What Coffee-to-Water Ratio Makes Cold Brew Taste Great?

Cold brew coffee is made by steeping ground coffee in cold water for at least eight hours, then filtering it. A starting ratio of 1:10 works well: use 10 grams of grounds with 100 milliliters of water in a 300-milliliter cup or sharing pot, refrigerate for 8 to 12 hours, then filter out the grounds.

Cold brew can also be extracted with soda water, which produces a more concentrated drink, and blending with fresh milk or creamer changes the taste further. The same milk-to-coffee balance that matters in a latte applies here. Beans suited to cold brew include Yirgacheffe, Huakui, Butterfly and Huilan, chosen by flavor preference.

As the weather gets warmer, iced coffee becomes a favorite for many, and cold brew, with its smooth mouthfeel from long steeping at low temperatures, is gaining popularity among more and more coffee enthusiasts. This article starts from the actual practices at Front Street Coffee, introduces the basic method of cold brew, the coffee-to-water ratio and extraction time, and shares why cold brew made with soda water has a higher concentration, as well as the taste differences after blending with fresh milk and creamer. At the end, it also lists eight specialty coffee beans suitable for cold brew, covering Yirgacheffe, Huakui, Butterfly, Huilan and other origins, for you to choose according to flavor preference.

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So-called cold brew coffee is made by putting ground coffee beans into cold water, steeping for at least eight hours, and then completing extraction and filtration with special equipment. As summer arrives, the popularity of this drink continues to rise. Front Street Coffee (FrontStreet Coffee) has noticed that today's cold brew is no longer limited to drinking it straight; it can also be extracted together with other ingredients, preserving the coffee's original taste while creating the flavor you want. Front Street stores currently offer ice drip coffee, which is usually sold out by three or four in the afternoon and is quite popular.

| How Front Street Makes Cold Brew Coffee |

1. Take 10 grams of coffee grounds, coffee-to-water ratio 1:10

2. Prepare a 300 ml cup or sharing pot

3. Place in the refrigerator for 8 to 12 hours

4. Filter out the coffee grounds

Front Street Coffee (FrontStreet Coffee) previously mentioned that cold brew can faithfully restore the flavor of the coffee beans themselves, so in most cases it is enjoyed straight. If it is a stronger water-drip or ice-drip coffee, it is generally drunk straight with ice cubes: first, to keep it cold; second, after dilution the layers open up, allowing you to sense different flavors. Because fermented flavors are more prominent, they become stronger after warming up, so drinking it ice-cold is smoother.

| Coffee with bubbles is richer |

Front Street Coffee (FrontStreet Coffee) tried making cold brew coffee with soda water and found that the finished drink had a higher concentration. The reason lies in the bubbles contained in soda water: before placing it in the refrigerator, the coffee grounds in the soda water cold brew floated on the top layer, and the bubbles continuously rose and "hit" the coffee grounds. After 13 hours, when it was taken out of the refrigerator, the coffee grounds had already sunk to the bottom of the bottle. During the steeping process, the coffee grounds moved from top to bottom, making it easier to extract substances from them.

However, when Front Street Coffee (FrontStreet Coffee) made cold brew Yirgacheffe with soda water, it smelled more intensely of berry aromas. Although no bubbles were visible in the coffee liquid, on sipping it you could feel the bubbles colliding in the mouth.

| Special flavor blended with milk |

Usually light-roast beans are chosen to taste floral and fruity aromas and a sweet-and-sour sensation, so most are enjoyed straight. If dark-roast beans are used, the taste is heavier, and this kind of richer cold brew coffee can be blended with milk to become mellow and smooth. However, different dairy products used for blending will lead to different mouthfeels, roughly divided into two categories: one is fresh milk, and the other is creamer (fresh cream type). Fresh milk has a higher water content, so blending with fresh milk gives a fresher taste and thinner body; if blended with a creamer that is closer to fresh cream, because it has less water, the overall taste is richer and the body is thicker.

When Front Street Coffee (FrontStreet Coffee) makes cold brew coffee, with milk added and no sugar, it is a cup of cold brew coffee latte, which naturally has a sweet aftertaste and a sweet flavor.

| Recommended specialty coffee for cold brew

1. Front Street Washed Yirgacheffe Country: Ethiopia Region: Yirgacheffe Altitude: 1800-2000 meters Processing method: washed processing Variety: local heirloom varieties Flavor: berry, citrus, lemon

2. Front Street Yirgacheffe Natural Red Cherry Country: Ethiopia Region: Yirgacheffe Processing station: Aricha Altitude: 2300 meters Variety: local heirloom varieties Processing method: natural processing Flavor: berry, lemon, strawberry, fermented wine aroma

3. Front Street Natural Huakui Country: Ethiopia Ethiopia Region: Guji Hambela Altitude: 20300 meters Processing method: Natural Process Variety: Ethiopian Heirloom Flavor: tropical fruit, cream, citrus

4. Front Street Panama Butterfly Region: Panama Boquete Variety: Geisha, Caturra, Catuai Altitude: 1600-1650 Processing: natural processing Flavor: classic Geisha flavor, tea-like, citrus

5. Front Street Panama Elida Estate Region: Boquete region, Panama Estate: Elida Estate Altitude: 1850 meters Variety: Catuai Processing method: natural Flavor: smooth, orange, peach, juicy mouthfeel

6. Front Street Colombia Huilan Region: Huila Altitude: 1500-1800 Variety: Caturra Processing method: washed Flavor: nuts, dark chocolate, caramel, mild fruit acidity

7. Front Street Brazil Red Bourbon Region: South Nanuque Altitude: 700-1200 meters Variety: Red Bourbon Processing method: semi-washed Flavor: nuts, chocolate, slight fruit acidity

8. Front Street Mandheling Region: Sumatra Processing method: wet-hulled method Flavor: herbs, nuts, pine

The above content is compiled by CoffeeHunters, a coffee news website.