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Many friends who come to Front Street for coffee say that watching the ice water slowly drip through the cold drip carafe is so soothing, and they 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 Front Street's cold drip output is usually small, creating a "supply falls short of demand" situation.

The Story of Cold Drip Coffee

Cold drip coffee refers to a method of slowly extracting coffee aromatic substances under normal pressure by evenly dripping ice water through coffee grounds. Since low-temperature ice water does not easily extract the bitter substances in coffee, and the slow flow rate greatly increases the extraction yield, cold drip coffee tastes strong but not bitter. If you choose coffee beans with more prominent flavors to make it, the fermented notes and the sweet-tartness of fruit, combined with the refreshing coolness of ice, can instantly relieve the summer heat.

The Origin of Cold Drip Coffee

We often hear of Cold drip coffee, Cold brew coffee, and Dutch Coffee—what are the differences and connections between these three? Front Street will start with a Dutch coffee story.

In the early 18th century, when the Dutch transported coffee beans back to Europe from their colony in Indonesia, the journey was long, there was no hot water on the ship, and there was no leisure to brew a cup of coffee. Unable to drink hot coffee, they came up with the idea of extracting coffee with cold water—putting ground coffee in a container, adding cold water, and soaking it for several hours. The coffee made this way was very sweet and not bitter at all. Dutch trading merchants found this convenient method allowed them to drink coffee during maritime trade, so this cold-water coffee-making method began to spread around the world.

However, this ice-water coffee extraction method did not spread widely in the Netherlands. Instead, it was preserved by the Japanese, who gradually modified and evolved it into today's cold drip coffee. That is why we sometimes see the claim that "cold drip coffee was invented by the Japanese." More precisely, the Japanese improved upon the method invented by the Dutch and kept this production method alive, allowing us to enjoy this uniquely flavored iced coffee.

After reading the story above, Front Street believes you now roughly understand that this method of soaking coffee grounds in cold water to extract coffee liquid is what people call Dutch Coffee. Cold drip coffee, improved from the principles of cold brew coffee, is also a type of Dutch Coffee. There is also a newer low-temperature extraction method—Cold brew coffee refers to pouring ice water into a container holding coffee grounds, letting it sit for 12-24 hours, and finally filtering out the grounds to get a cup of iced coffee with a slight alcoholic note and sweet-tartness. The brewing principle is actually the same as Dutch Coffee, so it also belongs to the category of Dutch Coffee.

How to Use a Cold Drip Coffee Maker

We can usually find all kinds of cold drip devices online, in various materials and shapes, but they generally consist of three parts—top, middle, and bottom—and are divided into four main structures: upper carafe, valve, powder cup, and lower carafe.

The upper vessel is mainly used to hold ice and water, with a metal component connected below—this is the valve that can adjust the outlet diameter to change the drip speed, allowing ice water to drip evenly onto the coffee grounds. The middle glass carafe, shaped like a cup, is used to hold the ground coffee, with a filter hole at the bottom center that lets the extracted coffee liquid drip through. The large carafe below collects the extracted coffee.

Here we choose a relatively popular Front Street Costa Rica Mozart coffee bean for production. Front Street Mozart coffee beans use raisin anaerobic honey-processed green coffee beans, with flavors of raisin, osmanthus, and fruity fermented sweetness. Cold drip coffee can make the fermented notes more prominent.

For grind size, Front Street generally chooses the same grind size as ice pour-over. Since low-temperature water reduces the extraction rate, the coffee is ground finer to improve extraction. For this bean, we choose an 85% passing rate through the Chinese No. 20 standard sieve. According to Front Street's store grind setting, that is a 9 setting on the ek-43s grinder.

We usually calculate the extraction parameters first, using a coffee-to-liquid ratio of 1:10—60 grams of coffee extracts 600g of coffee liquid. The ratio of ice to water is 1:1, and the valve flow rate is controlled at 7 drops per 10 seconds. Drip filtration is generally completed within 6-8 hours. (Usually the cold drip ratio is 1:10-1:12; you can adjust according to your own taste.)

At the bottom of the middle carafe, attach a circular filter paper moistened with water, then grind the coffee beans into powder and pour them in. Be careful to spread it flat to ensure even extraction. Place another circular filter paper on the surface of the coffee bed to prevent water droplets from disturbing the coffee bed. Before dripping, wet the coffee bed with cold water—this both saves extraction time and avoids uneven extraction at the beginning.

Place the powder cup on the rack and start adding the ice-water mixture, usually half ice and half water. Adjust the valve flow rate to 7 drops/10 seconds, ensuring the dripping water aligns with the position where the coffee liquid exits. After drip filtration is complete, pour the contents of the lower carafe into an airtight container—Front Street uses a glass bottle—and place it 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 an alcoholic fermented note, the sweet-tartness of berries, pineapple, and other tropical fruits. The taste is rich but not bitter. After diluting with ice, it's like drinking a refreshing fruit wine.

How to Choose Coffee Beans for Cold Drip Coffee

The biggest feature 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, Front Street Strawberry Candy Coffee has the sweet-tartness of dark berries, plus the wine aroma produced by low-temperature aging, making the overall taste even better. Several other coffee beans on Front Street's menu also belong to this type—Front Street Sidra Coffee, Front Street Bahia Coffee, Front Street Big Belly Coffee—with very distinct aromas, also suitable for ice pour-over and cold brew methods.

2.Refreshing and Clean Type

Some use washed processing to make the coffee's acidity very clean and full. This flavor, when made into cold drip coffee, has a juice-like acidity with the transparent fresh fragrance of cherry tomatoes and grapefruit, very suitable for drinking in hot summer. Recommended: Front Street Cherry Tomato AA Coffee, Front Street Ethiopian Washed Gutingding Cooperative Coffee, Front Street Butterfly Coffee. If you are a fan of light and fresh flavors, you will surely love this pure and transparent taste.

3.Sweet and Pleasant Type

Compared to the above two types of medium-light roast coffee, dark roast coffee is generally less often used to make cold drip coffee, as it is thought to be very strong and bitter. Actually, that is not the case. Front Street has tried making cold drip coffee with Indonesian Golden Mandheling. After adding ice, it has a rich chocolate sweetness and a fermented aroma, without any bitterness at all. If you cannot accept the "heavy taste" of Mandheling, we recommend buying Front Street Brazil Queen's Farm Coffee Beans or Front Street Huila 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 certainly know that coffee beans can be made as blends, and cold drip coffee can do the same. Besides 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 at a 1:1 ratio, hoping to drink coffee with both wine and fruit notes. After mixed drip filtration, the extracted coffee shows rich brandy aroma and honey sweetness, along with refreshing fruit acidity. Following this approach, you can create a cup of cold drip coffee with your preferred taste and flavor.

Regarding flavor expression, you can refer to Front Street's classification recommendations above for your selection. Since cold drip coffee is extracted at low temperature, the efficiency is slower, so it is more forgiving. You can adjust according to your home equipment and budget. Note here that all flavor expression is based on the freshness of the coffee bean roast, 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 is5freshly roasted within days, hoping every customer can drink good coffee at its peak flavor.

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