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COFFEE MAKERS

Family Business Today, the family brews and distributes the all-natural, liquid coffee concentrate from a warehouse in the Mid-City neighborhood of New Orleans. Phil has since passed away, but Jeff and Greg are at the helm, with the third generation — Jeff ’s son Dylan — now on the team. More entrepreneurs have entered the iced- coffee-at-home craze. Rouses also stocks its shelves with N.O. Brew, which markets its product line with the slogan “ Big. Easy. Iced Coffee .” N.O. Brew also sells fresh handcrafted ground coffee. And over 35 years ago, coffee pioneer Phyllis Jordan, founder of PJ’s Coffee, the local coffeehouse institution, developed and perfected the cold-drip process that helped make PJ’s an original New Orleans icon. I had my first iced coffee at the original PJ’s on Maple Street in the mid-1980s. I was hooked from my first sip. Today, PJ’s markets cold-brew “bean bags,” pouches of ground coffee beans that allow consumers the ability to craft their own iced coffee concentrate. For the McCrorys, the fun is in continuing their father’s legacy, experimenting with different flavors and coming up with new ideas. “It was fun to be in the business when the cold-brew movement began and then took off, especially over the last five years. And there is the constant pursuit to find the next big thing , the next crazy idea,” said McCrory. A New Idea For Jeff McCrory, the next crazy idea can be found on a stick. Literally. Called Café Bar, the new product sees him joining forces with Adrian Simpson, owner of New Orleans Ice Cream Co., which makes ice cream flavors inspired by the food-crazed culture and local tastes of New Orleans. The ice cream company has its roots in New Orleans Coffee Company. Simpson

Photo by J.T. Blatty​ courtesy The New Orleans Advocate

is a British native who attended LSU as an exchange student, and who years later returned to New Orleans to work in marketing for the McCrorys, specifically on the CoolBrew brand. Today, two coffee flavors Simpson has created — Coffee & Chicory and Café au Lait & Beignets — feature CoolBrew. “I met Jeff and his family during my time at LSU and watched the McCrorys turn their business into a very successful operation, and I wanted to do the same,” said Simpson. Simpson’s professional expertise is in marketing. But what he lacks in formal culinary training, he makes up for in passion, ingenuity and vision. He began New Orleans Ice Cream Co. in 2006. “My goal is to make the best ice cream anyone has ever tasted,” said Simpson. Like McCrory, Simpson is always on a quest for the next crazy idea, which led to the two longtime friends’ collaboration, Café Bar. “Cold-brew coffee is such an ‘in’ thing, so why not combine it with premium, all- natural ice cream and put it on a stick?”

said Simpson. Simply described, Café Bar is basically a coffee shell with ice cream in the middle. “It’s like having a coffeehouse in your freezer — all good stuff — and made with fair trade sugar. Any time of day, you can reach into your freezer and find six different varieties. Plus, it’s got enough caffeine to wake up a small donkey and only 150 calories!” Simpson exclaimed.

“There is no heat used in a cold-brew process, so most of the acids normally found in hot brewed coffee remain in the grounds, producing a rich, smooth and less bitter coffee.”

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