What is the origin of cold brew coffee?

Cold drip coffee uses ice water dripping at a constant speed onto coffee grounds, slowly extracting aroma over six to eight hours at low temperature. Bitter compounds release less in cold water, while the slow flow raises extraction efficiency, so the cup tastes rich but not bitter. The method traces back to Dutch traders shipping beans from Indonesia to Europe in the early eighteenth century.

Three names circulate: cold drip, cold brew, and Dutch coffee. Bean choice matters most. Tropical fruit fermented lots suit drinkers who want bold fruit notes, crisp and clean green coffee bean selections work for lighter cups, sweet profiles fit milk-free sipping, and blends add body. Matching the bean to the style keeps the result consistent at home.

Cold drip coffee, with its unique low-temperature slow extraction, delivers a rich yet not bitter taste, and has gained increasing favor among coffee lovers in recent years. So where exactly did cold drip coffee come from? And what is its relationship with cold brew coffee and Dutch coffee? This article, drawing on the store experience of Front Street Coffee, traces the historical origins and brewing principles of cold drip coffee, explains in detail the structure and usage steps of a cold drip tower, and, combining several Front Street coffee beans, offers bean-selection ideas for friends with different taste preferences across four major categories—tropical fruit fermented type, crisp and clean type, sweet type, and blended type—to help everyone make a satisfying cup of cold drip coffee at home.

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Many guests who come to Front Street's store for coffee say that watching the ice water in the cold drip tower slowly falling drop by drop is especially soothing, and then they curiously ask Front Street what kind of coffee this is. This is precisely an important characteristic that sets cold drip coffee apart from other categories—it often requires six to eight hours of continuous slow extraction, so Front Street's cold drip output has always been relatively small, frequently falling short of demand.

The Story of Cold Drip Coffee

The method of cold drip coffee is to let ice water drip onto coffee grounds at a constant speed, slowly extracting the aromatic components of coffee in a normal-pressure environment. Because the water temperature is very low, bitter substances are not easily released, while the slow water flow greatly improves extraction efficiency, so cold drip tastes rich but not bitter. If you choose beans with strong flavor expression to make it, the fermented notes and the sweet-and-sour fruitiness, combined with the coolness of ice, can dispel the summer heat with just one sip.

The Origin of Cold Drip Coffee

We often hear three names—Cold drip coffee, Cold brew coffee, and Dutch Coffee. What exactly is the relationship between them? Front Street will start with a coffee story related to the Netherlands.

In the early eighteenth century, the Dutch transported coffee beans back to Europe from their colony of Indonesia. The voyage was long, and on board there was neither hot water nor the conditions to leisurely brew a cup of coffee. Unable to drink hot coffee, they came up with the method of extracting with cold water: they took a container, put in ground coffee, poured in cold water, and let it soak for several hours. The resulting coffee was exceptionally sweet, with no bitterness at all. Merchants engaged in Dutch trade found this method convenient, as they could drink coffee even at sea, and so this way of making coffee with cold water gradually spread.

However, this ice-water extraction method did not spread widely in the Netherlands itself. Instead, it was inherited by the Japanese and gradually improved into the cold drip coffee we see today. So occasionally you may see claims that "cold drip coffee was invented by the Japanese." More accurately, it should be said that the Japanese improved upon the method created by the Dutch and continued this brewing method, which is why we have the opportunity to taste this uniquely textured iced coffee.

After reading the story above, Front Street believes you already roughly understand that the method of soaking coffee grounds in cold water to obtain coffee liquid is what people call Dutch Coffee. Cold drip coffee, improved from the cold brew principle, also falls within the scope of Dutch coffee. In addition, there is a relatively newer low-temperature extraction method—Cold brew coffee—which involves pouring ice water into a container with coffee grounds, letting it sit for twelve to twenty-four hours, and then filtering out the grounds to obtain a cup of iced coffee with a slight wine aroma and sweet-and-sour taste. Its principle is actually the same as Dutch coffee, so it can also be classified as Dutch coffee.

How to Use a Cold Drip Coffee Tower

Online you can find cold drip towers in all kinds of shapes and materials, but they basically all consist of three parts: upper, middle, and lower. Specifically, they can be divided into four main structures: the upper pot, the valve, the powder cup, and the lower pot.

The upper container is used to hold ice and water, and below it is connected a metal component, namely the valve. By adjusting the outlet diameter, you can change the speed of the water drops so that ice water drips 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 center of its bottom, through which the extracted coffee liquid drips out. The large pot at the very bottom is responsible for collecting the coffee liquid.

Here, a relatively popular Front Street Costa Rica Mozart coffee bean is chosen for production. Front Street Mozart coffee beans use raisin anaerobic honey-processed green coffee beans, with flavors of raisins, osmanthus, and the sweet aroma of fruit fermentation. Cold drip coffee can make the fermented sensation more pronounced.

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

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

At the bottom of the middle pot, fit a circular filter paper with water, then grind the coffee beans into powder and pour them in. Be careful to level it so as to ensure even extraction. Place another circular filter paper on the surface of the coffee bed to prevent water drops from disturbing the bed. Before dripping, the coffee bed needs to be moistened with cold water first, which 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 drops with the position where the coffee liquid filters out. After dripping is complete, pour the liquid in the lower pot into an airtight container. At Front Street, for example, a glass bottle is used, then placed in the refrigerator to ferment for more than 12 hours. It is usually ready to drink the next day.

After a night of refrigeration, Front Street Mozart cold drip coffee presents a wine-like fermented quality, with the sweet-and-sour taste of tropical fruits such as berries and pineapple. The flavor is rich but not bitter. After adding ice 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 relatively prominent flavor characteristics. Here Front Street introduces several types of coffee beans with more typical flavors.

1. Tropical Fruit, Fermented Wine Aroma Type

For example, Front Street Strawberry Candy Coffee has the sweet-and-sour taste of dark berries, plus the wine aroma produced by aging at low temperature, making the overall mouthfeel even better. In addition, several coffee beans on Front Street's bean list also belong to this type—Front Street Sidra Coffee, Front Street Baha Coffee, and Front Street Big Belly Coffee—all with very obvious aromas, and also suitable for iced pour-over and cold brew methods.

2. Crisp and Clean Type

Some use washed processing to make the coffee beans' acidity very clean and full. Made into cold drip coffee, this flavor has a juice-like acidity, with the transparent fresh fragrance of cherry tomatoes and pomelo, very suitable for drinking in hot summer. Recommended are Front Street Cherry Tomato AA Coffee, Front Street Ethiopian Washed Gedeb Worka Cooperative Coffee, and Front Street Butterfly Coffee. If you are a lover of light and fresh flavors, you will definitely like this pure and transparent mouthfeel.

3. Sweet and Pleasant 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 it is thought to be very strong and bitter. Actually, this is not the case. Front Street has tried using Indonesian Golden Mandheling to make cold drip coffee. After adding ice, it has a rich chocolate sweetness and a fermented aroma, without any bitterness at all. If you cannot accept the "heavy-flavored" Mandheling coffee, it is recommended to buy Front Street Brazil Queen's Manor Coffee Beans or Front Street Huilan Coffee Beans, which can also present nutty and chocolate flavor tones, with a smooth creamy mouthfeel when diluted with ice.

4. Flavor Blend Type

Friends who often drink espresso surely know that coffee beans can be made into blends, and cold drip coffee can do the same. 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 Front Street Lychee Orchid Coffee and Front Street Musician Series Beethoven Coffee in a 1:1 ratio, hoping to drink coffee with both wine and fruit notes. After mixed dripping, the extracted coffee shows rich brandy aroma and honey sweetness, along with refreshing fruit acidity. Following this idea, you can make a cup of cold drip coffee with your preferred taste and flavor by pairing according to personal preference.

Regarding flavor expression, everyone can refer to Front Street's category recommendations above when making choices. Since cold drip coffee is extracted at low temperature and the efficiency is slower, it is more forgiving. Everyone can adjust according to factors such as equipment and budget at home. 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 optimal flavor period. Front Street's roasting philosophy is freshly roasted good coffee. Everything Front Street ships is coffee beans freshly roasted within 5 days, hoping every guest can drink good coffee during its best flavor period.

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