Sonoma County’s Avid Coffee introduces new instant coffee product for on-the-go java drinkers

Rob Daly of Avid Coffee has one simple message for all the coffee lovers out there who literally have bitter memories of instant coffee: Forget your parents’ brown, watery Sanka or the unwelcome grittiness of Hill Bros.

Instead, erase those bad memories from the 1980s with Avid’s new line of instant coffee, he said.

“Is it going to taste like cardboard? Usually, it doesn’t taste like coffee,” Daly said of most instant coffee products.

Avid is now offering a new take on its artisan product that it sells at its three Sonoma County locations, in Petaluma, Santa Rosa and Sebastopol. It quietly introduced the instant coffee product during the summer and is now making a big push to market it as the holiday season ramps up.

“These are nice, cool coffees with a good finish to it,” said Daly, who took over ownership of the local chain two years ago and changed its name from Acre Coffee to Avid Coffee last year.

Avid has introduced two versions of its instant coffee — a dark roast version and a light roast package. The ground beans have been placed into a large tea bag.

The packages are available at Avid locations and Oliver’s Market stores, selling for $10.50 for a package of five bags. They’re part of Daly’s efforts to expand the retail presence along with the coffee beans it also sells.

“Expanding the brand where we can, I think is smart to do,” said Daly, who previously worked for Starbucks as well as Taylor Lane Organic Coffee.

The inspiration for the product came during the pandemic, and Daly worked with Steeped Coffee in Scotts Valley, which processes the beans that Avid has roasted and then packages them for the retail shelf.

Daly and his staff performed taste tests against the coffee made on-site by his baristas to ensure that the quality for the instant coffee could match up.

“I’m not going to crush what we already built,” Daly said. “It wouldn’t make any sense to put something out there that I didn’t think would achieve what we wanted.”

The grounds and tea bags are compostable, which he predicts will be another big selling point for consumers. The box also is recyclable. “It breaks up and I put it right in my garden,” he said.

In contrast, the instant coffee product from Starbucks has been packaged in foil stick-packs that are designed to be dumped into the cup before adding hot water.

The Avid product is designed for those who crave simplicity but don’t want to lower their standards, Daly said, such as travelers who do not care for the coffee packets left inside their hotel rooms or a worker who doesn’t want to leave the office for a coffee break.

“You can heat the water in the microwave,” he said. “You don't need a fancy piece of equipment.”

The company recommends that the bags be left in 8 ounces of hot water for five minutes. Those who want a more robust cup of joe can leave the bag in the cup for longer.

Daly is bullish on introducing new versions in the future, such as finding a way to incorporate a dairy ingredient into the bags. Avid also sells a lot of lattes, and Daly said he believes that would be a natural next step, as well as such seasonal beverages as pumpkin-flavored drinks.

“We’re not going to do just any run-of-the-mill (drink),” Daly said. “We’re going to find a quality product and we’re going to present that.”