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Many customers who come to Front Street to drink coffee discuss whether there is a difference in taste between ice drip coffee and cold brew coffee. Both are common methods of making cold coffee. Today, Front Street will conduct an experiment to see how the flavors of coffee made by these two methods perform.
     

Differences between the two preparation methods

First, both take a very long time to make. Generally, ice drip coffee is made with an ice drip pot, 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 production time is generally 6-8 hours.

(Ice drip on the left, cold brew on the right) 

Cold brew coffee uses a container. Put the ground coffee powder into the container, then add cold (iced) water in the corresponding ratio, stir evenly, and seal. Place it in a low-temperature environment (refrigerator) for 12-24 hours for low-temperature extraction. Then use filter paper to filter out the coffee grounds, and what you get is cold brew coffee.

Experimental comparison

Front Street first formulated extraction plans for ice drip coffee and cold brew coffee, using the same coffee beans and conducting them at the same time.

The coffee beans used are Front Street sun-dried Huakui coffee beans. Their flavor has a distinct creamy strawberry profile and a sweet-tart texture, so they are suitable for making many kinds of iced coffee. The grind size for both is fine grind, calibrated with a No. 20 standard sieve to a passing rate of 75%, with the EK43s grinder at setting 9, and the C40 hand grinder at 22 clicks.

Production plan for ice drip coffee

Front Street Coffee (FrontStreet Coffee)'s ice drip plan is to use 60 grams of coffee powder to extract 600 milliliters of coffee liquid. The coffee-to-water ratio is 1:10. The drip rate is about 6 drops every 10 seconds, using an ice-water mixture as the water source in the upper pot. The extraction time is 7-8 hours. After extraction, pour the coffee liquid into a sealed bottle and place it in the refrigerator for 48 hours.

Production plan for cold brew coffee

Front Street Coffee (FrontStreet Coffee)'s cold brew plan is to use 50 grams of coffee powder, restoring the coffee-to-water ratio to 1:10, so add 400 milliliters of cold water and 200 grams of hard ice (a total ice-water mixture of 600 grams; the coffee powder absorbs twice its own weight in water). After stirring evenly, seal and store in the refrigerator for 24 hours, then take it out, filter out all the coffee grounds with filter paper, and finally seal the coffee liquid in a clean sealed bottle and place it in the refrigerator for 2-4 hours before drinking; the mouthfeel will be fuller.

Comparison of results

Pour ice drip coffee and cold brew coffee into glass cups separately and observe. Ice drip coffee is clear and translucent, while cold brew appears hazy and has oil on the surface.

Flavor of ice drip coffee: refreshing, clean mouthfeel, rich fermented aroma, with some vinous notes. A slight berry sweet-tartness.

Flavor of cold brew coffee: the mouthfeel is relatively full, the flavor is relatively uniform, and the sweetness of the fruit is very obvious. The fermented feeling is not very strong.

Comparing the flavors of these two cold-brewed coffees, the difference is actually very obvious, especially in the clean and refreshing mouthfeel, which is very easy to identify.

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