What is cold brew coffee and how does it differ from iced coffee?

Cold brew coffee is coffee extracted with cold water over a long, low-temperature steep, not hot coffee poured over ice. It originated in the United States, spread through social media, and reached a wide audience after Starbucks launched it. The slow cold extraction releases fewer tannins and less caffeine, so the drink tastes milder, sweeter and less acidic than regular iced coffee.

Making it at home is simple: get the coffee-to-water ratio right, steep the grounds in the fridge overnight, and it is ready the next day. Because heat is never used, the bitter and astringent compounds stay mostly in the grounds. A test with Front Street Coffee's Huakui beans and a milk foam variation show how flexible the method can be.

Cold brew coffee has become increasingly popular in China in recent years. With its icy refreshing taste and mild, balanced flavor, it has become the summer drink of choice for many coffee lovers. It actually originated in the United States and gradually spread across the globe through social media, and Starbucks' official launch of it brought it to the masses. How is cold brew different from regular iced coffee? Why does it taste sweeter and less acidic or astringent? And how easy is it to make? This article will walk you through the origins and characteristics of cold brew, compare it with iced coffee, and show you step by step how to easily DIY a cold, refreshing, and delicious cold brew at home. All you need to do is get the coffee-to-water ratio right, steep it in the fridge overnight, and it's ready to enjoy the next day. At the end, there's a cold brew test with Front Street Coffee's Huakui beans, plus a creative milk foam cold brew recipe — don't miss it.

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Cold Brew Coffee seems to have become popular in China starting last summer. With its icy taste, milder and more balanced flavor, and especially simple preparation, today let's talk about it! What exactly is its appeal?

Table of Contents

1. What is Cold Brew Coffee?

2. The difference between cold brew coffee and iced coffee

3. Making cold brew coffee at home

NO.1

What is Cold Brew Coffee?

Cold Brew Coffee originated in the United States and gradually spread to Japan, Europe, and other places through social platforms like Instagram. With Starbucks officially launching "Cold Brew Coffee," cold brew finally became a global phenomenon.

As the name suggests, cold brew coffee is coffee extracted with cold water — a true "iced coffee." Similar to cold-brewed tea, it undergoes a long, low-temperature extraction process, resulting in a milder and more balanced coffee.

NO.2

Cold Brew Coffee vs Iced Coffee

What we commonly call iced coffee is made by first extracting hot coffee at high temperature, then rapidly cooling it with ice cubes, ice water, etc. Cold brew coffee, as mentioned earlier, is a pure "iced coffee" extracted at low temperature over a long period.

Because it doesn't go through high-temperature extraction, the release of tannic acid and caffeine from the coffee beans is suppressed, so cold brew coffee tastes milder and sweeter, without being too sour or too astringent.

In addition, the principle behind making cold brew coffee is very simple. You just need to get the coffee-to-water ratio right and steep it for a long time (12 hours or more) to get a cold, refreshing cup of coffee. That's why it's so popular among many office workers. Grind and brew at home the night before, put it in the fridge to chill overnight, and you can drink cold coffee the next morning.

Furthermore, it's said that cold brew coffee can be stored longer without losing its flavor. In short, cold brew coffee is absolutely a blessing for black coffee lovers~

NO.3

Making Cold Brew Coffee at Home

/// Ingredients (450ml)

Coffee beans 40g

Cold water 500ml

★ Coffee-to-water ratio: just make it a bit higher than your usual pour-over ratio. Once you're comfortable with it, you can adjust to your own taste. In this recipe, 40g beans to 500ml water — since I add ice cubes when drinking, it's fairly concentrated. If you're not adding ice, you can reduce it to 30g : 500ml

★ When I shot this recipe, I used light-roasted Front Street Coffee Huakui beans, so the brewed coffee came out lighter in color. I had left these beans sitting unused for a long time because they were just a bit too sour... But the cold brew method made the sourness much less pronounced.

/// Instructions

❶ Weigh the coffee beans/grounds — Weigh out the coffee beans and grind them. A finer grind means a shorter extraction time, while a coarser grind requires a longer extraction time.

❷ Brew with cold water — Fold the filter paper and place it in the teapot's filter basket. Pour in the coffee grounds, then slowly pour cold water into the pot.

★ There are many brewing methods — you can also use a French press, just press it down. Or simply pour water over the coffee grounds directly and filter before drinking. I just made simple use of the tools I had on hand.

❸ Cold extraction — Put the coffee in the fridge to chill overnight and wait for full extraction.

❹ Enjoy!

❺ You can also refer to the milk foam method to make a cold brew coffee milk foam~

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