How does cold brew coffee differ from iced coffee styles?

Iced coffee varies by country. Americans add water and ice to espresso for an iced Americano; Italians shake espresso with ice to build a foam; Germans pour long-extracted espresso over vanilla ice cream, cream and caramel, sometimes with rum. Most of those methods need an espresso machine.

Cold brew instead steeps ground black bean coffee in cold water for hours. Without heat, bitter compounds extract slowly, so the cup tastes cleaner and more refreshing while the longer soak releases the aromatic, sweet compounds. It needs no machine, only a container, water and time.

Iced coffee takes on vastly different forms around the world. Americans are used to making iced Americanos by adding water and ice to espresso, Italians like to shake espresso with ice to create a foam, while Germans prefer adding vanilla ice cream, cream, and caramel sauce to a long-extracted espresso, and even mixing in rum to make a luxurious dessert-level drink. However, all these methods rely on an espresso machine. If you want to enjoy summer iced coffee at home in a simpler way, cold brew coffee made by steeping in cold water is undoubtedly the most hassle-free choice. This article follows Front Street Coffee to learn how to make cold brew coffee and recommends several high-quality coffee beans suitable for making iced drinks.

For more specialty coffee knowledge, please follow our WeChat official account: Front Street Coffee (FrontStreet Coffee) European countries each have their own interpretations of iced coffee. Some methods involve dropping ice cubes directly into hot coffee, others add ice cream to coffee, and still others use long steeping in cold water for extraction. In the United States, for example, the most common combination is espresso, water, and ice, a pairing that has now evolved into the most widespread iced Americano method in coffee shops worldwide.

In Italy, locals typically put espresso and ice cubes into a shaker and shake repeatedly, which creates a fine foam in the coffee and enhances the layers of the drink. In Germany, the classic combination becomes: a long-extracted espresso, plus a scoop of vanilla ice cream, cream, caramel sauce, or chocolate shavings, and the deluxe version even adds rum.

However, all the above iced coffee preparations rely on an espresso machine, making them not exactly convenient to execute. So how can you easily make delicious iced coffee at home? Next, follow Front Street Coffee (FrontStreet Coffee) to learn how to make summer iced coffee using just cold water. Making Cold Brew/Cold Steeped Coffee Compared with hot water extraction, when steeping in cold water, because there is no heat to drive the movement of water molecules, the bitter components in coffee are difficult to extract at low temperatures, so cold brew coffee tastes cleaner and more refreshing. At the same time, the longer extraction time allows the high-quality flavor substances in the coffee to be fully released, so the mouthfeel is also quite full.

Due to the longer extraction time, cold brew coffee has a higher caffeine content than drip coffee or espresso-based coffee. If you urgently need a pick-me-up, cold brew is worth prioritizing. The process of making cold brew coffee is actually very simple. To make a home version of cold brew coffee, Front Street's Gudingding Cooperative is recommended. This is a washed light-roast bean from the widely known Ethiopia. No matter which extraction method is used, it can display white floral, citrus, green tea, and creamy flavors, with a fresh sweet-and-sour taste and a very low extraction threshold, making it especially suitable for beginners.

Coffee-to-water ratio: 1:12 (1g coffee to 12g water) Water temperature: room temperature Equipment: cold brew pitcher Steeping time: 12–16 hours Cold brew (cold steeped) coffee can be said to be the most hassle-free and least technique-demanding way to make iced coffee; the only downside is that it takes a long time to make, so you cannot enjoy it immediately. You can start steeping at dinner time, and the next morning you will be able to drink a full, clean cold brew coffee. Since the cold brew pitcher used by Front Street has a capacity of 1L, this time 60g of coffee grounds will be used for the demonstration. You can increase or decrease the amount of coffee grounds according to the size of your own cold brew pitcher, keeping the ratio unchanged, but be sure to ensure that the coffee grounds can be fully submerged after adding water.

Prepare a clean cold brew pitcher, pour the ground coffee into the filter basket, then add 720g of room-temperature water, allowing the coffee grounds to become fully wet and steeped. After that, cover with the lid of the filter basket part, then cover with the main lid of the cold brew pitcher. Place it in the refrigerator and extract at low temperature for 12–16 hours. After extraction is complete, lift the filter basket and let it hang at the edge of the pitcher so the remaining coffee liquid can drip down. Once done, discard the coffee grounds and it is ready to taste. If you find 1:12 too strong, you can switch to a 1:13 ratio, or dilute it with ice cubes or water when drinking.

Recommended Coffee Beans Suitable for Making Iced Drinks [Ethiopia Natural Red Cherry Coffee Beans] Medium-light roast, flavor: mixed berries, caramel, black tea, slight fruity fermentation aroma The name Red Cherry comes from the "Red Cherry Project" launched by a Dutch green bean merchant in 2007. The original intention of the project was to raise the purchase price of fully ripe coffee cherries, thereby encouraging coffee farmers to pick only coffee cherries that are already ripe and have red skin.

This practice not only greatly improves the overall quality of the coffee beans, but also, because fully ripe cherries have higher sugar content, after whole-cherry natural drying, the coffee beans can obtain excellent sweetness and a slight fermented feel, bringing a soft and smooth mouthfeel to the coffee. It is one of the Ethiopian coffee beans with particularly outstanding sweetness. [Panama Elida Estate Natural Typica Coffee Beans] Medium roast, flavor: white peach, orange, raisin, caramel, green tea When mentioning Elida Estate, the first thing everyone may think of is the ASD slow natural Geisha coffee beans that the estate won an award for in the 2019 BOP competition. But this estate does not only grow Geisha; it also grows the Caturra and Catuai varieties common in Central and South America, as well as the Typica variety, which itself has a clean and tranquil flavor.

The greatest characteristic of this Elida Typica coffee bean is that it retains the rich fruity flavors brought by the terroir of the region and natural drying, while also possessing the clean qualities of Typica coffee beans themselves, so it tastes very smooth and full. [Colombia Finca La Divisa Sidra Coffee Beans] Medium roast, flavor: grape, passion fruit, dried apricot, citrus, fermented aroma The Sidra variety received widespread attention because Anthony Douglas, the champion barista of the 2022 WBC competition, chose Colombian Sidra coffee beans in the competition.

Sidra coffee belongs to a laboratory variety, developed by crossing Typica and Red Bourbon. Later, through genetic comparison, it was found that Sidra coffee has genes similar to Ethiopian native varieties. Therefore, some scholars speculate that Sidra was created by crossing an experimental research variety exported from Ethiopia with local Bourbon coffee varieties in Ecuador. Sidra variety coffee beans have floral and fruity characteristics comparable to Geisha, displaying flavors such as peach, citrus, grape, and honey, with moderate acidity and a rounded mouthfeel. The key point is that the value for money is excellent.

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