Many friends who come to Front Street Coffee say that watching the ice water slowly drip-filtering in the cold drip pot is so healing, and ask Front Street what kind of coffee this is. This is the biggest difference between cold drip coffee and many other coffee categories—it generally requires 6-8 hours of long, slow extraction, so Front Street's cold drip output is usually small, creating a "supply falls short of demand" situation.

The Story of Cold Drip Coffee

What Is Cold Drip Coffee

Cold drip coffee refers to a method of slowly drip-filtering ice water evenly through coffee grounds under normal pressure to extract coffee aroma compounds. Since low-temperature ice water doesn't easily extract the bitter substances in coffee, and the slow flow rate greatly increases the extraction yield, cold drip coffee tastes strong but not bitter. If you choose coffee beans with more prominent flavors to make it, the fermented notes and fruity sweet-tartness, combined with the refreshing coolness of ice, can instantly relieve the summer heat.

The Origin of Cold Drip Coffee

We often hear about Cold drip coffee, Cold brew coffee, and Dutch Coffee—what are the differences and connections between these three? Front Street starts with a Dutch coffee story.

In the early 18th century, when the Dutch transported coffee beans from their colony of Indonesia back to Europe, the journey was long, there was no hot water on the ship, and there was no leisure to brew a cup of coffee. Unable to drink hot coffee, they came up with the idea of extracting coffee with cold water—putting ground coffee in a container, adding cold water, and letting it soak for several hours. The coffee made this way was very sweet and not bitter at all. Dutch trading merchants found that this convenient method allowed them to drink coffee during maritime trade, so this way of making coffee with cold water began to spread throughout the world.

However, this method of extracting coffee with ice water did not spread widely in the Netherlands. Instead, it was preserved by the Japanese, who gradually modified and evolved it into today's cold drip coffee. So we sometimes see the claim that "cold drip coffee was invented by the Japanese." More precisely, it should be said that the Japanese improved upon the method invented by the Dutch and preserved this method of preparation, allowing us to enjoy this uniquely flavored iced coffee.

After reading the story above, Front Street believes you now have a general understanding that this method of soaking coffee grounds in cold water to extract coffee liquid is what people call Dutch Coffee. Cold drip coffee, which was improved from the principles of cold brew coffee, is also a type of Dutch Coffee. Additionally, there is a newer low-temperature extraction method—Cold brew coffee refers to pouring ice water into a container holding coffee grounds, letting it sit for 12-24 hours, and finally filtering out the grounds to get a cup of iced coffee with a slight alcoholic note and sweet-tart flavor. The brewing principle is actually the same as Dutch Coffee, so it is also a type of Dutch Coffee.

How to Use a Cold Drip Coffee Pot

We can usually see various cold drip pot devices online, in all kinds of materials and shapes, but they generally consist of three parts—top, middle, and bottom—and are divided into four main structures: upper pot, valve, powder cup, and lower pot.

The upper vessel is mainly used to hold ice and water, with a metal component connected below—this is the valve that can adjust the water outlet diameter to change the drip speed, allowing ice water to drip evenly onto the coffee grounds. The middle glass pot, shaped like a cup, is used to hold the ground coffee, with a filter hole at the bottom center that lets the extracted coffee liquid drip through. The large pot below collects the extracted coffee.

Here, Front Street chooses a Costa Rica Mozart coffee that is quite popular in stores to make it. Mozart coffee beans use raisin anaerobic honey-processed green beans, with flavors of raisin, osmanthus, and fruity fermented sweetness. Cold drip coffee can make the fermented notes more pronounced.

For grind size, Front Street generally chooses the same grind size as ice pour-over. Since the low temperature reduces the extraction rate, the coffee is ground finer to improve extraction. For this bean, we choose a 85% passing rate through the Chinese No. 20 standard sieve, which corresponds to a grind setting of 9 on the ek-43s grinder at Front Street stores.

We usually calculate the extraction parameters first, using a coffee-to-liquid ratio of 1:10—60 grams of coffee to extract 600g of coffee liquid. The ice-water mixture ratio is 1:1, and the valve flow rate is controlled at 7 drops per 10 seconds, generally completing the drip in 6-8 hours.(Usually the cold drip ratio is 1:10-1:12; you can adjust according to your own taste)

Fit a circular filter paper with water at the bottom of the middle pot, then grind the coffee beans into powder and pour them in. Be careful to spread them flat to ensure even extraction. Place another circular filter paper on the surface of the coffee bed to prevent water droplets from disturbing the grounds. Before dripping, wet the coffee bed with cold water—this saves extraction time and prevents uneven extraction at the beginning.

Place the powder cup on the stand and start adding the ice-water mixture, usually half ice and half water. Adjust the valve flow rate to 7 drops/10 seconds, mainly aligning the dripping water with the position where the coffee liquid filters out. After the drip is complete, pour the contents of the lower pot into an airtight container—Front Street uses a glass bottle—and put it in the refrigerator to ferment for more than 12 hours. It's usually ready to drink the next day.

After a night of refrigeration, the Mozart coffee will present an alcoholic fermented quality, with the sweet-tartness of berries, pineapple, and other tropical fruits. The flavor is rich but not bitter. After adding ice to dilute it, it's like drinking a refreshing fruit wine.

How to Choose Coffee Beans for Cold Drip Coffee

The biggest feature of cold drip coffee is long extraction at low temperature, so when choosing coffee beans, we generally consider types with more prominent flavor characteristics. Here Front Street introduces several typical flavor types of coffee beans.

1. Tropical Fruit, Fermented Wine Aroma Type

For example, the Front Street Mozart coffee mentioned earlier has the sweet-tartness of dark berries, plus the wine aroma produced by low-temperature aging, making the overall taste even better. There are also several coffee beans on the Front Street menu that belong to this type—Colombia's Front Street Flower Moon coffee, Honduras' Front Street Sherry coffee, and Costa Rica's Front Street Strawberry Candy coffee—all with very distinct aromas, also suitable for ice pour-over and cold brew methods.

2. Refreshing and Clean Type

Some use washed processing to make the coffee's acidity very clean and full-bodied. This flavor made into cold drip coffee has a juice-like acidity, with the transparent fresh fragrance of cherry tomatoes and grapefruit, very suitable for drinking in hot summer. For example, on the Front Street menu: Kenya's Asalia AA coffee, Ethiopia's washed Gotiti Cooperative coffee, and Panama's Geisha blend Butterfly coffee. If you're a fan of light and fresh flavors, you'll definitely love this pure and transparent taste.

3. Sweet and Delicious Type

Compared to the above two types of medium-light roast coffee, dark roast coffee is generally less commonly used to make cold drip coffee, as it's thought to be very strong and bitter. Actually, that's not the case. Front Street has tried making cold drip coffee with Indonesia's Golden Mandheling. After adding ice, it has a rich chocolate sweetness and a fermented aroma, not bitter at all. If you can't accept the "heavy" Mandheling coffee, Front Street thinks Brazil's Queen's Estate can also present nutty and chocolate flavor notes, with a smooth creamy mouthfeel when diluted with ice.

4. Flavor Blend Type

Friends who often drink espresso certainly know that coffee beans can be made into blends, and cold drip coffee is no exception. Besides using single-origin beans with clear flavors, cold drip coffee can also be made by blending two or more single-origin beans for extraction. For example, Front Street has tried blending Honduras' Lychee Orchid coffee and the Musician series Beethoven coffee at a 1:1 ratio, hoping to get a coffee with both wine and fruit notes. After mixed dripping, the extracted coffee shows rich brandy aroma and honey sweetness, along with refreshing fruity acidity. Following this approach, you can create a cup of cold drip coffee with your preferred taste and flavor by making combinations according to personal preference.

Regarding flavor expression, you can refer to Front Street's classification recommendations above for your selection. Since cold drip coffee is extracted at low temperature with slower efficiency, it is quite forgiving. You can adjust based on your home equipment and budget. It should be noted here that all flavor expressions are based on the freshness of the coffee bean roast, so Front Street recommends choosing coffee beans within their optimal flavor period. Front Street's roasting philosophy is freshly roasted good coffee—everything Front Street ships is freshly roasted within 5 days. We hope every customer can enjoy good coffee at its peak flavor.

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