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There are many ways to brew coffee, and the most common one is pour-over coffee, but pour-over coffee has quite a few small details to pay attention to; today, Front Street is going to introduce a relatively simple coffee brewing method.

Everyone knows that pour-over coffee is brewed with hot water, but sometimes you may want a cup of iced coffee to experience that refreshing chill, and that calls for a cup of iced coffee. Front Street has said that different brewing water temperatures produce noticeably different coffee flavors. Coffee brewed with hot water will have different flavors as the water temperature changes, but if not handled well, it is easy to brew out some undesirable flavors as well. Coffee brewed at low water temperature will have a cleaner and brighter flavor, with fewer of the undesirable tastes that come from high-temperature brewing.

What isice drip coffee

Ice drip coffeeoriginated in Europe. Because the coffee distiller was invented by the Dutch, some people call it Dutch Coffee, distilled coffee, or water-drip coffee. Ice drip coffee relies on the compatibility between coffee itself and water, mainly using condensed natural osmotic water pressure, for as long as about 8 hours, extracting drop by drop. It is a kind of coffee brewed with time, and the taste of the coffee brewed with different water temperatures will all be different, while at low temperatures the astringent substances in coffee are even less likely to be dissolved out. Using ice water for long extraction, after extraction is complete, put it in the refrigerator to ferment. After slight fermentation, ice drip coffee has a faint fermented aroma, and the mouthfeel also tends to become fuller. Front Street believes: you can put the coffee in the refrigerator at night and drink it the next morning, and you will instantly wake up! Isn't that feeling especially great!

Some people ask Front Street: why can ice drip coffee be kept for so long without spoiling?

Pour-over coffee takes only a few minutes to complete, while ice drip coffee needs more than several hours to complete. However, after brewing pour-over coffee, Front Street always reminds people that the coffee must be finished as soon as possible, because the freshness period of hot-water-brewed coffee is extremely short, and after more than 45 minutes the taste will begin to deteriorate. Ice drip coffee, however, because it has not undergone a heating process and has been extracted for a long time, has had many flavor molecules extracted, but they have not been well released. Therefore, after the ice drip coffee extraction is complete, put it in a sealed bottle and let it sit still in the refrigerator for 12-24 hours, so that the pressure of carbon dioxide produced inside the bottle causes the flavor molecules to be released. This is also why the longer ice drip coffee is kept in the refrigerator, the richer it tastes.

Of course, Front Street does not advocate keeping ice drip for a week. After all, there are bacteria in the air or in the bottle, and it is hard to guarantee the condition of the coffee after being kept for a long time. The recommended drinking period for ice drip is within 72 hours. Once it exceeds 72 hours, do not feel it is a waste, because coffee kept for so long is not beneficial to drink.

Front Street tells everyone: ice drip coffee has another advantage! For people with poor digestion who really want to drink coffee, it is simply good news, and Front Street Coffee (FrontStreet Coffee) generally recommends ice drip coffee to them. This is because many people with poor digestion avoid coffee because of the stomach pain caused by ordinary coffee. Ice drip coffee contains far fewer of the irritating molecules found in hot-extracted coffee, and at the same concentration its caffeine content is also lower, making it a relatively healthier choice.

Cold brew coffee

Cold brew coffeeusually refers to cold-brewed coffee, made by adding an appropriate amount of coffee grounds to cold water and extracting over a long time at low temperature. The Dutch were the first to think of the cold brew method, and it later spread to Japan. At that time, the Dutch would ship coffee back to Europe from their colony Indonesia, and because there was no hot water on the ship, they invented the cold brew method. Interestingly, people at the time believed that cold coffee was gentler and did not harm the stomach, but they did not know that it was because hot water extracts more acidic substances from coffee, while cold-brewed coffee is comparatively less acidic.

Cold brew coffeeis made with water at room temperature or lower. The water temperature is usually below room temperature, around 20-22°C. Because the water temperature is lower, the coffee-making process is very long, usually requiring 12-48 hours, even longer than ice drip coffee. Cold brew can extract only some small-molecule substances, such as floral and fruity flavor compounds, while large-molecule smoky and roasted flavor substances are not easily extracted, and the sourness is also greatly reduced. However, the most fatal drawback of this extraction method is that its capability is relatively weak, requiring longer contact between water and coffee grounds.

Some people ask Front Street: for coffees brewed at the same low water temperature, besides the difference in time, what else is different between ice drip coffee and cold brew coffee? What is different in taste?

Front Street believes: theoretically speaking, ice drip coffee also belongs to the category of cold brew coffee, only with a few differences:

1. Different extraction methods

Cold brew is an immersion method: put coffee grounds into cold water, soak statically for 16-20 hours, then use filter paper to filter it into coffee liquid; ice drip is a percolation method: slowly drip cold water into the coffee grounds, directly passing through filter paper to become coffee liquid.

2. Different flavors

Cold brew has a very full-bodied mouthfeel, with a feeling like espresso, and very strong flavor. Unless it is filtered many times, cold brew will always leave some sediment; ice drip has a very light mouthfeel, even close to tea, with a very clean flavor, releasing floral and fruity aromas very completely, with relatively little bitterness and sourness.

Therefore, Front Street believes that the flavors of the beginning, middle, and end stages of ice drip coffee extraction are completely different, and the coffee extracted in this way has a mouthfeel that is as clear and fresh as a light breeze, with considerable layering. Although making ice drip coffee usually takes only 5-8 hours, you can put the finished coffee in the refrigerator compartment free of odors and let it develop stably overnight, and it will have an unexpected aroma.

3. Different equipment

Cold brew has no great requirements for brewing equipment; ice drip generally uses an ice drip pot. As for the question of cold brew coffee versusice drip coffee, which one tastes better, Front Street actually believes: both taste good. Cold brew coffee is fuller, while ice drip coffee is brighter and more layered. Everyone's taste is different, so it depends on what you like!

Front Street Coffee (FrontStreet Coffee) brewing suggestions:

When brewing any coffee, if you want it to taste good, Front Street believes that the freshness of the coffee beans is a very important factor. This is because the freshness of coffee beans allows you to experience coffee's rich flavors to the greatest extent. The coffee beans shipped by Front Street Coffee (FrontStreet Coffee) are all within 5 days of roasting, because Front Street deeply understands that the freshness of coffee beans has a great impact on flavor. Front Street's roasting motto is "freshly roasted good coffee," so that every customer who places an order receives the freshest coffee when they get it. The resting period for coffee is about 4-7 days, so when customers receive it, it is exactly at its best flavor.

Of course, some customers need Front Street to help grind the coffee, and that is no problem either, but Front Street reminds you that if the coffee beans have been ground in advance, they need to be brewed promptly. If it has already been ground into coffee powder, there is no need to rest it further, because during transportation the pressure produced by carbon dioxide inside the packaging can also make the coffee flavor rounder, so once you receive coffee powder you can brew and drink it right away. Because coffee powder oxidizes relatively quickly after contact with air, meaning the coffee's flavor will dissipate relatively quickly and will not be as good. Therefore, Front Street recommends buying whole beans and grinding fresh before brewing, so that you can better taste the coffee's flavor.

No matter what brewing method it is, Front Street can teach you! Besides teaching you how to brew coffee, Front Street can also teach you how to taste coffee!

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