As the weather gets hotter, the cold drip coffee at Front Street Coffee is also selling well. Actually, cold drip coffee is not as complicated as everyone believes. Today, Front Street is here to sharethe method for making cold drip coffee, and discuss its caffeine content.

The Origin of Cold Drip Coffee

"In the 1600s, Dutch sailors were transporting coffee from their then-colony Indonesia back to Europe. Because there was no hot water on the ship, they could not drink hot coffee, so they came up withcold drip coffee. Coffee extracted with cold water has a mild, smooth taste and an inviting aroma. Not only the sailors, but ordinary people loved it too."

Alright! The origin story above was actually fabricated by Japanese coffee industry people to promote cold drip pots, and is one of their marketing tactics. In fact, Western countries, including the Netherlands, mainly did not use the Japanese drip method (an extraction method in which ice water drips down drop by drop), but instead used the so-called "Cold-Brew" immersion method (soaking coffee grounds in cold water for a long time). Moreover, in the West there is no such thing as cold drip coffee (Dutch Coffee).

The invention of cold drip coffee

Although cold drip is called Dutch coffee, it does not actually have deep ties to the Netherlands. Instead, it has deep ties to Japan, so it is also called Kyoto coffee.

When the owner of Kyoto Hanabusa Coffee was reading a coffee book, he read about the coffee-brewing method of the locals in the then Dutch colony of Indonesia and became very interested in it. Then, based on the description in the book at the time, with the help of chemistry students at Kyoto University and a medical device company, he developed a cold drip device, wanting to reproduce the Indonesian brewing method, and thus invented cold drip coffee. Later it became popular in Europe and America, and because Europeans and Americans were unclear about this history, they directly called it Kyoto coffee.

Cold drip uses near-zero-degree ice water for extraction, allowing the flavors in the coffee to volatilize less under low-temperature conditions and preserving as much of the coffee aroma as possible in the coffee liquid. Then, when it is drunk, as the temperature of the coffee liquid rises, the aroma contained in the coffee liquid suddenly bursts out, letting the drinker feel a strong aroma at the back of the tongue. This sudden burst of aroma creates a great sense of happiness.

As for the choice of raw materials for cold drip coffee, it needs to be determined according to personal requirements for coffee taste. If you want bright fruit acidity and a light, clean mouthfeel, you can choose washed coffee, such as Front Street Butterfly, Front Street Fruit Ding Ding, and Front Street Kaffa Forest; if you want nutty and chocolate flavors with a mellow, smooth mouthfeel, you can choose medium-dark roasted coffee, such as Front Street Colombia Huila, Front Street Bird of Paradise, and Front Street Queen's Manor;

In addition, there are also fermented-process coffees that have attracted more attention in recent years, such as Front Street Strawberry Candy and Front Street Xizhua. They both have rich ripe fruit aromas, and the cold drip made from them is also more layered. When buying, it is best to state your needs first, so you can avoid buying beans you do not like.

Front Street CoffeeCold Drip CoffeeBrewing Sharing

1. The water-to-coffee ratio used for Front Street Coffee cold drip is 1:10, that is, 60 grams of coffee grounds extract 600 milliliters of coffee liquid.

2. Place a round filter paper at the bottom of the powder cup, wet it with water so it sticks to the cup wall, add 60g of ground coffee (coarse sugar size, Front Street storeuses EK-43s #10 setting), then shake the coffee surface flat. You can also use the weight of the tamper itself to lightly press the coffee bed so that the surface is level.

3. Remember to place a piece of filter paper on the coffee surface. This is because the tension of the filter paper allows water to distribute evenly. Without filter paper, long-term dripping will create a pit in the coffee bed.

4. Use ice water for "pre-infusion." This is actually similar to the blooming process in pour-over and can improve extraction efficiency and consistency in the final product. If you directly start cold dripping, it may cause uneven wetting of the coffee bed, with part of the coffee grounds over-extracted while another part does not participate in extraction at all.

5. Put a 1:1 mixture of ice and water into the water container, and adjust the valve to about 7 drops every 10 seconds.

6. After making it, pour the coffee liquid into a sealed glass bottle and put it in the refrigerator to ferment overnight, allowing the coffee flavors to blend together. The taste will be better and easier to drink.

How high is the caffeine content of cold drip?

Many people think that cold drip coffee has a low caffeine content, because the lower the water temperature, the harder it is for caffeine to dissolve (the minimum temperature for caffeine dissolution is above 80 degrees Celsius). However, the low amount of caffeine extracted by cold water can actually add up over a long period of time and should not be underestimated. Therefore, some people also believe that cold drip coffee has a higher caffeine content, and many experimental results have also proven this claim.

Relevant research providesa reference: cold drip coffee (one cup with 20g grounds/200ml coffee)is about135mg.For reference, one cup of espresso (20g grounds/40g coffee) is about 100mg, so including Americano, latte, flat white, cappuccino, and other varieties, their caffeine content is lower than that of cold drip.

But what Front Street needs to emphasize is that a cup of cold drip coffee will vary greatly in caffeine content depending on the beans used by each cafe, the coarseness of the grind, the interval between water drops, and the total extraction time. In addition, everyone has a different tolerance for caffeine. Some friends can stay up until midnight after drinking just a small cup, while some friends can still fall asleep on time after downing a large cup. Therefore,Therefore, for people who are especially sensitive to caffeine, Front Street suggests that no matter which kind of coffee it is, it is best to consume as little as possible.

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