Stomach-friendly? Deer Park operation touts low-acid coffee
The coffee wars often involve the best-tasting brand or price. Dunkin' Donuts and McDonald's continue to fight Starbucks for the top spots.
A category of coffee that we're hearing more about in the battle is "stomach friendly" coffee. Making a push in this arena is HealthWise Gourmet Coffees, a small, growing company with local operations in Deer Park.
"Our coffee has low acid. It's known as the stomach friendly market. There's no bitterness, harshness or aftertaste," said HealthWise President and COO Jim Couch of Deer Park.
Coffee is naturally acidic and nearly half of the U.S. population suffers from heartburn and other conditions that can be triggered by acidic foods and beverages, said co-owner Michael Reines of California.
HealthWise, which is beginning national distribution, says its coffees are 34 percent lower in acid than traditional coffees. In addition, because of the way HealthWise is roasted, it's also higher in minerals.
Gene Readinger of Myerstown, Penn., can tell the difference big time.
Readinger, 49, was known as a coffee drinker. For his surprise 40th birthday celebration, coffee was the theme. He received dozens of brands of beans, mugs and other related gifts.
Giving up the drink was a huge lifestyle change for him.
"For me, finding HealthWise was a blessing," he said. The avid coffee drinker was forced to give up the beverage for five years while suffering from acid reflux. "Even the decaf gave me problems. And tea just wasn't cutting it," he said.
He found HealthWise on the Internet. He now buys the coffee by the case.
A 12-ounce can sells for $9.45 at healthwisecoffee.com. The owners are attempting to get the Colorado roasted coffees onto store shelves. Couch said they're creating some private label coffees for other companies as well.
Couch, 60, has an extensive background in the food industry, serving as president of Next Day Gourmet, vice president and controller of Rykoff-Sexton and vice president of Clark Foodservice.
After retiring from those positions, he admitted he was picky about what to do next. "I wanted to use my background and get my hands around a product that would have national distributions," he said.
HealthWise's trademarked TechnoRoasting process is key in differentiating the coffee.
The process starts with 100 percent Colombian Supremo beans, Couch said. The process draws more of the coffee essence from the beans and at the same time seals in more minerals and micronutrients while retaining its taste.
There are other smaller manufactures also offering easy-on-the-stomach coffees including Puroast in California and Hevla Coffee in New York. Folgers, with its Simply Smooth product, is also going after the customer looking for mildness, Couch said.
"It's a growing category in the market," he added.
Couch said he's expanding to offer 20 coffee varieties including Swiss Water Decaffeinated, Hazelnut and French Vanilla.
"It's an extraordinary coffee," he said.