Coffee wakes you up, beer puts you to sleep. Although these two drinks cause opposite reactions in the body, this did not stop the Cycladic brewery (famous for “Nisos” beer) and the largest chain of coffee shops Coffee Island from joining forces to create an iced coffee-flavoured black beer. In fact, in a chance meeting at a social event, it took the executives of the two companies less than five minutes to agree on the production of Coffee Cold Brew, Nisos’ Mr Alexandros Kouris and Mr Keith reported yesterday. Konstantinos Konstantinopoulos from Coffee Island.

Although the product is currently only available in Coffee Island stores in Greece, the goal is to make it available in the next phase through supermarket channels as well as restaurant channels. Available today, Coffee Cold Brew contains caffeine, albeit at low levels, and 5% alcohol.

However, the production of new products is by no means accidental. And that’s because, as Mr. Kouris and Mr. Konstantinopoulos pointed out yesterday, production and operating costs have risen excessively. Both have even spoken out against subsidizing electricity bills, arguing that other measures are needed that address the problem more fundamentally. “Energy costs are the bomb in production. And the manipulation at the national and pan-European level leaves us with a bitter taste,” said Mr. Al. hairdresser. He added: “The policy of benefits does not correspond to the size of the current crisis. It’s like putting on a Band-Aid. You can’t declare a green transition and not have virtual grid metering (virtual energy compensation), or it takes 6 months to connect PV.” Mr. Constantinopoulos, for his part, said: “We don’t need any support. We want abolish the coffee tax.

At the same event, Agrino’s Mr. Agis Pistiolas, President of the GREECE-OURS initiative, mentioned the cost of energy, stressing that “production is suffering the most from rising prices.”