Biz Buzz: Cold brew coffee now available in Wallowa County

Published 7:00 am Monday, July 25, 2022

ENTERPRISE — A local purveyor of gourmet coffee has a new product on the market — cold brew coffee, using the same coarse-ground Costa Rican beans being sold in True Mountain Coffee.

Cold brew

Lyman Warnock, along with his wife, Mildred, and her sister, Andrea Rodriguez, have just started selling the cold brew either nitrogen-infused or not at the Wallowa County Farmers Market, the Little Store in Enterprise and The Market Place in Joseph and La Grande.

Warnock said it was Rodriguez’s plan to be in Wallowa over the weekend for the Nez Perce Tribe’s Tamkaliks celebration, too. Warnock said he has outlets outside Wallowa County, such as in Portland and Sandpoint, Idaho.

“For the summer months, it’s the biggest thing going in coffee, just because we’re a cold drink,” he said. “It beats iced coffee. The difference … is you cook (regular coffee) and use heat to extract the caffeine and other essential elements in the coffee. Heat is the catalyst. Here, it is time and water and you leach it out.”

He said in an interview Thursday, July 21, that he places a 5-pound bag of ground coffee in a vat with 3½ gallons of water and it’s left to soak for 18-24 hours. It’s then sealed in a pint canning jar where it can stay refrigerated for up to two weeks.

“We’ve been having pretty good luck and people have been liking it,” he said.

Warnock said the nitrogen-infused variety is another treat.

“It enhances the flavor and puts a head on it,” he said. “It gives a little carbonation, too.”

Versatility

Coffee connoisseurs aren’t limited to the regular cold brew. A pint jar can be diluted to make about four cups of coffee, Warnock said, and customers can drink it at their preference.

“Some people put sweeteners in it, some people put water in it, some put milk in it,” he said. “You can take this and put it in a coffee cup and put it in the microwave and have hot coffee. It’s coffee concentrate, basically. … You can do lots of different things with it. That’s what makes it so versatile and appealing.”

Young people like it, he said.

“They can drink this cold coffee instead of sodas with all the sugar,” he said.

But his fans aren’t always young. A customer who is around 80 stops by every week on her way to church.

“She was just raving about it,” he said.

It’s not cheap

Warnock said a 12-ounce bag of the roasted, unground beans sells for $15.

“It’s not cheap, but it’s not cheap coffee,” he said.

He added that by the cup, it’s comparable to Starbucks.

He said there is lots of overhead involved. In addition to buying the beans, he must pay for the vented, resealable bags and commission on sales. He also pays Scott McDonald, owner of Joseph Creek Coffee, to roast his beans for $1 a pound.

Warnock said he’s about to receive his second shipment this year of 3,000 pounds of coffee beans from Costa Rica. He said they’re harvested during our winter months and then processed before they’re finally shipped in June.

What: True Mountain Coffee

Who: Lyman and Mildred Warnock, Andrea Rodriguez

Where: various locations

Phone: 541-263-2153

Email: lyman@truemountaincoffee.com

Website: www.truemountaincoffee.com