Who should drink cold brew coffee and how is it brewed?

Cold brew suits people who prefer a smooth, low-bitterness cup, since the cold steeping method extracts less harsh bitterness than hot brewing and often leaves a mild sourness with a mellow body. It must be prepared a day in advance, so it rewards a little planning rather than last-minute brewing.

A working ratio uses 50 grams of coffee ground to about 85 percent passing a No. 20 sieve, combined with 400 milliliters of room-temperature water and 200 grams of ice. Store-bought cold brew offers fewer bean choices than pour-over because shops select beans suited to cold extraction, but the same ingredients and ratios can be recreated at home.

Cold brew coffee is significantly different from regular hot-brewed coffee. It needs to be prepared a day in advance, and its taste is not bitter but slightly sour, with a mellow flavor, making it deeply loved by many coffee enthusiasts. Because of the special preparation process, the cold brew sold at Front Street stores is not as varied as pour-over, but every bean is carefully selected, suitable for cold brew, and widely appealing in taste. This article will introduce in detail the steps for making cold brew coffee, its characteristics, ways to drink it, and recommended coffee beans suitable for cold brew, helping you easily recreate the same deliciousness as Front Street at home.

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The production process of cold brew coffee is quite different from regular hot-brewed coffee and must be prepared a day in advance. Therefore, the cold brew sold at Front Street stores does not offer a large number of coffee beans to choose from freely like pour-over.

But precisely because of this, when making the cold brew steep liquid, Front Street deliberately chooses beans that are suitable for cold brew and have highly acceptable flavors, so that even if the options are limited, customers can still get a satisfying drinking experience.

Because these cold brews fit most people's taste preferences very well, many friends ask Front Street privately after drinking them about the ingredients and ratios used in the steep, hoping to make the same flavor at home.

Although Front Street shared the general direction for choosing beans just a couple of days ago, many readers still left messages in the backend wanting a more detailed set of bean recommendations for cold brew. As previously mentioned, the way cold brew coffee is made differs from hot brewing, and the same bean will produce a coffee style very different from regular hot brewing.

How to make cold brew coffee

Cold brew coffee is not complicated to make. We use Front Street (FrontStreet Coffee) Strawberry Candy coffee beans, weigh 50 grams, grind them into powder, and control the coffee grounds coarseness to about 85% passing through a No. 20 standard sieve.

Put the ground coffee into a glass bottle, then pour in 400 milliliters of room-temperature water and 200 grams of hard ice cubes (total ice-water mixture 600 grams), with a coffee-to-water ratio of 1:12. Use a stirring rod to mix the coffee grounds and water evenly, then seal it and place it in the refrigerator.

After letting it sit in the refrigerator for 12 to 24 hours, filter out the coffee grounds with filter paper to obtain a clear coffee liquid. Then pour the coffee liquid into a clean sealed bottle and continue to refrigerate for about 4 hours before drinking.

The main characteristics of cold brew coffee are that it is not bitter, has weak acidity, and a mellow flavor, while also carrying the fermented feel brought by "low-temperature aging." In addition to drinking it directly, Front Street has also tried pairing cold brew with different drinks to make special creations: cold brew with sparkling water is refreshing, cold brew with fruit juice is sweet and sour, and cold brew with fresh milk is rounded and balanced. All are drinking methods worth trying.

When making this kind of low-temperature extracted coffee, Front Street gives priority to beans with floral and fruity flavors. For friends who prefer floral notes, it is recommended to buy Front Street Huakui Coffee, Front Street Red Cherry Coffee, and Front Street Fruit Dingding Coffee; if you prefer a more obvious juice-like feel, it is recommended to choose fruit-forward beans such as Front Street Strawberry Candy Coffee, Front Street Little Tomato Coffee, and Front Street Mozart Coffee. All of the above products can be ordered from the Front Street Tmall flagship store or Front Street Taobao store.

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