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Lately, more and more friends are making cold brew coffee, ice drip coffee, and other cold-extracted coffees at home. Front Street's pre-made ice drip coffee is also in short supply. Many friends have also asked, how long can cold brew coffee be kept in the fridge?  

What is the secret behind low-temperature extracted cold brew coffee?

Both cold brew coffee and ice drip coffee belong to low-temperature extraction, where the temperature at which water contacts the coffee grounds is controlled between 0-7°C. The only difference is that cold brew coffee uses low-temperature immersion, while ice drip coffee uses low-temperature drip filtration. If we compare them to conventional hot water brewing methods, cold brew corresponds to immersion-style extraction like French press and Clever Cup, while ice drip corresponds to drip-style extraction represented by pour-over coffee. The former has a more balanced mouthfeel, while the latter tends toward more distinct layers.

Back to low-temperature extraction — the reason cold brew and ice drip are so popular is because they have one advantage: by leveraging the low extraction efficiency of low temperatures, they can reduce the release of large-molecule bitter substances, so the ice drip coffee we drink is refreshing, with rich sweet-and-sour flavors.

What equipment do you need to buy to make cold brew or ice drip?

Generally speaking, if we want to make ice coffee just like at a coffee shop, Front Street would recommend buying dedicated cold brew pitchers and ice drip pots, as these can effectively control extraction. However, since the principle of cold brew coffee is simple and it uses low-temperature extraction, it doesn't depend much on equipment. We can just find a clean, sealable container at home, which saves us some money to buy another bag of coffee beans.

As for ice drip, it not only requires a container for ice water but also has high demands on the uniform-speed water drip valve, so it's hard to find a "budget alternative." Here we still recommend buying an ice drip pot directly.

Actually, besides ice drip equipment, choosing the right coffee beans is also crucial. If you like sweet-and-sour cold brew, we recommend three specialty coffee beans: Front Street Fruit Ding Ding, Front Street Strawberry Candy, and Front Street Huakui. They are not only full of fruity aromas but also present a delicate sweet-and-sour taste under low-temperature extraction. If you prefer a balanced taste, we recommend Front Street, Diamond Mountain, Front Street Kaffa Forest, and Front Street Gesha Village Chaka, which have a nice balance of sweetness, acidity, bitterness, and sweetness. But if you're someone who only loves rich, dark-roasted coffee, then you should start with these single-origin coffees: Front Street Queen's Estate, Front Street Bird of Paradise, Front Street Golden Mandheling, and Front Street Huilan.

Can ice drip coffee be drunk directly after it's made?

Based on Front Street's experience, ice drip coffee tastes better after being refrigerated for 10-12 hours.

 Ice drip coffee is usually made at room temperature (26-28°C), and the production time is about 6-8 hours, shorter than the time needed for cold brew coffee. Freshly made ice drip coffee is at about 15°C and has an obvious layered effect (darker at the bottom, lighter at the top). This is because the coffee substances extracted at the beginning are more, while the water droplets later extract fewer coffee substances. Plus, the coffee liquid's low temperature makes it less likely to flow, so a layered phenomenon of inconsistent concentration easily appears.

At this point, the ice drip coffee's flavor isn't very rich yet, retaining only the mid-to-front flavors of the coffee beans themselves. Front Street generally pours the finished ice drip coffee into a glass bottle with a sealing rubber ring and lets it sit in the fridge for 12 hours before drinking. Pouring it into the glass bottle can mix the coffee liquid of inconsistent concentration, and choosing a container with good sealing performance ensures it won't be contaminated by the outside. The fridge surface may look clean, but in reality there are many microorganisms invisible to the naked eye.

Placing it in the fridge for 12 hours of low-temperature fermentation will give the ice drip coffee a fragrant fermented aroma, and the original flavors also become more intense. Fermentation is very common in daily life, and uncontrolled fermentation will lead to food spoilage. In a low-temperature environment, this process can be effectively slowed down, and Front Street has also verified that ice drip coffee made from most coffee beans tastes best after 12 hours of refrigeration.

Ice drip coffee/Creative ways to drink cold brew coffee

Although there are many coffee beans to choose from for cold brew coffee and ice drip coffee, since they are slowly extracted under cold water, their flavor is ultimately more one-dimensional compared to hot pour-over. Clever friends then thought of adding other ingredients to provide some unique aromas to the coffee, such as dried flower petals, which are favored by many ladies.

Considering that cold brew has fewer interfering factors and is immersed in a static environment throughout, if you want to infuse fragrant scents into the coffee and give it a touch of freshness, it's best to choose varieties with obvious floral aromas that are easy to extract, such as osmanthus, jasmine, and rose. These three flowers are not only easy to come by in daily life but also have higher compatibility with coffee flavors. However, although these dried flowers are full of aroma, their taste is rather thin, so it's best to pair them with light-to-medium roasted coffee beans with flavor profiles pointing toward floral and fruity notes. We recommend Front Street Red Cherry, Front Street Xizhua, and Front Street Little Tomato.

Cold brew coffee/How many days can cold brew coffee be kept at most?

Many friends are very concerned about this question. Coffee brewed with hot water generally loses much of its flavor after sitting for 1 hour, or even completely. But coffee made and stored at low temperatures can be kept longer. Ice drip coffee tastes best after 12 hours of refrigeration following production, and cold brew coffee tastes best after filtering out the grounds and refrigerating for 4 hours. As it sits longer, the fermented taste of the coffee becomes more intense, eventually masking the coffee's own aroma.

As Front Street mentioned above, low-temperature controlled fermentation only slows down the fermentation rate, and over time, ice drip coffee will eventually spoil. Generally, ice drip coffee stored in the fridge for 5 days is relatively safe; ice drip coffee beyond 5 days is prone to spoilage flavors like sourness. As for cold brew coffee, since both the production and storage environments are at low temperatures, it can generally be stored in the fridge for 7 days.

Whether it's ice drip or cold brew coffee, Front Street recommends drinking it within 5 days. Although ice drip coffee won't necessarily spoil after 5 days, nor necessarily taste bad, for the sake of flavor experience and health safety, Front Street sets the best-tasting period for its ice drip coffee at 4-5 days.

You can now purchase Front Street Coffee single-origin coffee beans and espresso blend coffee beans at the Tmall "Front Street Flagship Store." 60 kinds of coffee beans from around the world, freshly roasted, shipped within 24H.

Tmall link: https://qianjieshipin.tmall.com

Or you can search "Front Street Flagship Store" directly on Taobao.

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