Black Rifle Coffee Company’s Ready to Drink cans — like this Espresso With Cream — have landed at West Coast retailers for enthusiasts to enjoy. Photo courtesy of Black Rifle Coffee Company.
As someone who considers himself a bit of a coffee nerd, I often find myself stopping by the coffee sections of my local supermarket or gas station to see what’s on the shelves. This includes strolling down the aisles, searching for a new ready-to-drink (RTD) beverage that I may not have sampled yet.
Because of their convenience, it’s no surprise that the ready-to-drink options drive much of the coffee industry’s growth. A 2020 study uncovered more than 150 new RTD coffee offerings in 2019, and that count had been increasing by 14% yearly. Those included 89 cold-brew beverages and 30 iced-coffee options.
While many Southern California natives will say the West Coast is clearly the best coast, when it came to the availability of certain specialty coffees, such as Black Rifle Coffee Company’s Ready to Drink canned espresso beverages, we were a bit behind the power curve.
A phased, nationwide retail rollout of the drinks began back in April 2020, but unless you were ordering a case online or through the coffee subscription, good luck trying to get your hands on a can here in California.
Last month, as I was enjoying my usual routine of browsing the coffee section of my local convenience store, I glanced past the familiar brands I preferred to avoid and stopped dead in my tracks.
There it was, in all its glory — a single RTD can of BRCC Espresso With Cream at my local Circle K. At first, I thought someone might have been playing a joke by planting it in the refrigerator aisle. But this 11-ounce can was resonating with an alluring “America’s coffee” vibe and holding its own in a sea of formidable iced-coffee offerings.
When I asked the manager about the new drink in the coffee lineup, he replied, “Oh yeah, I’m surprised there is even one left up there. I reserved two refrigerator slots when we first started selling them, and both those slots sell out by the end of the day.”
After purchasing that last can of BRCC RTD from the clerk, I jumped into my vehicle to perform recon on a few convenience stores in the surrounding area. There were about nine different stores within a 10-mile radius of my location. I spent the next hour and a half visiting these locations to confirm that BRCC had officially landed on the West Coast.
Fast-forward to one month later, and the RTD offerings from Black Rifle Coffee Company are now available in numerous locations nationwide, including in gas stations, mom and pop corner stores, and even my local liquor store here in San Diego.
Editor’s note: It’s no secret that Coffee or Die Magazine is part of Black Rifle Coffee Company. Every once in a while we’ll feature a BRCC product — now is one of those times. This stuff is just too cool to not write about!
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Kelly Getzelman is a former staff writer for Coffee or Die Magazine. A retired Navy SEAL chief petty officer, Getzelman has nearly two decades of special operations experience and is always ready to ship out on his next epic coffee adventure.
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