In recent years,cold brew coffeeand ice drip coffee have become incredibly popular among coffee consumers! Especially in summer, the ice drip/cold brew coffee in coffee shops becomes the "king of kings" among iced coffees! One reason is that it has a mouthfeel that iced pour-over coffee/iced Americano coffee cannot replicate, and another is that because of the long production time, many are limited in daily quantity. Although the production time is long, these two coffees are not difficult to make~ In this article, Front Street Coffee (FrontStreet Coffee) will teach everyone how to make ice drip/cold brew coffeeat home.
Although both are iced coffees, they have completely different extraction principles from pour-over coffee/Americano coffee. Pour-over coffee/Americano coffee usually uses high-temperature hot water to quickly extract the soluble substances from coffee particles. This extraction method has an unfriendly drawback: it easily extracts the bitter taste of coffee. If the water temperature/flow rate/grind size is not controlled well and the extraction time is long, the coffee will taste less balanced and clean.
Low-temperature extraction can solve this problem very well, because the substances that make coffee bitter are difficult to release at low temperatures, so only the sour and sweet substances in the coffee can be extracted. The downside is that because there is no heat to drive the movement of water molecules, the coffee extraction time often requires 6-12 hours. So enjoying a cup is indeed quite a test of patience.
However, delicious food often requires time to "cook," so waiting is still worth it! Then why, even though both use low-temperature extraction, are they divided intocold brew coffeeand ice drip coffee? The reason is that the former extracts the coffee's flavor through immersion, and the tool needed for making it is only a clean, sealable container; the latter extracts the coffee's flavor through dripping, and making it requires a special coffee ice drip pot.
Ice drip coffeeuses an ice-water mixture below 5°C, allowing the ice to melt naturally, then uses a valve to control the speed at which ice water drips onto the coffee grounds. The ice water slowly dissolves the coffee's flavor from the grounds, dripping out the extract little by little, with the complete extraction taking about 6-8 hours. To obtain a better taste, it then also needs 8-12 hours of refrigerated fermentation time.
Cold brew coffeefollows the same principle as cold-brewed tea. In the same extraction process, first grind the coffee beans, add cold water, and soak in a low-temperature environment for at least about 12 hours. Before drinking, simply filter out the coffee grounds. Because it is immersion extraction, after filtering there is no need for further refrigerated fermentation.
Of the two coffees extracted at low temperature, ice drip coffee has a richer flavor and a more delicate overall layering. Cold brew coffee has a fuller mouthfeel, and both coffees have their own charming qualities. Therefore, friends at home who do not want too much trouble can try cold brew coffee; if conditions permit, you can buy an ice drip pot to make ice drip coffee.
How to make cold brew coffee: Front Street recommends using a 1:13 coffee-to-water ratio to make cold brew coffee. Grind the coffee to a fine-sugar-like coarseness, then add ice water at a ratio of 1 g coffee to 13 g water, and stir so that all the coffee grounds can be soaked in the water. Then seal the container well, put it in the refrigerator and let it sit for 8-12 hours, then filter out the coffee grounds and it is ready to drink.
How to make ice drip coffee: Front Street Coffee (FrontStreet Coffee) also recommends using 1:13, but it is a coffee-to-liquid ratio, that is, 1 g coffee drips through to produce 10 g coffee liquid. After grinding the coffee to a fine-sugar-like coarseness, put it into the coffee-ground container of the ice drip pot, then shake the surface of the coffee bed flat and place a round filter paper of suitable size on top to ensure that when water droplets fall onto the surface of the coffee bed, they are evenly distributed and do not gather in the middle.
Next, make an ice-water mixture in the upper pot at a 1:1 ratio. If the dripping speed can be adjusted, adjust it to a speed of 7 drops per 10 seconds. After dripping out the appropriate ratio of coffee liquid, put it into a clean, oil-free, sealable container and refrigerate it for fermentation for 8-12 hours before beginning to taste it.
Why does ice drip coffee need refrigerated fermentation? In fact, rather than calling this step fermentation, it is better to say it is an oxidation process. Just like coffee beans that have just finished roasting, about 2% of their weight is carbon dioxide, and this large amount of carbon dioxide is released according to the storage environment, equipment, or method, making the pressure in the packaging higher than one atmosphere. The pressure helps the aromatic substances and oils merge, bringing all the aromatic substances inside the coffee beans into a state where they are easily extracted.
For professional coffee knowledge exchange and more coffee bean information, please follow Coffee Workshop (WeChat public account: cafe_style)
For more specialty coffee beans, please add the private WeChat of Front Street Coffee (FrontStreet Coffee), WeChat ID: qjcoffeex
The above content is compiled by CoffeeHunters, a coffee news website.
