Drop These Frozen Coffee Pods in Water and You’re Done
My morning coffee-making routine has consisted of Dunkin’ Donuts coffee beans and an electric or stove-top percolator for nearly a decade. Then, approximately nine months ago — perhaps because I follow numerous chefs such as David Chang and Gabe Kennedy — I began receiving Instagram advertisements from a company called Cometeer. The product resembled single-serve coffee pods remarkably. I thought, Huh, but I wasn’t prepared to alter my routine.
A few months later, when a publicist sent them to me, I decided to give them a try. Here is how it operates: The coffee in the capsules is extracted from beans sourced from some of the nation’s finest roasters, including Counter Culture in North Carolina, George Howell in Massachusetts, and Go Get ‘Em Tiger in California. They are brewed ten times stronger than regular coffee and flash-frozen in liquid nitrogen to preserve flavor. When the pods arrived, I removed one of the seals to expose a small, solid puck. I poured it into a mug, added eight ounces of hot water, stirred it, and proceeded to sip a beverage as full-bodied, well-balanced, and smooth as any I’ve had in a reputable establishment.
Because the recyclable pods ship frozen and are intended to be stored that way until use, they are ideal for camping and making iced coffee, which I did throughout the entire summer (just let the pods melt before mixing with water). I still buy full bags of beans for most mornings, but I’ve made it a point to always have Cometeer on hand for when I run out of my regular supply or when I’m too lazy to brew another full pot of coffee in the afternoon. The writer Hua Hsu recently mentioned them as something he can’t live without, and they won’t exactly replace my well-established routine, but they are a welcome addition nonetheless.
