla and a hint of black pepper, as well. Everyone who tries it is pleasantly surprised, I think in part because it can be surprising to find out that vodka doesn’t have to taste like industrial corn or potato ethanol.”
The quality of the coffee has no impact on the quality of the vodka
Interesting enough they discovered that the quality of the coffee as a beverage had no impact on the quality of the coffee fruit vodka. Great news for producers who would like to get additional revenue from their harvests!
“Ripeness would have an impact on yields, but we didn’t experiment much with ripeness as a variable because we don’t want to create an economy where coffee fruit is picked specifically for the purpose of making alcohol. The intent here is to use it as a byproduct, which is to say, as it already exists within the coffee bean supply chain. That said, we use very good, hand-picked coffee fruit, because that is what’s grown by the farms we work with.”
The packaging is a work of art
The bottle was designed by Stranger & Stranger, and they’re legends in the wine and spirit branding world. Their intention was to put the brand’s values right up front. The did this by using a minimalistic aesthetic and a custom typeface to frame its purpose statement. Each bottle, for example, is labelled up with the vodka’s harvest season, country and region of origin on a simple band around the neck. Finally, a natural wood cork tops it off. Meanwhile the brand’s slogan “Never Waste Good Vodka” is embossed on the heel.
About CoffeeCode
This article was written by Gregg Romano who is the founder of CoffeeCode, the UK’s fastest growing and most exciting coffee blog. CoffeeCode has a focus on great coffee, inspirational design and sustainability.
Credits:
All credit to, and information from:
We always do our best to attribute photos, videos and quotes and information to their original sources. Please contact us if an attribution or content is missing or incorrect.
I think the admin of this web site is in fact working hard
for his web site, for the reason that here every material
is quality based stuff.