Belfast businessman AP Beattie loves a good cup of quality coffee. It’s a passion he shares with many thousands here. But AP’s choice of coffee is deliciously different and is akin to a glass of traditional Irish stout!  His passion is nitro coffee, a relatively new variety that features a pitch black body with a rich creamy head.

 

And this passion has led AP (Aaron Philip) to set up Nitro Coffee in Comber and to share it with lovers of the beverage. It’s the latest addition to the bewildering menu of coffees now available here. Once coffee was simple choice between black and white. Now there’s Americano, latte, cappuccino, flat white, flat black, and a host of different flavoured drinks.

 

AP chooses nitro coffee because “it’s much more refreshing and has a richer flavour”. It’s served cold straight from the tap, just like a cold beer, and it offers that frothy and bubbly, adult-beverage feeling with the bubbly carbonation and beer-like head from the nitrogen.

 

What is nitro coffee? “It’s cold brew coffee infused with nitrogen and kegged for sale on draught in coffee shops,” he explains. This process gives it a thicker, creamier texture and chocolatey taste. The drink also has a cascading effect which is all down to the fact that nitrogen doesn’t dissolve well in water. It’s like pouring stout,” he adds.

 

An accountant by profession, AP first tasted nitro coffee on holiday to Vancouver, the Canadian west coast city that’s close to Seattle, the recognised world capital of coffee roasting and coffee retailing.

 

AP continues: “The first time I tasted nitro coffee was in 2017 during a trip to Canada with Lucia, my wife. We found the drink tremendously refreshing and loved Vancouver’s famed coffee houses established by European immigrants who settled there after the Second World War. The city boasts a host of premium coffee roasters. While cold brew coffee has been around a while, the nitrogen infusion gives it a thicker and smoother taste which sets it apart from regular coffee,” he adds.

 

Nitro Coffee, the small business AP established earlier in the year, is the result of his failure to find coffee shops here offering the taste and quality of nitro they loved in Canada. Cold brews are now appearing in international chains.

 

“I decided to look for the best quality of coffee available in Northern Ireland and approached a number of coffee roasters such as Pure Roast Coffee in Lisburn, which has won a host of UK Great Taste Awards, and Belfast Coffee Roasters specialising in small batch production. I knew from Vancouver that the very based coffee is essential for great tasting nitro and I think that this is what sets my coffee apart in what is becoming a fiercely competitive marketplace,” he continues. He is confident the outstanding taste of his coffee enables him to compete against the chains.

 

He admits that cold brewing his own coffee was “a steep learning curve for a novice”. “It involved experimentation and sampling by friends and my colleagues in the accountancy practice. I also carried out market research in local coffee houses around Belfast,” adds AP.

 

A number of coffee houses have already signed for his nitro coffee from the kegs he supplies from his Comber home.

 

Nitro coffee, he continues, also offers a number of positive advantages. “Ingredients used to enhance the texture or taste of regular coffee – such as milk or cream – are not necessary in nitro coffee. It may help, therefore, to reduce sugar consumption, because nitrogen adds a hint of sweetness, rendering additional sugar unnecessary. Adding sugar, as many people are now aware, increases the calorie count of coffee and possibly leads to weight gain. Nitro coffee is also less acidic than regular coffee.”

 

Studies show that diets high in sugar have been associated with heart disease, type 2 diabetes and cancer, he adds.

 

A developing market trend towards non-alcoholic beverages that look like conventional beers and spirits could assist the growth of AP’s novel product. “We’ve seen non-alcoholic gins that can be served in garnished cocktails for people who feel uncomfortable at social events drinking sparkling water or sugary juices.

 

“Nitro coffee looks like a glass of stout but is still cold coffee and, of course, non alcoholic,” he adds.

 

AP’s coffee has already been listed by a number of coffee houses in Belfast and beyond. While he has a strong business background in accountancy he having to develop marketing expertise to drive brand awareness and, of course, sales.

 

He’s joined leading promotion body Food NI for “the advice and support it provides and access to the biggest food and drink network here”. He also plans to create awareness by taking his nitro coffee to the public by means of a specially kitted out trailer for markets and other shows across Northern Ireland.

Copeland Distillery in Donaghadee, a Food NI member company, has introduced a new gin which features 12 carefully selected organic wild botanicals including pine needles, cubed berries, orange peel, lemon peel and some locally sourced flora from local islands including sea pink maritima.

The classic Irish gin is the latest product from the company, owned by Gareth Irvine, is launched as it opens a new visitor centre as part of a £950,000 investment. Copeland already has a successful range of fruit-infused gins.

Mr Irvine describes the new gin as “the result is a refreshingly loud yet familiar juniper taste with caramelised orange peel and sweet spice on the nose. Piney juniper follows giving an even more distinctive experience while sweet orange returns with a lingering yet subtle spice”.

Already in distribution across Northern Ireland, the new gin will make its debut in the south of Ireland and Copeland’s existing territories across Europe, Australia and further afield throughout 2019 and early 2020, joining its acclaimed flavoured version in off-sales and on-trade.

 

Copeland has also revealed a new brand identity to further cement its connection to Co. Down’s coast. It features a bespoke corked bottle with a prominent compass feature derived from an historic chart of the Copeland Islands.

 

Earlier this year, the Copeland Distillery announced it has taken the first step in its ambitious plans to add whiskey to its spirits portfolio, which will also be influenced by Donaghadee. Using the very best malt and casks and traditional and innovative cask finishes including bourbon, cognac, rum, Amontillado wine and Fino Sherry to deliver depth, character and flavour, all whiskey will be matured at the Distillery beside the coast allowing the sea breeze to seep in and deliver an authentic taste of Northern Ireland in every single sip.

 

Mr Irvine continues:: “Our long-term ambition is to create a world-class, varied portfolio of spirits that offer the consumer, at home and abroad, a taste of Northern Ireland’s craftsmanship and history. Our new brand echoes this same ambition and proudly combines our product with local heritage.

“Establishing our permanent home here in Donaghadee, with the Copeland Islands beside us, is a significant step in this journey. With a 125-year lease on the building we envisage being part of Northern Ireland’s future spirits story for quite some time.

“I’m really proud to have restored this site, a former cinema and community hall to its former glory as the hub of the town. Donaghadee – its history and connection to our brand – will be a very important part of our visitor experience. Our personal and immersive tours will share our passion for Northern Ireland with visitors and offer them the opportunity to understand more about our portfolio and our distillation process, with some tasting along the way.

“The distillery is now a permanent home for our brand and will allow us to move into new categories such as whiskey and more imminently our newest gin, our first clear, classic expression which is already in distribution locally and will soon join our other products throughout Europe and in Australia.

“Moving into our new home will also allow us to start our journey in whiskey production later this year. As an industry that is targeting global sales of 12 million cases by 2020 and with growing interest from new markets for us including Russia.

“With so much local history and heritage driving our journey, it’s very exciting to know that our new home, right on the harbour over-looking the Copeland Islands and surrounding waters, will be the starting point for every bottle of Copeland, be it whiskey or gin, as it sails its way across the world.”