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I’ve been told for most of my life that the first thing I should do after waking up is drink a glass of water. Yet, even after 27 years, I almost always head straight to my beloved coffee before anything else. Throughout my years of prioritizing coffee over hydration, I’ve noticed three things about home-brewed coffee: cheap grinds produce underwhelming flavor, the perfect brew is either time-consuming or expensive, and the necessary gadgets take up too much counter space. With my busy schedule, I had resigned to drinking a weak drip coffee, a lackluster pod, or just driving to a coffee shop to waste my time and money — until I was introduced to Cometeer: insanely delicious coffee made incredibly convenient.
Bean There, Done That
When I think of Cometeer, I like to imagine a coffee snob stopping at every hole-in-the-wall shop in hopes of finding the best brew in town, only to realize it was in his freezer the whole time. Yes, the freezer of all places.
While I haven’t tried every spot in town, I have tried just about every coffee nerdity: sourcing local roasters, grinding my own beans, and going through the motions of making my own pour-overs. But, at the end of the day, I am not a coffee nerd (nor do I have time to be), so this routine didn’t last long. Thankfully the Cometeer team assumes the role so I don’t have to.
After learning about self-proclaimed coffee nerds and seeing Cometeer all over social media, I knew I had to try it, but honestly, my expectations were medium at best. Frozen coffee sounds…cold and tasteless. To my surprise, It was actually the best “Cuppa Joe” I’d had at home in a long time (probably ever), and it was piping hot.
Melting Is the New Making
It’s important to note that I don’t discriminate towards coffee — I drink it black, with milk, hot, iced, blended, and even at room temperature if I happen to forget about a fresh cup (which is pretty common for me). With Cometeer, I can have it any way I like.
I had the option of choosing from light, medium, or dark roast, decaffeinated, half-caffeinated or some mix of the five. Since I like my coffee in a number of ways, I opted for a Mixed Box ($64) on my first order. My box arrived with 32 pucks; 16 light roast, 8 medium roast, and 8 dark roast. I decided to go for a classic hot coffee for my first cup and selected Chelbesa by gget (Go Get ‘Em Tiger): a light, single-origin roast with notes of strawberry, kumquat, and chamomile.
To get the best results, Cometeer recommends running hot water over the frozen aluminum capsule to loosen the frozen puck before dropping it into a mug or glass of hot water (there’s also the option of fully defrosting). So, as I warmed a kettle to the perfect 185℉, I prepped by melting the chosen capsule and frothing some milk. Then it was time for the first sip.
My “medium at best” expectations were blown away. The flavors are bold and the aromatics stronger than if I had brewed it from scratch myself. You know the scene from Ratatouille when Remy is experiencing an explosion of flavors? That was me as I enjoyed my at-home coffee from a totally new lens.
How The Puck Is Cometeer So Good?
In my simplest explanation, Cometeer has reverse-engineered traditional coffee.
First and foremost, the brand scours the globe for the best coffee on the planet. As TechCrunch put it, “the magic starts with the beans.” Once the independent roasters from the finest coffee farms have been secured, Cometeer uses a proprietary extraction process that “allows flavor and aroma compounds to be extracted with unprecedented precision.” In other words, the team spent years developing a brewing system that uses science to get the perfect cup of coffee every time. Immediately after the brewing process, Cometeer freezes the concentrate’s peak flavor and aromas into a small puck at -321℉ using liquid nitrogen. This process allows the coffee to stay fresh for more than 14 months without any preservatives. Then, when an order is placed, the pods are shipped with dry ice and delivered right to my freezer door — ready to simplify and elevate my morning routine.
Cometeer uses a proprietary extraction process that “allows flavor and aroma compounds to be extracted with unprecedented precision.” In other words, the team spent years developing a brewing system that uses science to get the perfect cup of coffee every time.
This process is not the only thing that sets the brand apart, Cometeer has also developed the first fully recyclable capsules. The coffee pods are made from recyclable aluminum and the frozen pucks themselves do not contain any grinds. Even the grinds left from the extraction process are sent from their facility to a local composting company! Additionally, the packaging and insulation used for shipping are all recyclable, so I can feel good about the mark my coffee habits are leaving on the planet.
A New Day On Earth For Coffee
When it comes to satisfying my coffee-snob-taste at home, simplicity, bold flavors, and affordability are finally achievable. Coming in at $2 per cup, I can enjoy the best coffee I’ve ever had in under five minutes — all without leaving the comfort of my own home. I’d say that my only “complaint” is the space taken up in my already-too-small freezer, but I’ll gladly take a little less space in the freezer over having my counters cluttered with coffee machines.
Since my first cup, I’ve experimented more with Cometeer. Some evenings I pop a pod of dark roast coffee into the fridge so that I can wake up to an iced latte (yes, even in the winter!). I’ve also been inspired by Cometeer’s website to try topping a scoop of vanilla ice cream with the concentrate (note: it did not disappoint) and look forward to trying a homemade espresso martini in the near future. No matter how I consume Cometeer, it truly never misses.
Five More Things to Love About Cometeer:
- The coffee capsules are TSA-Approved and travel-friendly! Gone are the days of bitter airplane coffee. Next time, bring your favorite Cometeer pod and ask the flight attendant for some hot water.
- Cometeer is working with renowned coffee roasters from across the country like Counter Culture, George Howell, Bird Rock, Equator, Birch, Joe Coffee, Red Bay, Go Get Em Tiger, and Klatch to pioneer a new sort of coffee culture.
- The brand has already earned thousands of 5-star reviews and raving fans on all edges of the internet. You can check out its “Wall of Love” here.
- No kettle? No problem! Cometeer Capsules can be used in any k-cup compatible machines.
- The community is brewing! Create an account and recruit new members of the Cometeer cult-following by gifting $25 off their first box — you’ll get $25 too.