Company type | Private |
---|---|
Industry | Food and beverage industry, technology, specialty coffee |
Genre | Coffee |
Predecessor | Bevrada, Meltz |
Founded | 2015 in Massachusetts |
Founder | Matthew Roberts and Douglas Hoon |
Fate | Active |
Headquarters | Gloucester, Massachusetts |
Number of locations | 1 (2023) |
Area served | United States, lower 48 states |
Products | Flash frozen coffee capsules |
Brands | Cometeer Coffee |
Services | Coffee subscription service |
Number of employees | 160 (2022) |
Website | cometeercoffee |
Footnotes /references [1] [2] |
Cometeer Coffee is an American coffee technology and manufacturing company based in Gloucester, Massachusetts. The brand uses brewing technology and flash-freezes it using liquid nitrogen for preservation. [3]
The company's primary product is single-serve flash-frozen coffee capsules, but it also offers a subscription service that delivers frozen capsules to customers regularly.
Cometeer was co-founded in 2015 by CEO Matthew Roberts after developing the initial concept while studying abroad in Spain while attending Bentley University. [2] He developed the idea for Cometeer after struggling to make a consistent coffee profile at home. His workaround of freezing coffee in ice trays inspired him, and he began experimenting with improving this method. [1] George Howell, a specialty coffee expert, was an early collaborator for the business after Roberts proved his ability to flash-freeze and preserve the freshness of espresso shots using blocks of dry ice.
Shortly after Howell's endorsement, Douglas Hoon, the company's CTO, co-founder, and an MIT-trained engineer, partnered with Roberts and other engineers and chemists to develop precision coffee brewing systems and flash-freeze solutions. [2]
In 2019, the company launched its line of flash-frozen coffee capsules at the Specialty Coffee Association of America expo and won best new product. [4]
In 2021, the company built and scaled its manufacturing from a renovated seafood processing factory. [2]
The company is known for using its cryogenic [5] patented coffee processing methods [6] as a platform to partner with roasters considered part of the third-wave coffee movement, including Counter Culture Coffee, Intelligentsia Coffee & Tea, and Square Mile, the roasting company of James Hoffmann. [2]
In February 2024, Houseplant, a home goods and lifestyle company co-founded by Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg, partnered with Cometeer to launch a new line of coffee. The Houseplant Coffee line features two roasts, "Bean There Done That" and "Get Roasted," available through Cometeer's system. The collaboration aims to provide consumers with a convenient and high-quality coffee experience at home, drawing on the expertise of both Houseplant's design and branding focus and Cometeer's flash-freezing technology. Houseplant wants to expand into new product categories beyond cannabis-related items while highlighting the co-founders' connection to coffee culture. [7]
Cometeer derives its name from the portmanteau of the words comet and pioneer. Comets are balls of frozen liquids and gasses hurtling through space. [2]
The company has raised over $100M from investors, including founders of tech companies and institutional investors. [8]
Instant coffee is a beverage derived from brewed coffee beans that enables people to quickly prepare hot coffee by adding hot water or milk to coffee solids in powdered or crystallized form and stirring. The product was first invented in Invercargill, the largest city in Southland, New Zealand, in 1890. Instant coffee solids refers to the dehydrated and packaged solids available at retail used to make instant coffee. Instant coffee solids are commercially prepared by either freeze-drying or spray drying, after which it can be rehydrated. Instant coffee in a concentrated liquid form, as a beverage, is also manufactured.
Freezing food preserves it from the time it is prepared to the time it is eaten. Since early times, farmers, fishermen, and trappers have preserved grains and produce in unheated buildings during the winter season. Freezing food slows decomposition by turning residual moisture into ice, inhibiting the growth of most bacterial species. In the food commodity industry, there are two processes: mechanical and cryogenic. The freezing kinetics is important to preserve the food quality and texture. Quicker freezing generates smaller ice crystals and maintains cellular structure. Cryogenic freezing is the quickest freezing technology available due to the ultra low liquid nitrogen temperature −196 °C (−320 °F).
Freeze drying, also known as lyophilization or cryodesiccation, is a low temperature dehydration process that involves freezing the product and lowering pressure, thereby removing the ice by sublimation. This is in contrast to dehydration by most conventional methods that evaporate water using heat.
Clarence Birdseye was an American inventor, entrepreneur, and naturalist, considered the founder of the modern frozen food industry. He founded the frozen food company Birds Eye. Among his inventions during his career was the double belt freezer.
Peet's Coffee is a San Francisco Bay Area-based specialty coffee roaster and retailer owned by JAB Holding Company via JDE Peet's. Founded in 1966 by Alfred Peet in Berkeley, California, Peet's introduced the United States to its darker roasted Arabica coffee in blends including French roast and grades appropriate for espresso drinks. Peet's offers freshly roasted beans, brewed coffee and espresso beverages, as well as bottled cold brew. In 2007, Peet's opened the first LEED Gold Certified roastery in the United States. Peet's coffee is sold in over 14,000 grocery stores across the United States.
Rich Products Corporation is a privately held multinational food products corporation headquartered in Buffalo, New York. The company was founded in 1945 by Robert E. Rich, Sr., after his development of a non-dairy whipped topping based on soybean oil, 21 years before Cool Whip. Since then, the company has expanded its non-dairy frozen food offerings and also supplies products to retailers, bakeries, and foodservice providers.
Vietnamese iced coffee is a traditional Vietnamese coffee recipe. It is created using coffee roasted between medium and dark. The drink is made by passing hot water through the grounds into a cup that already contains condensed milk. To serve the drink cold, ice is added to the cup.
Soft serve, also known as soft ice, is a frozen dessert, similar to ice cream, but softer and less dense due to more air being introduced during freezing. Soft serve has been sold commercially since the late 1930s in the United States.
Coffee preparation is the process of turning coffee beans into liquid coffee. While the particular steps vary with the type of coffee and with the raw materials, the process includes four basic steps: raw coffee beans must be roasted, the roasted coffee beans must then be ground, and the ground coffee must then be mixed with hot or cold water for a specific time (brewed), the liquid coffee extraction must be separated from the used grounds, and finally, if desired, the extracted coffee is combined with other elements of the desired beverage, such as sweeteners, dairy products, dairy alternatives, or toppings.
A slushy is a type of beverage made of flavored ice and a drink, similar to granitas but with a more liquid composition. It is also commonly called a slush, slurpee, frozen beverage, or frozen drink. A slushie can either be carbonated or non-carbonated; the carbonated version is sometimes called a frozen carbonated drink or frozen carbonated beverage.
A single-serve coffee container is a container filled with coffee grounds, used in coffee brewing to prepare only enough coffee for a single portion. They come in various formats and materials, often either as hard and soft pods or pads made of filter paper, or hard aluminium and plastic capsules.
Cryopreservation or cryoconservation is a process where biological material - cells, tissues, or organs - are frozen to preserve the material for an extended period of time. At low temperatures any cell metabolism which might cause damage to the biological material in question is effectively stopped. Cryopreservation is an effective way to transport biological samples over long distances, store samples for prolonged periods of time, and create a bank of samples for users. Molecules, referred to as cryoprotective agents (CPAs), are added to reduce the osmotic shock and physical stresses cells undergo in the freezing process. Some cryoprotective agents used in research are inspired by plants and animals in nature that have unique cold tolerance to survive harsh winters, including: trees, wood frogs, and tardigrades.
A margarita machine, also known as a frozen drink machine is a piece of commercial foodservice equipment which dispenses a frozen margarita. A margarita mix, traditionally lime flavored, is poured into the hopper, which can be refrigerated, and may contain a spinning agitator. From the hopper, the product flows into the freezing cylinder, where it is frozen and kept at the proper viscosity to serve. The user is able to dispense margaritas from such a device for extended periods of time without losing any quality in the taste of the margaritas. A margarita machine may be purchased from a foodservice distributor and is manufactured by companies such as Spaceman USA and Taylor Company.
Coffee bean storage is a broad term describing the packaging and preservation of coffee beans throughout the process from harvesting to brewing. Although the term is applicable to many phases of this process, it is typically applied to ideal home storage for maximum consumer coffee enjoyment.
Union Hand-Roasted Coffee is a privately owned British coffee roasting business based in East London, United Kingdom. The company was founded in 2001 by Jeremy Torz and Steven Macatonia. Coffee House says the company "effectively bridges the definitions of independent and mainstream" as they work according to craft principles while still selling their products in supermarkets.
Bonaverde was a Berlin-based company known for developing a roast-grind-brew coffeemaker. Founded by Hans Stier in 2013, the company first received widespread notice for its highly successful crowdfunding. Despite significant controversy over its fund raising strategy and lack of communication with crowdfunding contributors, the product received recognition for its combination of coffee and Internet of Things technology, including a Dealerscope 2018 IMPACT Award.
Chameleon Cold-Brew is an American coffee company based in Austin, Texas. It is known for its cold brew coffee and is credited as the first fair trade and organic cold brew company in the United States. In 2014, Chameleon Cold-Brew was given the Best Coffee award by BevNET.
Sudden Coffee were an specialty instant coffee manufacturer based in San Francisco, California, USA. It was founded by Joshua Zloof and Kalle Freese in 2015. The company closed in 2020.
Flutterwave is an American fintech company that provides a payment infrastructure for global merchants and payment service providers across the continent.
Taylor Company, previously known as Taylor Freezer Corporation, is an American manufacturer of food service equipment located in Rockton, Illinois. They are known as the supplier and maker of several machines that McDonald's uses, including their grills and many of their ice cream machines. Although known for soft serve machines, the company also offers commercial grills, frozen and carbonated beverage units, frozen cocktail machines, batch freezers, smoothie equipment, and shake equipment.