Ice drip coffee is usually offered in limited quantities at cafés because each batch takes over eight hours to make. Ice drip coffee originated in Europe, and since this cold-brew coffee is said to have been invented by the Dutch, some people call it DUTCH COFFEE. In addition, during the production process, water drips naturally and seeps through the coffee grounds, eventually falling drop by drop into the lower pot to be collected, which is why it is also called water-drip coffee and generally requires more than 8 hours.

How do cafés make ice drip coffee?

Materials needed: an ice drip tower, room-temperature direct drinking water, ice cubes, circular filter paper for ice drip, a bag of Front Street Strawberry Candy coffee beans, a grinder, and a sealed bottle. (For this tutorial, the ratio of coffee grounds to water to ice is 1:6:6, using 50g of coffee beans, 300g of water, and 300g of ice.)

For ice drip coffee beans, choose types with fresh floral aromas and rich fruity notes. For those who like floral notes, Front Street Flower Queen Coffee, Front Street Butterfly Coffee, and Front Street Strawberry Candy Coffee are recommended; for those who prefer intense fruity notes or fermented flavors, Front Street Mozart Coffee, Front Street Sidra Coffee, and Front Street 90+ Estate eleta Coffee are suggested.

Step 1: Grind the coffee beans into coffee grounds.

(For reference only: this ice drip uses Front Street Strawberry Candy coffee beans, and the grinder used is an EK43s, with a grind size of 9 on the scale, which is the usual grind for iced pour-over.)

Step 2: Line the filter basket of the ice drip tower with a circular filter paper for ice drip, wet it with water, then pour in the coffee grounds and level them.

Step 3: Cover the leveled coffee grounds with another circular filter paper for ice drip, and use room-temperature water to wet the coffee grounds. (Tip: Make sure all the grounds are wet; this can shorten the drip time and ensure the coffee bed is evenly penetrated by water.)

Step 5: Set the drip rate valve to 7 drops per 10 seconds, then wait for it to finish dripping.

(The drip time is long, so you need to check the drip rate from time to time to prevent changes.) After extraction is complete, ice drip coffee should be put into a clean container and refrigerated overnight for a better taste. This is a habit many experienced coffee lovers have already developed. Spending a night in the fridge means sealed storage in a low-temperature environment, which we can simply understand as "aging." It has two purposes: controlling fermentation and avoiding spoilage.

Although a home refrigerator may look clean on the surface, it still contains many microorganisms invisible to the naked eye. If not careful, this can easily lead to food spoilage or deterioration. Therefore, to ensure the coffee is not contaminated by the outside environment, the container we use must have good sealing performance and be thoroughly cleaned. Low-temperature storage is not only to inhibit the reproduction rate of certain bacterial colonies, but also to give the substances in the coffee a slow and controllable fermentation process. This also explains why the longer ice drip coffee is stored, the stronger its fermented flavor becomes.

Generally speaking, for the sake of flavor experience and health safety, whether it is ice drip or cold brew, Front Street recommends drinking any low-temperature extraction method within 5 days (counting from the production date).

Besides cold-water extraction, another kind of iced coffee brewed with hot water can also be seen in cafés: iced pour-over. Front Street believes that making iced pour-over is also very simple. As long as you choose the right coffee beans and ensure the parameters are not too far off, you can easily get a refreshing and delicious cup of black coffee.

Here, Front Street takes a medium-light roast coffee bean—Front Street Kaffa Forest—as an example. The high-strength, high-extraction iced pour-over parameters are as follows:

Coffee dose: 15 grams

10 times hot water: 150 grams

5 times ice: 75 grams

Water temperature: 92°C

Grind size: 83% passing through a No. 20 sieve (EK43s setting 9, C40 setting 22)

Dripper: Hario V60

Technique: three-pour method

First, put75gice cubes into the lower pot, then pour the15gground coffee into the dripper and gently level it. For the first pour, we use3ml/swith a small stream, starting from the center and spiraling outward in small circles, pour in30ghot water to bloom30seconds;30seconds later, using the same technique, pour the second60gwater. Be careful not to raise the liquid level too high, as this can easily cause under-extraction; when the coffee liquid is about to dry out, pour the remaining60ghot water at a flow rate of3ml/suntil all is added, ensuring the extraction time falls within1minutes50seconds to2minutes.

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