Coldpress 2024: Find Out Why Cold-Pressed Juices Are Better
We go behind the scenes with Andrew Gibb, founder and managing director of Coldpress, who reveals exactly why his nutrient-rich HPP juices are better than anything else out there right now
What exactly is HPP?
There are two ways to kill bacteria; by using heat, or by using pressure. The technology of cold-pressure HPP (High-Pressure Processing) uses extremely high pressure, instead of heat, to extend the shelf life of the product, while retaining all the vitamins, nutrients, taste, and smell. The only downside is that it involves a batch process, and is therefore quite costly.
Why the hexagonal-shaped bottle?
An HPP vessel is long and round, and the two most efficient shapes for maximizing space in a circular area are the hexagon and triangle. We went with the hexagon. The more bottles that can fit into the HPP vessel at one time the lower the cost.
Tell us more about your ingredients
The closer the manufacturer is to the ingredients, the cheaper and better the product. We manufacture our juices in Catalonia, Spain, the reason being it’s right in the middle of the “fruit bowl”. Apples and oranges are the main components of our juices. Our apples are sourced locally and our oranges come from Valencia.
We try to minimize the food miles as much as possible because the quicker the fruit is pressed and HPP’d, the fresher and more nutritional the juice will be. We strive for low mileage and freshness, which is why we do everything in Spain.
How do you determine a winning recipe when creating a new blend?
It’s so hit and miss. What’s really interesting is when you launch a new product, you can usually tell within a couple of days whether it will be successful or not. In addition to tasting great, other contributing factors to the success of a new product are the packaging, labeling, and messaging.
Less is definitely more – our best-selling product is the Single Orchard Pink Lady apple juice! We also like to put a modern spin on classic recipes.
What is the shelf-life of your products?
It can be up to 120 days – much longer than if traditional pasteurization had been used. Although cold-pressure HPP is more expensive to produce, the end result is much fresher and more nutritious with a longer shelf-life.
When were you inspired to launch Coldpress?
I started making juices in Australia, back in 2006, at a company called Preshafruit. We were one of the very first in the world to make juices using HPP, and in 2009 were voted Best New Beverage Concept at the Food & Beverage Innovation Awards. No one was doing HPP in Europe, so I came to the UK and the rest is history.
Where can we purchase Coldpress products?
We’re stocked in UK stores such as Waitrose, Co-op, Lidl, and Ocado, and we’ve just launched an online shop where consumers can buy our entire range in various formats. We’re also available in Spain, Malta, and Greece.
What’s next for Coldpress?
We aim to sell a lot of juice and want to be price-competitive with those brands that use traditional pasteurized technology. Our mission is to democratize HPP juice to make the taste and nutritional benefits available to as many people as possible. We’re competing with Tropicana and other big brands of this kind. This is our chosen path, albeit a challenging one!
