Cafe Agave Spiked Cold Brew – Caffe Mocha.

As far as trends go, ready-to-drink alcoholic beverages and cold-brew coffee have both been chewing up convenience store shelves as of late. Naturally, a handful of keen entrepreneurs have tried their hand at combining these two incredibly in-demand drinks.

We spotted a box of Cafe Agave Spiked Cold Brew on the shelf and were intrigued. Its packaging claimed 12.5% alcohol by volume, real cold brew coffee, agave nectar sweetener, and natural caffeine. A fascinating combo indeed.

We’ve already seen a handful of coffee-based ready-to-drink alcoholic beverages (what a mouthful) hit the market. In fact, Fire Dept. Coffee has an entire line of these drinks, including a Nitro Vanilla Bean Bourbon Coffee and a Nitro Irish Coffee. Beloved green liqueur maker Jägermeister even has a Jägermeister Cold Brew you can find on liquor store shelves.

But Cafe Agave immediately stood out. Tequila and straight coffee aren’t typically the friendliest of flavors. What’s more, Cafe Agave’s flagship product is a “Caffe Mocha” – promising an added twist of chocolate to a drink already chock full of promises.

Here’s what we thought.

The Drink

Out of the can, Cafe Agave Spiked Cold Brew looks just like any of the dozens of pre-mixed coffee drinks that brands like Starbucks have popularized over the past few years. It smells like one too, perhaps with an added indiscernible funk halfway between licorice and stevia sweetener.

But the taste is all over the place.

You’ll first be met with the flavor of a Vanilla Frappuccino mixed with alcohol. Not tequila exactly. Something a little sharper.

It was at this point that we realized that Cafe Agave, despite its name, doesn’t actually mention tequila anywhere on its packaging. A quick look at their website revealed that the drink is somewhat bizarrely made with wine. Hmm.

Putting this possibly unintentional deception aside, the rest of the drink doesn’t fair so well either.

Really, the damning ingredient comes in the addition of agave nectar sweetener.

In the absence of any real chocolate flavor you’ll find the sticky sweet presence of agave syrup, much appreciated in cocktails and liqueurs, but definitely not here. It coats the mouth and lingers until the finish, a finish defined by the surprisingly sharp aftertaste of white wine.

If the combination of cold brew, dairy, wine and agave sweetener sounds good to you, then by all means give this a shot. It looks like Cafe Agave also makes Vanilla Cinnamon, Espresso Shot and Salted Caramel flavors.

For us though, this just wasn’t it.

It’s without a doubt not a good way to start your mornings, and we can only imagine what would happen if you drank one before a night out and went on to mix it with any number of other alcohols.

Maybe stick with Vodka Red Bull for now.

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