Colucci said the company does not have information regarding national expansion but that consumers "have been responding really well" to the product in the five cities.
Both the black and vanilla drinks use cold-pressed medium-roasted Colombian and Brazilian coffee beans, according to La Colombe.
"La Colombe has done a spectacular job creating a strong following of coffee lovers," Colucci wrote in an email to Business Insider. "They are leaders in the category due to their relentless focus on quality sourcing, roasting, and product innovation. These factors, combined with our years of expertise creating new beverages that drinkers love, made us the perfect pair to bring this product to life."
La Colombe presents the beverages as an alternative to other popular brunch drinks, using cheeky statements on its site like "screw screwdrivers" and "move over mimosas."
The first few sips are deceptively non-alcoholic tasting. As we continued sipping, a couple of testers noted that it essentially tasted like "watery cold brew" with a hint of alcohol. One strong dissenter said the "aftertaste is like chemicals."
Overall though, the group seemed generally ambivalent — borderline content — by the black coffee. One colleague called it "perfectly mediocre," as she reached for more.
Regular flavored coffee drinks already have a tendency to be fairly hit-or-miss, and the alcoholic variety proved no exception. "Vanilla is definitively worse," one of my colleagues said. Another scrunched up his face and yelped "Terrible!" upon taking a sip.
One tester seemed to enjoy it, saying it reminded her of Kahlua. However, we were surprised to see the actual drink itself was not creamy or milky, it was simply vanilla-flavored coffee.
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