Cold-Brewed Black Coffees: Quality in a Can?

A ready-to-drink bottled black coffee tested over ice. Richly sweet with an umami undercurrent. Baker's chocolate, ripe tomato, vanilla, tangerine zest, lavender. Vivacious, sweet-tart structure with a compelling umami anchor. Crisp, full mouthfeel. Notes of ripe tomato, baker's chocolate and lavender carry the long, layered finish. Adding whole milk mediates the umami impression, while amplifying the chocolate and spicy floral notes.

A ready-to-drink bottled black coffee tested over ice. High-toned and sweetly bright. Notes of grapefruit zest, cocoa, almond, a hint of sweet flowers. Roundly sweet-tart and lively in structure; satiny in mouthfeel. Balanced and very clean in the finish. Adding whole milk develops a crisp chocolate and nut without completely sacrificing the citrus and flowers.

A ready-to-drink bottled black coffee tested over ice. Lively, gently bright and refreshing. Notes of cocoa, roasted cashew, orange zest, green apple, narcissus-like flowers. Crisply and sweetly tart in structure; the body is light but plush. Cocoa and citrus consolidate in a clean, sweet finish. Adding whole milk turns the chocolate caramelly and nut-toned, with a continued floral shimmer.

A ready-to-drink bottled black coffee tested over ice. Briskly vivacious and intricate. Complex berry notes (blueberry, strawberry), almond, sandalwood, lilac-like flowers. Sweetly bright in structure; full and lightly syrupy in mouthfeel. Flavor persists without loss of distinction with added whole milk. A nitro (nitrogenated) version of this blend displayed a livelier mouthfeel though somewhat less clearly articulated flavor.

A ready-to-drink bottled black coffee tested over ice. High-toned, cleanly fruit-forward, chocolaty. Apricot, dark chocolate, pink peppercorn, almond brittle, tamarind. Bittersweet in structure with a crisp, lively acidity; lightly syrupy mouthfeel. The richly sweet finish consolidates to dark chocolate and almond, with a hint of tamarind. Adding whole milk softens and harmonizes chocolate, nut and fruit.

A ready-to-drink bottled black coffee tested over ice. Full, intriguingly fermenty. Dark chocolate, tangerine zest, Concord grape, fresh vanilla, a hint of tequila barrel. Pungent, richly sweet-tart in structure with a sweet-salty edge; impressively full and smooth/syrupy in mouthfeel. The finish is woody but fragrant with tequila-barrel pungency. Adding whole milk develops the salty-edged chocolate, nicely complicated by a fine floral vanilla nuance.

A ready-to-drink bottled black coffee tested over ice. Sweetly crisp, lightly and refreshingly roast-toned. Notes of cocoa, sweet lemon zest, clover flowers, raisin, oak. Crisp balance of bitter, sweet and tart in structure; lightly satiny in mouthfeel. Citrus, raisin and oak carry into the bittersweet finish. Adding whole milk pushes the cocoa toward full-on chocolate, with continued citrus and oak.

A ready-to-drink bottled black coffee tested over ice. Deeply and richly sweet, with umami undertones. Notes of toffee, magnolia, scorched mesquite, almond, teriyaki sauce. Sweet-savory structure with round, gentle acidity; crisp, satiny mouthfeel. The finish is centered around toffee notes supported by hints of magnolia and scorched mesquite. Whole milk quiets the floral notes, but elevates both toffee and almond.

A ready-to-drink bottled black coffee tested over ice. Crisp, citrusy. Pink grapefruit, black currant, cocoa powder, cedar, almond. Roundly sweet-tart structure; taut, satiny mouthfeel. The crisp, citrus-toned finish leads with notes of grapefruit in the short, followed by almond and cocoa. Whole milk rounds the citrus notes and foregrounds the cocoa.

A ready-to-drink bottled black coffee tested over ice. Crisp, rich, caramel-toned. Caramel, lemon zest, date, hazelnut, oak. Balanced structure with briskly sweet acidity; feathery-smooth mouthfeel. The finish is deeply sweet, richly caramelly, with hints of lemon zest and hazelnut. The addition of whole milk elevates caramel, already front and center, to dessert-like dominance.

A ready-to-drink bottled black coffee tested over ice. Brisk, bittersweet, lively. Apricot, roasted cacao nib, walnut, blood orange zest, a hint of tea rose. Tart-sweet in structure with a bracing bitter edge; satiny in mouthfeel. Flavor consolidates around hints of apricot and walnut in a drying finish. Stands up to added whole milk with very little change in its defiantly brisk character and zesty array of flavor notes.