Since cold brew coffee is made differently from regular hot-brewed coffee and needs to be prepared a day in advance, the cold brew sold at Front Street stores doesn't offer as rich a selection of coffee beans to choose from as pour-over does.
But precisely because of this, when Front Street steeps its cold brew, it carefully selects coffee beans that are well suited to cold brewing and have a flavor profile with broad appeal, so that customers can get a relatively outstanding experience from the limited choices available.And because these cold brews really suit most people's tastes, friends often quietly sound out Front Street after finishing a cup about the ingredients and recipe used to steep the cold brew, so they can recreate the same deliciousness at home.
Although Front Street just shared a rough approach to bean selection a couple of days ago, many friends have been privately messaging us asking for a more detailed recommendation of beans for cold brew. Because, as mentioned earlier, cold brew coffee is made differently from hot-brewed coffee, so the same coffee bean will produce a coffee with a style very different from that of regular hot-brewed coffee.The characteristics of cold brew coffee are mainly that it isn't bitter, is low in acidity, has a soft flavor, and at the same time carries the fermented note produced by "low-temperature maturation."We only need to take the performance of the coffee bean and overlay the characteristics of cold brew coffee to let our imagination run, and we can get a rough idea of how a coffee bean will perform once made into cold brew. It doesn't matter if you can't make that association—Front Street will next share the coffee beans commonly used for making cold brew, and everyone can simply copy the homework and steep a cold brew that suits their own preferences~Rich Fruity Aroma Cold BrewIf we had to choose one type of cold brew coffee to get through this scorching summer, Front Street believes that the vast majority of friends would choose a sweet-and-sour, refreshing cold brew coffee with a rich fruity aroma. Because this kind of coffee not only has very little bitterness, its pleasant sweet-and-sour taste can also fully dissolve the summer heat.If we want to make a cup of cold brew coffee with such a full juice-like quality, Front Street would recommend using sun-dried or honey-processed coffee beans from the Ethiopia, Colombia, and Panama regions. Because coffee grown in these regions carries very rich fruity aromas, and sun-dried and honey processing can make these aromas evolve into something even richer.
For example, on Front Street's bean list, Front Street Sidamo·ALO and Huakui fit the above conditions very well. The cold brew steeped with them carries a rich mango aroma, rounded citrus acidity, and a slight fermented note of pineapple; or Front Street Ethiopia Yirgacheffe, which can steep a cold brew with aromas of lychee, mango, and blueberry.Fresh Floral and Fruity Cold BrewSome friends prefer cold brew coffee with floral notes—the fresher, lighter kind whose flavor isn't too intense! If your taste preference is this type, then when buying coffee beans you can limit your keywords to "washed" or "Geisha(T2722)".
Washed beans undergo relatively less fermentation, so the coffee beans can better retain their original flavor—especially washed coffee beans from the Ethiopia and Panama regions, which are famous for their fresh fruity notes; and the T2722 Geisha variety needs no elaboration, as its rich floral aroma is almost a household name.For example, Yirgacheffe·Gedeb on Front Street's bean list—washed, it steeps into a cold brew with the fresh flavors of lemon, white flowers, and green tea; or Front Street Boquete·Washed Geisha and Washed Butterfly, which steep into a cold brew with flavors of white flowers, citrus, and honey.
But note that the white floral note can sometimes be so intense that people misjudge it as a bitter or medicinal taste, so when we use beans with white floral notes to make cold brew, we can appropriately increase the amount of water used and slightly reduce the coffee's concentration.Because some friends rather enjoy the rich, deep taste brought by dark roasting,Front Street shared a while ago how to use dark-roasted, espresso-blend coffee beans to make cold brew coffee. So if you also like this "acid-free," fragrant, and extremely rich cold brew coffee, then you might as well try making it with dark-roasted coffee beans.On the bean list, Front Street Jamaica·Blue Mountain Coffee and Indonesia·Golden Mandheling are both excellent choices. The cold brew steeped with them has a fragrant chocolate flavor, caramel sweetness, and a very rich body.
"Tipsy" Boozy Aroma Cold BrewBoozy-aroma cold brew is a must-have cold brew coffee type at Front Street stores, because its audience is truly enormous. Many friends like cold brew not only because it has a richer taste, but also because it has a fermented note different from the usual. And when we use some coffee beans with a relatively deep degree of fermentation to make cold brew, the resulting coffee often has a richer boozy aroma—one sip feels almost like taking a sip of liquor, making people exclaim how satisfying it is.So if you're a friend who likes cold brew coffee with a rich boozy aroma, Front Street would relatively recommend usinganaerobically processed coffee beans for the making. Because most anaerobic processing causes the coffee beans to undergo deeper fermentation, thereby producing a pronounced fermented note.
Generally, Front Street uses two beans to make boozy-aroma cold brew. One is Front Street Honduras·Sherry on the bean list; since it is a medium-roasted anaerobically processed coffee bean, the cold brew extracted with it has almost no acidity, but rather the high sweetness of vanilla and cream, along with a very rich whisky aroma at the same time!And if what you like is a boozy-aroma cold brew with fruity notes and fruity acidity and higher sweetness, then Front Street Costa Rica Strawberry Candy on the bean list is definitely the one and only choice! Raisin-honey processed, it has the fermented aromas of strawberry, berries, and raisins; after being made into cold brew, the coffee's sweetness is enhanced, and the aromas of strawberry and raisins evolve into the taste of fruit wine—very nice; or Costa Rica·Mozart using the same processing also works. Besides the aromas of berries and raisins, we can also taste a purple floral note similar to lavender~ The above content is compiled by CoffeeHunters, a coffee news website.
