Dunkin’ Donuts brought its cold brew coffee to hundreds of thousands of stores in New York and Los Angeles on Monday after previously testing the product in a few New England markets, according to the website of the Boston Globe newspaper.
“We need to keep up with trends,” Dunkin’ Donuts Sr. Vice President Chris Fuqua told the newspaper.
“Cold brew is one of those trends that doesn’t appear to be going away,” he said.
In fact, cold brewing seems to be the next big thing in coffee, as sales of the cold-brewed drink have more than tripled in the past five years, the newspaper said.
Dunkin’ Donuts plans to offer the brew in all of its 8,000 U.S. locations this summer.
Starbucks has more than 12,000 stores in the U.S. and Canada.
Cold-brewing involves steeping coffee grounds in cold water for hours without applying heat, as is done in traditional coffee brewing.
Coffee experts say slower brewing results in more flavor and less acid flowing from the beans.
Fuqua said the process gave “a uniquely distinctive flavor” to Dunkin’ Donuts’ coffee.
“We’re the leader of iced coffee around the world. . . we sell more inced coffee than anybody,” he said.
Last month, Starbucks announced the launch of nitro cold brew, a nitrogen-infused cold coffee that comes already-chilled from the tap, at 500 stores nationwide.
Starbucks claims its nitro cold brew is steeped for 20 hours.
Starbucks Nitro Cold Brew – it's like the lovechild between cold brew coffee and draft beer June 23, 2016
Trying @Starbucks nitro cold brew in Big Pink, one of 25 stores around the country to have the taps pic.twitter.com/HiZWWAeZtX
— Real Estate Portland (@CREportland) June 17, 2016
