Dave Dussault loves coffee iced, but not watered-down. He also doesn't like cold brew, which he says eliminates complex flavors.
So a few years ago, the thermal engineer and MIT grad committed himself to making his coffee better. He launched his Watertown, Massachusetts, company, Snapchill, in 2019 after three months of trial and error to find the best of both hot and cold brew.
The technology entails brewing the coffee hot, then dropping the temperature in a matter of seconds from more than 200 degrees to just above freezing. It's done using what Dussault said is essentially the same technology used in a refrigerator.
"I just engineered it to have a lot of surface area for the heat transfer so it can all happen fast," Dussault said.
After four years, Snapchill still isn't a household name among coffee drinkers. That’s because it's sold under the brand names of Boston-area roasters like George Howell Coffee, Fazenda Coffee Roasters and Broadsheet Coffee Roasters. The Snapchill name is a footnote compared to the 300 roasters it works with.
But that could soon change. The company reached a breakthrough this year with a deal with Walmart to use its technology for an exclusive brand called "In a Snap!" soon to be sold in 2,200 Walmart stores.
Until Snapchill opened a new production facility in Wisconsin recently, it would never have been able to handle Walmart’s needs, however.
“When we got this first Walmart order, we had I think seven weeks to produce 100,000 cans,” said Kyle Bosshardt, Snapchill’s senior sales and operations manager. “Prior to that we were producing 100,000 cans a month, never mind one order.”
The new facility, in Green Bay, gives Snapchill the capacity to produce 25 million cans a year — far more than the company needs right now, Bosshardt said. The company now has the potential to double its capacity with just a few months’ notice to buy the necessary equipment.
“This is an absolute game-changer,” he said. “We no longer have any worries about capacity.”
A combo of hot and cold
For shoppers coming across Snapchill for the first time, a little bit of an explanation may be needed.
It’s served cold, but it isn’t cold brew, which is steeped for hours like tea, during which time, Bosshardt said, it's venting gas that brings oxygen in. That takes away what Bosshardt, calls high-tone flavor compounds, like notes of fruit drinkers can sometimes detect.
“What you end up with is a very monotone flavor, still absolutely delicious,” he said. “Cold brew is wildly popular, but it lacks a lot of the nuance of hot coffee because of the oxidation.”
Of the hundreds of flavor compounds, from 70% to 80% of those are eliminated in the cold-brewing process, Bosshardt said.
Similarly, Snapchill isn't brewed hot and then watered down — a do-it-yourself trick known to many who brew at home.
"The coffee tastes freshly brewed, and you know it when you try it,” said Dussault. “If you have a coffee that’s fresh versus sitting for an hour, that’s the difference.”
Dussault says that soon, Snapchill may be able to sell directly to consumers, like Keurig machines that became ubiquitous in many kitchens.
“Since 2019 I've been saying ‘Maybe next year,’” Dussault said of his plans to create a direct-to-consumer brand. “So now I'm going to say probably next year.”
Of his foundational technology, he says it goes back to his science-based background.
“The one that survives that process is just so obvious and so simple. And you say, 'How did I think of that?'” he said. “I've spent three months thinking about this. It's so obvious now, and you look it up and think ‘Wow, this must be patented,’ and it wasn't. Those are the best ideas — the simple ones.”
