Can coffee make you drunk, and how is cold brew made?

No, coffee cannot make you drunk. Caffeine is a stimulant, not alcohol, so drinking cold brew or any coffee will not raise your blood alcohol level or cause intoxication. The drowsiness, jitters, or racing heart some people feel after a strong cup come from caffeine, not from alcohol, and they fade as the body metabolizes it.

The question of whether you can get drunk from coffee often comes up alongside cold brew guides. A standard home recipe uses a 1:10 ratio, such as 50g of coarsely ground beans to 500ml of room-temperature water, steeped 12 to 14 hours in the refrigerator. The concentrate keeps about two days and can be diluted with ice.

Cold brew coffee has become increasingly popular in recent years. It is easy to make, requires no professional equipment, and can be easily prepared at home. This article covers the methods, benefits, and common questions about cold brew coffee, and answers questions such as whether store-bought cold brew coffee bags are any good and whether iced coffee can be stored overnight. The article will also introduce in detail a cold brew recipe using 50g of Front Street Coffee Butterfly coffee beans with 500ml of room-temperature water, and the rich fruity flavor brought by the 1:10 ratio. Whether you want to understand the difference between cold brew and ice drip, or you are looking for coffee beans suitable for cold brewing, you will find practical answers here.

For more specialty coffee knowledge, please follow: Front Street Coffee (Frontsteet Coffee)

There are many ways to make iced coffee, from the laborious ice drip method, to the make-and-drink ice hand pour, to the convenient and easy cold brew method that has become mainstream — the choices are abundant. Cold brew goes by different names in different places — Cold Brew, cold brewed coffee, cold extracted coffee, and so on — but they are essentially the same iced coffee-making process.

This article will walk you through the many benefits of iced coffee, help you quickly master how to make iced coffee and the ratio for cold brew coffee, and teach you how to choose iced coffee beans and iced coffee grounds. More importantly, the entire process requires no coffee machine, cold brew pot, or special cold brew cup or other specialized equipment. Easy-to-use tools are often right there around you, readily available. Here is the specific tutorial for cold brew coffee:

1. Weigh out 50g of Front Street Coffee Butterfly coffee beans and grind them into coarser particles (65% passing rate on a No. 20 standard sieve).

2. Place the ground coffee into a sealed bottle and pour in 500ml of room-temperature water.

3. Tighten the lid and shake well, then place in the refrigerator for low-temperature slow extraction for 12 to 14 hours.

4. After extraction is complete, use filter paper or a strainer to separate the coffee grounds. The resulting coffee liquid can be drunk directly, or refrigerated and consumed within two days.

5. This recipe uses a 1:10 coffee-to-water ratio, with the aim of dissolving more flavor compounds into less water, so the finished cold brew coffee has a rich taste with prominent fruity sweet-and-sour notes. You can also add an appropriate amount of ice cubes to dilute and chill it, making it even more refreshing to drink.

The Benefits of Cold Brew Coffee

1. Great taste: Friends who have seen the "Six Steps to Tasting Coffee" video will know that most of the aromatic substances in coffee beans are easily lost during hot water hand pouring. The biggest difference in flavor between iced coffee and hot coffee is that cold brewing preserves water-soluble aromatic compounds to the greatest extent, so the aroma you taste is closer to the aroma you smell. 2. Unique: Iced coffee made by cold brewing has low bitterness, a mellow and rounded taste, and a fermented aroma reminiscent of fine liquor. 3. Money-saving: Making cold brew yourself lets you use better coffee beans, and the cost is lower than buying ready-made cold brew coffee. 4. Eco-friendly and no waste: You can use up good beans or blended beans from your stash, and the coffee grounds can be used as fertilizer or as a deodorizer for the fridge or bathroom.

Q: Are ready-made cold brew coffee bags on the market any good? A: After coffee is ground, most of the good aromas will have evaporated within a few hours. Without these good flavors that dissolve into cold brew coffee through low-temperature extraction, the finished product will be considerably inferior compared to cold brewing with freshly ground whole beans.

Q: After iced coffee is made, can it still be drunk the next day or overnight? A: Iced coffee made according to the method in this article can be kept in the refrigerator for several days. Of course, it should be stored in a sealed jar — at least a glass jar with a lid — so it does not easily lose its flavor.

Q: Will cold brew coffee or ice drip coffee be sour? A: If you choose light-roasted, high-acidity coffee beans, the extracted coffee liquid will have a rich fruity acidity. If you do not like fruity acidity, you can choose coffee beans that are darker roasted, or beans that are naturally low in acidity, such as wet-hulled or monsooned beans.

Q: Is the caffeine content of cold brew coffee high? A: The melting point of caffeine is around 220 degrees. The caffeine level depends on the caffeine content of the coffee beans themselves. For the same beans, cold water extraction may yield slightly less caffeine than hot water brewing.

Q: How coarse should the grind be for cold brew coffee? A: Just use the grind size you normally use for hand pouring.

Q: What is the difference between cold brew coffee and ice drip coffee?

A: Ice drip coffee is made by dripping cold water and ice cubes, drop by drop, into coffee grounds for extraction, giving a more pronounced fermented flavor. Cold brew coffee is more like making cold brewed tea — coffee grounds are soaked in water, placed in the refrigerator for several hours, and then filtered to obtain the coffee liquid. Cold brew has a more rounded flavor and a richer aroma.

Q: There are so many coffee bean varieties — are any particularly suitable for cold brew?

A: All coffee beans can be used to make cold brew, and the final flavor naturally depends on the beans you choose. This is also why we recommend making it yourself — cold brewing with coffee beans you enjoy makes it easier to get a taste you are satisfied with.

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