“Seriously. There is no other cold brew you can get in this city and perhaps the entire state, as unique and high quality as Yellow Jacket. It is pure North Dakota. And proudly Bismarck. If cold brew is your thing, you owe it to yourself to try YJ!”
Customer Reviews
-Jeff S.
“Finally, coffee that tastes as good as it smells.”
Matt K.
“Yellow Jacket is the fuel you need to achieve optimum performance, in the office, the gym and on the field.”
The Goods
Yellow Jacket is performance enhancing coffee. This cold brew coffee is stand-alone. It is the fuel you need to achieve optimum performance. We have tweaked the variables and the process to achieve an ultra smooth coffee.
No additives, none needed!
Cold brew coffee is the caffeinated drink of our ancestors. We make Yellow Jacket Cold Brew by steeping freshly roasted & precisely ground beans, soaked in cold filtered Missouri River water in excess of 22 hours. Then, just after the magic happens, the coffee is kegged, and all oxygen is purged to keep the coffee fresh. Let us change the way you think about cold brew.
Where is the coffee from?
Responsibly Sourced Arabica coffee beans, from Central and South America. The beans are hand picked, then brought to life through a perfect roast, releasing the unique characteristics of each origin. Finally, the beans are blended to create a rich, full bodied coffee with an irresistible aroma and taste. Simply marvelous!
Get Stung!
Our Story
Matt’s Background
Born and raised in New Salem, Matt Klingenstein went off to NDSU to become a Civil Engineer. He would be a 4th generation engineer, following in the footsteps of a two Mechanicals and an Electrical. After completion he began his career in the energy industry. He is currently employed at the local utility company, overseeing the integrity of vintage pipelines.
While trying to follow the rules of a KETO diet, Matt, who was regularly working out of a F-150 pickup, found it almost impossible to keep up the production without the daily intake of caffeine. Resorting to 0 sugar diet soda, which was not really following the rules. He knew he needed to kick the habit and begin consuming coffee as his source of caffeine. That’s where the problem comes in. He hasn’t consumed coffee in 37 years. Likes the smell of it, doesn’t like the bitter taste, the burnt tongue, or the patience it takes for the coffee to cool off. He tried about every black coffee that is canned or bottled and ALL with the same terrible results.
So, Matt began researching the techniques and process of cold brewing coffee. Its supposed to be smoother, less bitter and acidic than hot coffee. He bought a 1.5-quart cold brew coffee maker, several types of coffee beans, all roasted different, from around the world and a coffee grinder; let the experiments begin! After about 300 lbs of coffee was ground up, he found a ratio of beans that worked well. “Now I know why all the commercially available cold coffee I was tasting was loaded with other things… to make it palatable”. So he continues to make this blend of coffee, when offered to friends, aunts and uncles, they all say the same thing, this reminds them of Sanka Coffee, from the 70’s.
Then after about 4 months of making the same coffee day in and day out, he began to experiment again. He bought some more coffee, about 100 lbs this time and continued to play with the recipe. “The morning I tasted No. 207 straight out of the coffee maker, I knew I had just tasted the best cold brew coffee that I had ever had.” This was ultra smooth, great smelling, not bitter, no aftertaste, not too strong. This blend would become Yellow Jacket.
The next step, is to stop making cold brew coffee on a daily basis for personal consumption. So I did what every engineer would do, scale up, I bought a 30 gallon stainless steel brew pot, several stainless filters and began experimenting. Then I got some 5 gallon kegs, to store 25 gallons of cold brew coffee and the rest is history…
Orin’s Background
Orin was 3 years into a computer science degree when COVID hit and colleges went to distance learning. Due to a whirlwind of events, Orin moved back to Bismarck, with us. Orin decided to pursue a degree locally at Bismarck State College in Engineering Technology. Today he is gainfully employed at a local engineering & surveying firm.
After seeing all of the equipment Matt had assembled to get his caffeine fix, it was obvious to Orin, that Matt needed to pursue this coffee opportunity commercially. He pushed Matt to build and obtain permits for a commercial kitchen and to test the process and product to be sure the product was safe for human consumption.
The Duo
They brainstormed how to get the product into the hands of people without a store front. They built this webpage and began taking orders online. They do things a little different, they bring the product to you. You place an order, get on the schedule and they bring it to your doorstep. Then when your growler is empty, you order a refill, we show up and fill it up. Service at your doorstep.
We still brew in small batches, today we make 50 gallon batches.
We are going to continue to research and develop great tasting, 0 calorie, 0 preservatives, b100% cold brew lack coffee and then we are going to share it with as many people as possible. Tinker, Taste & Repeat. That’s our passion.
Yellow Jacket Cold Brew is the fuel you need to achieve optimum performance, in the office, the gym and on the field.
Get Stung!
