I don’t have any analysis to back this but I feel like there has been an explosion of cool food start-ups in the Boston area in the past few years. Maybe one of you who analyzes these things could confirm. Are we at a golden age for food innovation in Boston?

We’ve been talking to one of these start-ups, Elemental Beverages. They are working on a style of iced coffee they call “snap chill” coffee. We *really* like it brewed this way. We’ve had trouble with the long-term testing (it’s canned). But they’ve been working on the process and we’re liking the latest results. They’re local and other local companies we love are using them (including Little Wolf and George Howell).

The iced coffee we like best at Clover is sometimes called “Japanese style iced coffee.” You brew a strong hot coffee onto ice to cool it as quickly as possible. This is what we do in our restaurants. The result is a very fresh coffee that expresses the flavors and smells of a nicely brewed hot coffee but on ice. This snap chill method is an even better (and more complicated) version of that.

We’re going to test these cans at some of our restaurants. If you see one grab it and give us some feedback. If you’re all liking them as much as we do we’ll stock our fridges daily with these cans. Just please make sure you recycle the aluminum!