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Coffee has become an indispensable part of everyone's work and life. Especially in today's fast-paced, high-pressure environment, a cup of coffee in the morning is even more essential to wake up. However, this isn't great for friends who are sensitive to caffeine, because after drinking coffee, they might be counting stars all night. Of course, there is decaf coffee on the market now, but Front Street thinks iced drip coffee might be a good choice!

Iced Drip CoffeeAs the name suggests, it's not hot. Unlike pour-over coffee, which is brewed with hot water, iced drip coffee is brewed with cold or room-temperature water. Front Street has told everyone that coffee brewed at different water temperatures will have different flavors. For pour-over coffee, Front Street also suggests that tasting at different temperatures will give you a different experience!

Let's first take a look at what iced drip coffee is actually like.

Iced drip coffee originated in Europe. Since the coffee still was invented by the Dutch, some people call it Dutch Coffee, distilled coffee, or water-drip coffee. Iced drip coffee relies on the compatibility between coffee itself and water, mainly through condensation and natural osmotic water pressure, and the production time is very long. Generally, iced drip coffee is made through an iced drip pot, which is a coffee device divided into an upper pot (ice water), a middle pot (coffee grounds), and a lower pot (coffee liquid). The ice water from the upper pot drips drop by drop into the coffee grounds in the middle pot, slowly extracting coffee liquid that flows into the lower pot. The usual production time is 6-8 hours.

Extracted drop by drop, it is a coffee brewed with time. Coffee brewed with different water temperatures will have different tastes, and at low temperatures, the astringent substances in coffee are even less likely to dissolve out. Extracted with ice water for a long time, then placed in the refrigerator to ferment after extraction, the slightly fermented iced drip coffee has a faint fermentation aroma, and the mouthfeel also tends to become fuller.

Pour-over coffee can be drunk immediately after brewing, so can iced drip coffee also be drunk immediately? Front Street does not recommend drinking it immediately. Because iced drip coffee has not gone through a heating process, and due to the long extraction, many flavor molecules have been extracted but have not been well released. Therefore, after the iced drip coffee extraction is completed, put it in a sealed bottle and let it sit in the refrigerator for 12-24 hours, so that the carbon dioxide pressure generated inside the bottle releases the flavor molecules. This is also why the longer iced drip coffee is kept in the refrigerator, the richer it tastes.

But you can't just keep it forever either; there has to be a time window for drinking it. Front Street does not advocate keeping iced drip coffee 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 stored for a long time. The recommended drinking period for iced drip coffee is within 5 days. If it has been more than 5 days, don't feel it's a waste; coffee stored that long is not beneficial to drink.

Does iced drip coffee have a lot of caffeine?

Many people think that because iced drip coffee is extracted with cold water, its caffeine content will be very low; others say that since iced drip coffee is stored for so long, its caffeine content won't be very low either. Front Street believes both statements can be correct. Iced drip coffee uses cold water to extract coffee, and because the lower the water temperature, the less likely caffeine is to dissolve (the minimum temperature for caffeine dissolution is above 80 degrees Celsius). However, the low amount of caffeine extracted by cold water can add up over a long extraction time and should not be underestimated.

Of course, Front Street believes that the amount of caffeine actually has a lot to do with the coffee beans, for example, whether it is Robusta or Arabica, the caffeine content is different. In addition, depending on the coffee beans used by the café, the dripping interval, and the total extraction time, the caffeine content also varies greatly. Therefore, for people sensitive to caffeine, rather than drinking iced drip coffee, it is better to drink decaf coffee. Front Street has Colombian Swiss Water Process decaf.

Next, let's share Front Street's process for making iced drip coffee:

1. The water-to-coffee ratio used by Front Street Coffee (FrontStreet Coffee) for iced 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 the ground 60g of coffee grounds (coarse sugar size), then shake the coffee surface flat. You can also use the weight of the tamper to lightly press the coffee bed so that the surface is level.

3. Remember to put a piece of filter paper on the coffee surface. This is because the tension of the filter paper allows the 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 it can improve extraction efficiency and consistency of the final product. If you drip directly with ice, it may cause uneven wetting of the coffee bed, with some coffee grounds over-extracted while another part does not participate in extraction at all.

5. Put a 1:1 ice-water mixture 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 place it in the refrigerator to ferment overnight, allowing the coffee flavors to blend together, resulting in a better and easier-to-drink taste.

Let's take a look at how Front Street's iced drip coffee tastes:

20g [Front Street Coffee (FrontStreet Coffee) Honduras Lychee Orchid] + 40 [Front Street Coffee (FrontStreet Coffee) Gesha Village Red Label]

Barrel-treated Lychee Orchid plus sun-dried Gesha Village Red Label, with a faint brandy aroma, plum-like acidity paired with the sweetness of maple syrup.The brandy barrel-treated Lychee Orchid has a rich brandy aroma, with a chocolate finish and honey aftertaste.

Front Street sun-dried Gesha Village Red Label has the fruity acidity of plum and citrus, with the sweetness of maple syrup and a creamy, smooth mouthfeel.

Made into iced drip, you will feel the faint aroma of brandy, with rich fruity acidity leading to honey-like sweetness and a creamy, smooth mouthfeel.

Front Street Coffee (FrontStreet Coffee) brewing suggestions:

No matter what coffee you brew, fresh coffee beans are required. Front Street has always believed that the freshness of coffee beans is a very important part of brewing. The coffee beans shipped by Front Street Coffee (FrontStreet Coffee) are all within 5 days of the roasting date, because Front Street deeply understands that the freshness of coffee beans has a huge impact on flavor. Front Street's roasting philosophy 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 beans, and that's fine too, but Front Street must remind you: if the coffee beans are ground in advance, they no longer need to be rested, because during transportation, the pressure generated by carbon dioxide inside the packaging can also make the coffee flavor rounder, so once you receive the coffee grounds, you can immediately brew a cup and drink it. However, the coffee grounds need to be brewed promptly, because after coffee grounds come into contact with air, they oxidize relatively quickly, which means the coffee flavor will dissipate faster and won't taste as good. Therefore, Front Street recommends buying whole beans and grinding fresh for each brew, so you can better taste the coffee's flavor.

There are many ways to brew coffee. Nowadays, people's love for coffee is no longer limited to tasting it in cafés; more often, they enjoy the pleasure of brewing coffee at home. Front Street has more than fifty kinds of single-origin coffee beans from different producing regions, with different flavors, offering everyone different sensory experiences!

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