One of our main goals at Ruby is to make amazing quality coffee approachable and accessible. Our journey towards this goal starts with sourcing high quality green coffees that have great balance and sweetness as the primary flavor characteristics. We then roast those coffees to a degree that allows them to brew easily for most people. In order to create single cup options, we then set to work to figure out easier ways to enjoy our coffees without an expensive brewing setup.
Ruby has two different single cup versions of Creamery available: Instant Creamery, and Steeped Creamery. While both are individually packaged coffee options designed for ease of use, there are some specific differences between the two that might help you figure out which option best fits your needs.
Instant Creamery is produced by our friends at Swift Cup, who specialize in helping roasters from around the country create an instant version of their coffees. We send Swift Cup our Creamery Seasonal Blend, and once it arrives, Swift Cup brews it with their proprietary brewing system, and then dehydrates that finished brewed coffee into powder to create Instant Creamery.
The biggest advantage to Instant Creamery is that the coffee has already been brewed: when you add water to Instant Creamery powder, you’re just rehydrating the coffee that’s already been extracted. That means that Instant Creamery can brew wherever, and however you want it to: with hot water, cold water, or even dissolving it directly into milk for a more latte-like coffee experience. The individual packets are also made from the same environmentally friendly material as our coffee bags, and have a very small amount of packaging making it perfect for backpacking trips, long bike rides, or anywhere else where you might not have access to boiling water and need to pack out your waste.
Steeped Creamery is produced for us by the people at Steeped Coffee. It’s a process in which we send them Creamery Seasonal Blend, and then they use a proprietary grinding system to grind the coffee, pack it into the single use filter bags, and seal them in a single-serve packet that’s flushed with nitrogen gas for freshness. Steeped is a new brewing process that works similar to how a tea bag would work. Place the filter bag into a cup, add boiling water, let sit for 5-10 minutes, and then enjoy!
The biggest advantage of Steeped Creamery is that, because you’re brewing ground coffee, the resulting cup is closer to a standard cup of brewed coffee in its flavor profile. It’s also a brewing method that’s entirely encapsulated in the pre-packed filter bag: it’s a great replacement for K-cup style single-serve brewers for people who might have difficulty brewing coffee regularly, and it’s also easy to take on the go for everyday errands, or to leave at an office desk. The packaging and filter bag are all compostable, as well, which is a huge plus for single cup brewing.
The best scenario for both Instant Creamery and Steeped Creamery is a long camping trip. For the mornings when you wake up and look to make breakfast at your campsite, Steeped Creamery might be the perfect companion. All it takes is a boiling kettle of water, which means you can skip packing the collapsable pour-over. If, on the same camping trip, you wanted to take a long hike and enjoy a cup of coffee on a summit, then Instant Creamery is your best bet. You can boil water, pour it into a thermos, and take it with you in a backpack until you reach your destination. Even though the water in that Thermos will stay hot, it’s likely not hot enough to brew Steeped Creamery. It is, however, still the perfect temperature to quickly dissolve Instant Creamery into and enjoy a coffee break at the top of the mountain.
The other great thing about Steeped coffee is that we also have a secondary blend option: Organic Steeped August. Organic Steeped August is a certified organic blend designed to be light bodied and brighter, with light fruit flavors. It’s a great alternative to Creamery’s milk chocolate and cherry focused flavor profile, and is about to launch it’s debut as an organic single-cup blend.
If you have any questions about our single-cup options, please feel free to reach out to us at ruby@rubycoffeeroasters.com, and we’d love to help you find the single-cup option that best fits your needs!