You know your coffee is going to be outstanding when it smells fantastic frozen.
If you doubt your freezer can provide a barista-quality brew, then let me introduce you to my latest North Shore find: Cometeer coffee capsules. I was delighted to discover these capsules can go from frozen to a delicious steaming mug in minutes without the time and expense of scales, pour overs, grinders, and other fancy equipment.
“It started as a simple iced coffee hack—batch brewing, flash-freezing into cubes, then melting for an instant cup,” says Cometeer cofounder and executive chairman Matt Roberts, who started the company in 2014. “But when I began working with George Howell, we discovered something bigger: flash-freezing freshly brewed coffee seconds after grinding and roasting actually preserves flavor and aroma better than any other format, even whole beans. Once we realized that, we focused entirely on becoming the best brewers on the planet, bringing in engineers and chemists from MIT and Northeastern to help us get there,” continues Roberts.
Cometeer opened its custom-built, 70,000-square-foot factory in 2021. As an Ipswich native, Roberts looked right in his own backyard for the Gloucester manufacturing facility, which once housed a food processing plant. “Gloucester is ‘Freeze Town USA.’ It is New England’s hub for flash-freezing seafood to lock in freshness and home to the planet’s first-ever flash-freeze plant,” relays the entrepreneur.
The production process begins with stringent sourcing standards. Cometeer works with 13 roasters across the planet, six of which have a roasting or barista champ on staff. A proprietary brewing process extracts the coffee at 10-times strength, the capsules are immediately sealed, and liquid nitrogen freezes them to -321 degrees F. The different varieties include light, medium, dark, and decaf.
These frozen capsules are good for 36 months, and liquid capsules stay fresh for up to 24 hours at room temperature or for three days in the refrigerator.
Prioritizing sustainability, Cometeer utilizes the world’s first fully curbside-recyclable aluminum capsule. It composts the grounds at its factory and gives empty capsules a rinse and recycle convenience. All its packaging and shipping materials are 100 percent recyclable.
Now, on to the best part, sampling the coffee: I set out to try all the suggested uses. I quickly ran an aluminum pod under warm water, lifted the foil seal, emptied the semi-frozen capsule in my mug, poured in hot water from my kettle (6–8 ounces are recommended), and my coffee was ready. Next, I used melted pods (defrosted in the refrigerator overnight or on the counter for an hour) to make iced coffee (by adding cold water and ice) and an approximation of espresso (by adding hot water) for lattes and, my favorite, affogato.
Cometeer coffee has uses in cooking and baking, too. The most creative use Roberts has sampled so far was an employee’s coffee BBQ sauce for chicken wings. “He served the wings to David Chang when he visited our plant, and the Michelin Star chef approved,” he says.
Continues the coffee innovator: “I started off as a sweet and creamy iced coffee drinker. Frankly, I didn’t think coffee tasted good for years; it was just a bitter, ashy, caffeinated base. Now, I predominantly drink coffee hot and black. The good stuff is naturally sweet with a ton of nuance. It’s a lot healthier this way too,” he adds.
Cometeer ships its capsules on dry ice either as a one-time order or subscription service. Over 450 grocery stores, including Whole Foods, carry the product in their freezer sections. Roberts is expanding the brand’s footprint in grocery stores nationwide and Cometeer currently has 13 sampling kiosks in shopping centers across the country. My next step is an espresso martini—just defrost and shake.