What Is the History Behind Cold Drip Coffee?

Cold drip coffee is made by dripping ice water evenly onto coffee grounds and extracting slowly at normal pressure. The process takes 6 to 8 hours, and because cold water pulls fewer bitter compounds, the cup tastes strong but not bitter. The article traces the drink from its Dutch origins through Japanese refinement, and explains how it differs from cold brew.

The terms Dutch Coffee, cold drip, and cold brew describe related but distinct methods. Cold drip uses a glass tower and a controlled drip rate, so output per batch stays limited and often sells out. Costa Rica Mozart coffee serves as the brewing example, with beans grouped by profile: tropical fruit fermented, clean and refreshing, sweet, and blended.

Does cold drip coffee actually not originate from the Netherlands? Many friends who come to Front Street Coffee to drink coffee are attracted by the scene of ice water slowly dripping through a cold drip coffee maker, and are curious about what kind of coffee this is. Cold drip coffee requires 6 to 8 hours of long, slow extraction, so the output is limited and it is often in short supply. This article will start with the historical origins of cold drip coffee, clarify the relationship between Dutch Coffee, Cold drip coffee, and Cold brew coffee, then introduce in detail the structure and use of the cold drip coffee maker, and share specific brewing parameters using Costa Rica Mozart coffee as an example. Finally, Front Street Coffee will also recommend coffee beans suitable for making cold drip coffee according to four directions: tropical fruit fermented type, refreshing and clean type, sweet and delicious type, and flavor blend type, helping everyone make a cup of rich but not bitter cold drip coffee at home.

Quite a few friends who come to Front Street Coffee say that watching the ice water slowly dripping through the cold drip coffee maker is very soothing, 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 usually Front Street's cold drip output is not large, resulting in a situation of "supply falling short of demand."

The Story of Cold Drip Coffee

What Is Cold Drip Coffee

Cold drip coffee refers to a method of evenly dripping ice water onto coffee grounds and slowly extracting coffee aroma substances under normal pressure. Because low-temperature ice water does not easily extract the bitter substances in coffee, and the slow flow rate greatly increases the coffee extraction yield, the taste of cold drip coffee is strong but not bitter. If coffee beans with more prominent flavors are chosen to make it, the fermented note and the sweet-tartness of fruit, together with the refreshingness of ice cubes, 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 among these three kinds of coffee? Front Street starts with a story about Dutch Coffee.

In the early 18th century, during the process of the Dutch transporting coffee beans back to Europe from their colony Indonesia, because the journey was long, there was no hot water on the ship, and it was impossible to brew a cup of coffee leisurely. Unable to drink hot coffee, they came up with the idea of extracting coffee with cold water, using a container filled with ground coffee and adding cold water to soak it for several hours. Coffee made this way was very sweet and not bitter at all. Dutch trading merchants discovered that this convenient method allowed them to drink coffee during maritime trade, so this way of making coffee with cold water began to spread around 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 and gradually transformed and evolved into today's cold drip coffee. Therefore, we sometimes see the statement that "cold drip coffee was invented by the Japanese." More precisely, it should be said that the Japanese improved the preparation method invented by the Dutch and preserved this preparation method, allowing us to drink this uniquely flavored iced coffee.

After reading the story above, Front Street believes you already have a rough understanding that this method of using cold water to soak coffee grounds to extract coffee liquid is what people call Dutch Coffee. Cold drip coffee, improved from the production principle of cold brew coffee, also belongs to a type of Dutch Coffee. In addition, there is another new low-temperature extraction method. Cold brew coffee refers to pouring ice water into a container holding coffee grounds, then letting it sit for 12-24 hours, and finally filtering out the coffee grounds to obtain a cup of iced coffee with a slight alcoholic note and sweet-tartness. Its brewing principle is actually the same as Dutch Coffee, so it also belongs to a type of Dutch Coffee.

How to Use a Cold Drip Coffee Maker

We can usually see all kinds of cold drip coffee maker devices online, in various materials and shapes, but generally they cannot do without the upper, middle, and lower parts, and are also divided into four main structures: upper pot, valve, powder cup, and lower pot.

The upper vessel is mainly used to hold ice cubes and water. Below it is connected a metal component. This is the valve that can adjust the diameter of the water outlet to change the speed of the water droplets, 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. There is a filter hole in the middle of the bottom that can drip out the extracted coffee liquid. The large pot below is for collecting the extracted coffee.

Here Front Street chooses a Costa Rica Mozart coffee that is relatively popular in stores to make it. Mozart coffee beans use raisin anaerobic honey-processed green coffee beans. The flavor is raisin, osmanthus, and the sweet aroma of fruit fermentation. Cold drip coffee can make the fermented note more obvious.

For grind size, Front Street generally chooses the same grind size as for iced pour-over. Because low-temperature water reduces the extraction yield, the coffee is ground finer to improve extraction. For this bean, choose a 85% passing rate on the China No. 20 standard sieve. According to Front Street store's grind size, that is a grinding setting of 9 on the ek-43s grinder.

Usually we first calculate the extraction parameters. Use a coffee-to-liquid ratio of 1:10, extracting 600g of coffee liquid from 60g of coffee. The ratio of ice-water mixture is 1:1. The valve flow rate is controlled at 7 drops every 10 seconds, and dripping is generally completed within 6-8 hours. (Usually the ratio for cold drip is 1:10-1:12; everyone can adjust according to their own taste.)

At the bottom of the middle pot, attach a round filter paper with water. Then grind the coffee beans into powder and pour them in. Be careful to level them so as to ensure even extraction. Also place a round filter paper on the surface of the coffee bed to prevent water droplets from disturbing the coffee bed. Before dripping, the coffee bed needs to be moistened with cold water first. This can both save extraction time and avoid uneven extraction at the beginning.

Place the powder cup on the stand and begin 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 droplets with the position where the coffee liquid is filtered out. After dripping is completed, pour the contents of the lower pot into an airtight container. For example, Front Street uses a glass bottle, and puts it in the refrigerator to ferment for more than 12 hours. Usually it can be drunk the next day.

After a night of refrigeration, Mozart coffee will present an alcoholic fermented note like wine, the sweet-tartness of tropical fruits such as berries and pineapple, and a rich taste without bitterness. After adding ice cubes to dilute it, it tastes like drinking a refreshing fruit wine.

How to Choose Coffee Beans for Cold Drip Coffee

The biggest characteristic 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 types of coffee beans with relatively typical flavors.

1. Tropical fruit, fermented wine aroma type

For example, the Mozart coffee mentioned earlier by Front Street has the sweet-tartness of dark berries, plus the wine aroma produced by aging at low temperature, making the overall taste even better. In addition, several coffees on Front Street's bean list also belong to this type: Colombia's Flower Moon Night coffee, Honduras' Sherry coffee, and Costa Rica's Strawberry Candy coffee. They have very obvious aromas and are also suitable for making iced pour-over and cold brew.

2. Refreshing and clean type

Some use washed processing to make the coffee's acidity very clean and full. When made into cold drip coffee, this flavor will have a juice-like acidity, with the transparent fresh fragrance of cherry tomatoes and pomelo, very suitable for drinking in hot summer. For example, on Front Street's bean list, Kenya's Asalia AA coffee, Ethiopia's washed Gotiti Cooperative coffee, and Panama's Geisha blend Butterfly coffee. If you are a lover of light and fresh flavors, you will definitely like this pure and transparent taste.

3. Sweet and delicious type

Compared with the above two types of medium-light roasted coffee, dark-roasted coffee is generally less often used to make cold drip coffee, as people think it will be very strong and bitter. Actually, this is not the case. Front Street has tried using Indonesia's Golden Mandheling to make cold drip coffee. After adding ice cubes, it has a rich chocolate sweetness and also a fermented aroma, without being bitter at all. If you cannot accept the "heavy taste" of Mandheling coffee, Front Street believes that Brazil's Queen's Farm can also present a flavor profile of nuts and chocolate, and with dilution by ice cubes it also has a smooth creamy mouthfeel.

4. Flavor blend type

Friends who often drink espresso surely know that coffee beans can be made into blends, and cold drip coffee can also be made this way. In addition to using single-origin beans with clear flavors, cold drip coffee can also choose to extract two or more single-origin beans together. For example, Front Street has tried blending Honduras Lychee Orchid coffee and the Musician series Beethoven coffee in a 1:1 ratio, hoping to drink coffee with both an alcoholic note and a fruity note. After mixed dripping, the extracted coffee shows a rich brandy aroma and honey sweetness, along with refreshing fruity acidity. Following this idea, you can make a cup of cold drip coffee with a taste and flavor you like by making combinations according to personal preference.

Regarding flavor expression, everyone can refer to Front Street's classification recommendations above when choosing. Because cold drip coffee is extracted at low temperature and the efficiency is slower, it is more inclusive. Everyone can adjust according to factors such as equipment at home and budget. What needs to be noted here is that all flavor expression is based on the roasting freshness of the coffee beans, so Front Street recommends choosing coffee beans within their best flavor period. Front Street's roasting principle is freshly roasted good coffee. What Front Street ships is coffee beans freshly roasted within 5 days, hoping every customer can drink good coffee during its best flavor period.

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