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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
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.”
COFFEE MAKERS
Photo by J.T. Blatty
courtesy The New Orleans Advocate