Limitless

Interesting product story! http://www.chicagobusiness.com/a... Protein Bar founder Matt Matros was never a fan of coffee. Until last July, Matros, 36, refused to touch the drink for fear it would further disrupt his already troubled sleeping patterns. Then, after finishing the book "Onward" by Starbucks chairman and CEO Howard Schultz, Matros slowly introduced coffee into his diet and said he found himself sleeping better and thinking sharper. Now he's pouring a significant portion of his bank account (and proceeds from the sale of his River North condo) into Limitless High Definition Coffee & Tea, a new coffee company slated to start roasting its first beans early next month in the city's Fulton Market District. With an investment of more than $700,000, Matros and three co-founders have leased a 2,240-square-foot space at 316 N. Elizabeth St. and are turning it into a coffee lab and roaster. They're trying to carve out what they view as white space in the competitive gourmet coffee industry by positioning their specialty beans as a health product and “performance-enhancer.” Limitless will use only direct-imported, “wet-washed” beans, a process in which coffee cherries are immediately washed, rinsed and separated upon picking. It's a different approach than a natural process favored by many growers, where the fruits are picked and laid in the sun for a period as long as three months until the cherry ferments and naturally separates from the remaining coffee bean. While more than half of beans harvested for commercial coffee production globally are washed, Matros aims to set Limitless apart by selling these beans exclusively, claiming the process removes certain “toxins” from the beans, which when brewed and consumed, “give you a greater mind clarity and focus.” “We just want to sell the cleanest beans possible,” Matros says. “We want to be the opposite of the hipster coffee bars. This is performance coffee for urban professionals." The issue of bean washing and toxins is emerging as a somewhat polarizing topic in the coffee industry, particularly when it comes to claims that washed coffees are better for human health, says Willem Boot, a coffee consultant based in Mill Valley, California.