Behind the Scenes

At Complex Beverage Co., we believe great coffee should be complex in flavor but simple in purpose. When people ask how we transform specialty beans into the refreshing drinks in our colorful cans, the answer lies in our commitment to doing things the right way—even when that means taking the harder path.

Our Sourcing Philosophy: Coffee with a Face, Place, and Name

I’m a coffee nerd, and in my world, there’s something that separates truly great coffee from the rest: if your coffee doesn’t have a place, a face, and a name, it’s likely extractive, commodity-grade coffee. That’s why every bean we use comes with a story.

Take our Colombian coffee, sourced directly from Bayron Arcila Lopez’s farm El Vergel in Sonsón. Bayron isn’t just a supplier—he’s a partner who shares our vision for exceptional coffee. His farm sits at 1,880 meters above sea level, where he grows Colombia and Castillo varieties with meticulous care. Bayron is also a youth leader in his community, inspiring the next generation of coffee farmers to embrace education, innovation, and sustainable practices.

For our Coffee Squeezy line, we work with Ethiopian farmers who grow beans with naturally bright, fruity characteristics that complement citrus flavors perfectly. These direct trade relationships aren’t just good for our conscience—they’re essential for quality. When farmers receive fair compensation and have long-term partnerships, they can invest in practices that produce exceptional coffee.

The Science Behind Our “Hot Brewed, Flash Chilled” Method

Here’s where the magic happens, and it’s not complicated—just complex in the best way.

While many ready-to-drink coffee companies use cold brew methods, we’ve chosen a different path. Our signature approach is “hot brewed, flash chilled,” and there’s real science behind why this matters.

Hot Brewing vs. Cold Brewing: The Chemistry

When we hot brew our coffee, we’re extracting compounds that cold brewing simply can’t access. Hot water (194°F to 205°F) quickly extracts the organic acids that give coffee its bright, complex flavors—those fruity notes in our Ethiopian beans that make the citrus pairing so natural. Hot brewing also captures more aromatic compounds, resulting in a fuller, more nuanced flavor profile.

Cold brewing, while smooth and mellow, extracts fewer of these bright acids and aromatic compounds. The result is often one-dimensional compared to the complexity we achieve with hot brewing.

The Flash Chill Advantage

Here’s our secret: we brew a concentrated coffee using hot water, then immediately flash chill it over ice. This process locks in all the complex flavors and aromatics from hot brewing while giving us the refreshing, cold beverage our customers want. Think of it as capturing lightning in a bottle—we get the best of both brewing worlds.

The flash chill process also helps preserve the coffee’s natural sweetness, which is why our drinks taste “shockingly good” without artificial flavors or excessive sugar.

Small-Batch Roasting: Where Craft Meets Scale

I roast all our coffee beans myself in small batches at home in Wisconsin. Yes, you read that right—I’m literally in my basement for hours, carefully monitoring each batch to ensure every bean reaches its peak potential.

Small-batch roasting (typically less than 100 pounds per batch) gives us control that large-scale operations simply can’t match. I can adjust temperature and timing in real time, responding to how each specific batch of beans is developing. It’s both an art and a science—I rely on the color, smell, and sound of the beans to determine the perfect moment to stop the roast.

This hands-on approach means I can highlight the natural characteristics of each origin. The Ethiopian beans get a roast profile that emphasizes their bright, fruity notes, while our Colombian beans are roasted to bring out their caramel sweetness and chocolate undertones.

Is it more work? Absolutely. But when customers tell me our coffee is unlike anything they’ve tasted before, I know those hours in the basement are worth it.

Our Honest Take on Packaging and Sustainability

Let’s talk about something most brands gloss over: our current packaging isn’t perfect, and we’re honest about that.

Right now, our cans use adhesive labels, which means they’re not fully recyclable. The aluminum can itself is infinitely recyclable—one of the most sustainable packaging materials available—but those adhesive labels create complications in the recycling process.

Here’s our commitment: once we hit our sales threshold, we’re transitioning to digitally printed cans that are fully recyclable. This isn’t just marketing speak—it’s a real plan with real timelines. We’re balancing the realities of starting a small business with our values around environmental responsibility.

Why choose cans at all? Aluminum offers superior protection against light and oxygen, which preserves our coffee’s flavor far better than plastic bottles. Plus, aluminum cans use 95% less energy to recycle compared to producing new aluminum, and they can be recycled infinitely without quality loss.

Quality Control: Where “Complex, Not Complicated” Lives

Our quality control process is straightforward but rigorous. Every batch of coffee gets cupped and tasted before it goes into production. We maintain detailed records of each roast profile, brewing parameters, and final product characteristics.

The beauty of our small scale is that I personally taste every product that leaves our facility. If it doesn’t meet my standards as a coffee nerd, it doesn’t get our label. This isn’t feasible for massive operations, but it’s exactly why our customers consistently describe our products as exceptional.

Looking Forward: Scaling Without Losing Our Soul

As we grow, the challenge is maintaining these quality standards and ethical practices at larger volumes. We’re already working on solutions: partnering with like-minded roasters for overflow capacity, expanding our direct trade relationships, and preparing for that transition to fully recyclable packaging.

The goal isn’t to become the biggest coffee company—it’s to prove that you can scale a business while maintaining uncompromising quality and ethical standards. Every can that bears the Complex Beverage Co. name represents this commitment.

When you crack open one of our cans, you’re not just getting a convenient caffeine fix. You’re getting coffee that started with a farmer who cares, was roasted by someone who obsesses over quality, and was crafted using methods that preserve every complex note we worked so hard to develop.

That’s how we keep coffee complex, not complicated.

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Want to learn more about our sourcing practices or have questions about our process? Reach out to us or follow us on social media for behind-the-scenes looks at our roasting process.

How a moment of curiosity led to the most unexpected coffee combination you’ll actually love

The “Shockingly Good” Discovery

I’ll be honest with you—when I first told people I was making coffee with lemon, the reactions were… let’s call them skeptical. Coffee and citrus? It sounds like something that shouldn’t work, maybe even something that sounds a little gross. But here’s the thing: at least once a day, someone tries our Lemon Coffee Squeezy and tells me it’s “shockingly good.” Literally, I hear those exact words almost daily.

That feedback never gets old, because it captures exactly what I felt the first time I combined Ethiopian coffee with real lemon. Sometimes the best innovations happen when you’re willing to reimagine what something can be, even when—especially when—it challenges what people expect.

From Coffee Nerd to Flavor Revolutionary

I’ve always been what you might call a coffee nerd. I know the farms where my beans come from, I can tell you about processing methods, and I genuinely get excited talking about flavor profiles. But being a coffee nerd also means recognizing when there’s an opportunity to create something genuinely new while respecting the incredible complexity that coffee naturally offers.

The idea for Coffee Squeezy started with a simple question: what if we could capture all the intricate flavors of specialty coffee but present them in a way that was completely fresh and unexpected? Not just different for the sake of being different, but better—more refreshing, more versatile, more fun.

The Art of Hot Brewing, Flash Chilled

Here’s where the coffee science gets exciting. Our secret isn’t just in the combination of coffee and citrus—it’s in how we brew the coffee itself. We use what I call a “hot brewed, flash chilled” method, and this technique is absolutely crucial to why Coffee Squeezy tastes the way it does.

Most ready-to-drink coffees use cold brewing methods, which can create smooth drinks but often miss the complex flavor notes that make specialty coffee special. When you hot brew coffee—the way it’s meant to be brewed—you extract all those nuanced flavors, the brightness, the subtle notes that took years of cultivation and careful processing to develop.

But here’s the innovation: instead of letting that hot-brewed coffee sit and gradually cool (which can muddy those beautiful flavors), we flash chill it immediately. This locks in all the complexity and vibrancy of a perfectly brewed cup while creating the refreshing, ready-to-drink experience you want in a can.

Real Ingredients, Real Flavor

When I say we use real lemon and real grapefruit, I mean it. No artificial flavors, no shortcuts. We source our coffee from specific farms—like our Ethiopian beans from incredible growers who put as much care into their craft as we do into ours. The citrus isn’t an afterthought or a flavoring added to mask inferior coffee; it’s a thoughtful complement to beans that are already exceptional on their own.

This matters because coffee is complex, and flavors are complex. When you start with real, high-quality ingredients, they work together in ways that artificial alternatives simply can’t replicate. The bright acidity of our Ethiopian coffee naturally harmonizes with citrus in a way that creates something greater than the sum of its parts.

Innovation That Honors Tradition

Some people might think that adding citrus to coffee is breaking with tradition, but I see it differently. Coffee has always been about bringing people together, about creating moments of enjoyment and connection. The best coffee traditions aren’t about rigid rules—they’re about crafting experiences that bring out the best in the beans and the best in the moment.

We’re not trying to replace your morning ritual or tell you how to drink coffee. We’re offering something for those times when you want coffee energy and citrus vibes, when you want something you can “sip slowly or crush instantly”—we won’t judge either way.

Every can of Coffee Squeezy starts with the same respect for quality and craft that goes into any exceptional coffee. We work directly with farmers, we roast our beans with care, and we approach each step of the process with the kind of attention that coffee deserves. The innovation comes in being willing to ask “what if?” and then having the commitment to do it right.

The Complex, Not Complicated Philosophy

Coffee is inherently complex—from the soil and climate where it grows, to the processing methods, to the hundreds of compounds that create its flavors. But experiencing great coffee shouldn’t be complicated. It shouldn’t require a degree in coffee science or a judgmental attitude about what “real” coffee drinkers do.

Coffee Squeezy embodies our philosophy: complex flavors, simple joy. We handle the complexity so you can focus on the experience. Whether you’re at a music festival, on a hiking trail, or just want something refreshing with your afternoon energy boost, we’ve created something that delivers both the sophistication of specialty coffee and the pure enjoyment of something completely new.

What’s Next?

The response to Coffee Squeezy has been incredible, and it’s taught me something important: people are ready for coffee to be more than it’s always been. They want quality, they want innovation, and they want experiences that surprise them in the best possible way.

We’re starting with lemon and grapefruit because they perfectly capture what we’re trying to do—familiar enough to be approachable, unexpected enough to be exciting. But this is just the beginning. When you’re willing to reimagine what coffee can be, the possibilities are endless.

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Try Coffee Squeezy for yourself and join the growing community of people discovering that coffee and citrus aren’t just compatible—they’re a revelation. Available now at select locations and coming soon to our online store.