Sveen said he never planned on opening a shop; the decision came out of demand for storage of the Uel Zing cold brew bottles.
“I needed a storage place, and if I had storage, I wanted an office, and if I had an office, I might as well be selling coffee,” Sveen said.
The IU and Bloomington communities may have spotted Uel Zing ?coffee carts around Kirkwood Avenue or the bottled cold brews in Bloomingfoods and Chocolate Moose over the last few years. The company has “progressed from a yellow coffee cart to bottled cold brew to a brick-and-mortar coffee lab,” according to the Uel Zing website.
Sveen learned how to cold brew coffee at Gimme Coffee in Ithaca, N.Y., after graduating from Cornell University.
He brought the process of cold brewing with him to Bloomington.
“Cold brew, you use cold water instead of hot water and way more coffee — like five times the normal ratio of coffee. And then steep it for 24 hours in, basically, a giant tea bag,” Sveen said.
The cold brew process, which is slowly making its way to the Midwest from New York and San Francisco, makes the coffee smoother and less acidic than regular brew, ?Sveen said.
Uel Zing is not the first Bloomington coffee spot to serve cold brew. Soma Coffee House also brews and sells cold brewed coffee. David Fenner, a Soma employee, said the East shop brews kegs of the coffee.
“My big thing when I have a cold coffee ... I feel like the flavors are a lot more present. They are easy to identify almost, just because there’s enough to cover your tongue at one time, whereas a hot coffee, it’s a little bit harder to get that. I think it’s a lot fruitier, more of the sweet flavor,” Fenner said.
Aside from being more flavorful, Fenner said he felt cold brew was more concentrated with caffeine.
“I know that whenever I drink cold brew, I have to drink a small amount otherwise I’m jacked up. It hits me very intensely,” ?Fenner said.
The Uel Zing shop sells other beverages such as Quilter’s Comfort tea, sodas, pour-overs and rotating specialty coffee. Customers can also find local granola and chocolate ?at the shop.
Sveen said he hoped to team up with other Bloomington companies and food carts, such as the Tamale Cart, which made an appearance on opening day.
With the shop open, Sveen said he wants to expand his circulation and get his bottled cold brews into co-op stores like Whole Foods and Lucky’s.
“Distribution is the next thing,” Sveen said.
With future distribution plans in the works, coffee lovers can enjoy the Uel Zing brew in-store from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. Mondays through Fridays and from ?6 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturdays.
