Cold brew is coffee extracted with cold water — no heat involved and no other ingredients. Unlike iced coffee, which is hot-brewed and then chilled, cold brew steeps ground coffee in cold water over an extended period, producing a smoother, naturally sweeter concentrate. The result is a cup that's less acidic, incredibly clean, and endlessly versatile.

Great cold brew starts long before the brewery. Stumptown has spent nearly a decade building direct relationships with coffee producers in Costa Rica — paying premiums above the cost of production and committing to long-term partnerships with farms like Santa Anita, Don Mayo, and Herbazu. Every bean used in Stumptown Cold Brew is specialty-grade, scoring above 84 points, and is monitored from farm to shipment. Several partner farms have achieved carbon-neutral certification and even operate with solar energy — the first of their kind in Costa Rica.

Stumptown's cold brew operation runs seven days a week out of Portland. Green coffee — over a million pounds annually — is steeped in cold water, then carefully filtered, which is the first opportunity to taste and evaluate each batch. From there, it's rapidly chilled and kept cold through canning, bottling, and kegging — all happening simultaneously. It's a nine-person team managing up to 28,000 nitro cans per day, with every case inspected before it leaves the facility.

Nitro cold brew starts with the same cold-extracted coffee, but gets infused with liquid nitrogen during canning. Each can is filled, dosed with liquid nitrogen, capped, seamed, and inverted — which activates a widget at the bottom of the can that captures nitrogen as it shifts from liquid to gas. The result is that signature creamy texture and cascading pour you see when you crack one open. No dairy, no added ingredients — just coffee and nitrogen. Try ourStumptown Original Nitro andHair Bender Nitrooptions.

Now for the best part — find all ourCold Brew products here.

Our Head Brewer at Cold Brew, Brent Wolczynski answers your cold brew questions here.

Narrator:

Hello there. I didn't even hear you come in. I was just reading one of my favorite stories and enjoying a nice, refreshing cold brew coffee. 

What's that? You don't know what cold brew coffee is? 

Well, you're in luck, because I'm only on page one of our story. You know, a while back, an old friend of mine invited me over for some “cold brew coffee,” as he said. Well, I'll be darned if he hadn't just put a perculator right there inside his refrigerator so that it would “brew cold,” as he put it. 

Well, I looked right at him, and I said, “Ned, that's not cold brewed coffee.” And then I shared with him the same story that I'm about to share with you: the story of Stumptown Cold Brew.

Let's see here. Where were we?

It's crazy how our cold brew coffee has come in such a short amount of time. 

In 2011 we started growing our cold brew in these tiny tanks in a kitchen behind our first Cafe on Division Street, stirring the coffee with a literal canoe oar and hand-capping every single bottle. 

We've continued to improve our process, but some things have stayed the same. We are still very much a hands-on operation. We still continue to learn and evolve as we go. And we know that in order to make great cold brew, you have to start with great coffee. 

And that starts at source.

Brent Wolczynski:

My name is Brent Wolczynski. I'm the Head Brewer at Stumptown Cold Brew, and I've been working with Stumptown for seven years now. 

Seeing these farms kind of reinvigorates why I want to make good coffee.

Seeing all the work that goes into it firsthand makes me want to work just as hard as everyone here, and care so much, and have as much passion as these people.  

We can't make a good cup of cold brew without their coffee being super high quality. And I don't know… You know that, and you think that, and then you come here and like, fully realize it, and that's a pretty cool thing.

For cold brew, we have learned that we need consistency in the product. To have consistency in the product, we need density in the bean. And for density in the bean, we need top agronomical practices. 

Francisco Mena:

My name is Francisco Mena. I'm a proud Costa Rican and I work in the coffee industry. Stumptown has very historical roots with Costa Rica and the coffee producers in Costa Rica. For almost 10 years now, Stumptown has been buying Costa Rican coffee and developing long-term commitments, long-term relationships. And those relationships have been very solid, very consistent, and overall, Stumptown has assured that they are paying and recognizing the producer a premium over the cost of production.

For the cold brew program, there's no better relationship established than that of Stumptown with an estate like Santa. More than the farm, this is a garden. It's a beautiful, big estate garden where everything is meticulously cared, from the milling to the production to the fertilization to the nutrition given to the farm. It's like a high-grown coffee between 1200 and 1400 meters and then impeccably processed in their own micro mill. And besides that, recently it has has been recognized as the first solar panel project in coffee in Costa Rica. They use solar panels for electricity, and also it has been certified as carbon neutral. The first carbon-neutral coffee mill and farm in Costa Rica, and in the world, I believe. 

We can really testify that the beans used for cold brew that come from Costa Rica are totally specialty preparation. Totally specialty cup. Meaning above 84 points, which is very high and very clean and sweet cup. We monitor every single shipment. We monitor every single cup that goes from these preparations to the cold brew program in Stumptown.

Brent Wolczynski:

Cold brew coffee, simply put, is coffee extracted with cold water, and the possibilities from there are pretty endless. Just like when you're brewing a hot cup of coffee at home, you have a ton of variables to play with: time, grind size, pressure— but it has to start with the mixing of coffee and water, and the goal has to be a great cup of coffee. Once the coffee is brewed with water, we filter it. This is where we have our first chance to taste and evaluate the coffee, ensuring that the quality meets our standards. From there, the coffee is rapidly chilled and kept cold for the remainder of its life. Not only are we brewing and filtering coffee seven days a week, but also canning, bottling and kegging it simultaneously. We buy over a million pounds of green coffee a year just for cold brew, and produce up to 28,000 nitro cans per day. It's a rigorous and non-stop operation that requires a ton of attention to detail, but it's also super fun to watch. Today, we're canning our Nitro Hair Bender. We start by filling the can with cold brew and dosing it with liquid nitrogen. It's then capped, seamed and inverted. This makes the widget at the bottom of the can available to capture the nitrogen that is changing phase from liquid to gas, which gives it that creamy quality and cascading effect. 

Everyone here plays a key role in the production of cold brew. We all love coffee, but Stumptown has always been made up of people who have passion for things outside of work as well. Knowing that we are all working hard to put out a great product brings us together, and it's hard to believe there’re only nine of us. Every case of cold brew that leaves this brewery is something we're proud of. 

Being that very last step in the process is a huge responsibility, but we feel it's a privilege, because it's entirely in our hands to deliver that final bottle, can, or cup of coffee. That's something we don't take lightly.

Narrator:

And that is the story of Stumptown cold brew. The end. Well, I've certainly enjoyed our time together. I want to thank you and hope that you learned something as well. If you ever want to hear this story again, swing on by. You know where to find me.

Thank you to the beautiful coffee farms and micromills of Costa Rica: 

Exclusive Coffees

Santa Anita

Torres Family

Don Mayo

Helsar de Zarcero

Los Angeles

Sumava de Lourdes

Herbazu