As the weather gets hotter, the cold drip coffee at Front Street Coffee is also selling well. Actually, cold drip coffee is not as complicated as everyone believes. Today, Front Street is here to sharethe method for making cold drip coffee and discuss its caffeine content.
The Origin of Cold Drip Coffee
"In the 1600s, Dutch sailors were transporting coffee from their then-colony Indonesia back to Europe. Since there was no hot water on the ship, they couldn't drink hot coffee, so they came up withcold drip coffee. Coffee extracted with cold water has a soft, smooth taste and a delightful aroma. Not just the sailors, but even ordinary people loved it."
Alright! The origin story above was actually fabricated by Japanese coffee merchants to promote cold drip pots, and is one of their marketing tactics. In fact, Western countries, including the Netherlands, mainly do not use the Japanese drip method (extraction by ice water dripping drop by drop), but rather the so-called "Cold-Brew" immersion method (soaking coffee grounds in cold water for a long time) for cold extraction. Moreover, the West doesn't have anything called cold drip coffee (Dutch Coffee) either.
Cold drip coffee's invention
Although cold drip is called Dutch coffee, it doesn't have much of a connection to the Netherlands. Instead, it has a deep connection to Japan, which is why it's also called Kyoto coffee.
The owner of Kyoto Hanabusa Coffee was reading a coffee book when he came across the coffee-brewing method of the locals in the then-Dutch colony of Indonesia. He was very interested in this method, and based on the descriptions in the book at the time, with the help of chemistry students at Kyoto University and a medical device company, he developed a cold drip apparatus to recreate the Indonesians' brewing method, thus inventing cold drip coffee. Later it became popular in Europe and America, and since Europeans and Americans were unfamiliar with this history, they simply called it Kyoto coffee.
Cold drip uses near-zero-degree ice water for extraction, allowing the flavors in the coffee to reduce volatilization under low-temperature conditions, storing as much of the coffee's aroma as possible in the coffee liquid. When it is drunk, the coffee liquid's temperature rises, and the aroma contained within suddenly bursts out, allowing the drinker to feel a strong aroma at the back of the tongue. This sudden burst of fragrance creates a tremendous sense of happiness.
Regarding the choice of raw materials for cold drip coffee, it needs to be based on individual requirements for coffee taste. If you want bright fruit acidity and a light, clean mouthfeel, you can choose washed-process coffee, such as Front Street Butterfly, Front Street Fruit Ding Ding, Front Street Kaffa Forest; if you want nutty, chocolate flavors with a full, smooth mouthfeel, you can choose medium-dark roasted coffee, such as Front Street Colombia Huila, Front Street Bird of Paradise, Front Street Queen's Estate;
In addition, there are also the fermented-process coffees that have gained attention in recent years, such as Front Street Strawberry Candy and Front Street Sidra. They all have rich, ripe fruit aromas, and the cold drip made from them has fairly complex layers. When purchasing, it's best to first state your own needs, so you can avoid buying beans you don't like.
Front Street CoffeeCold Drip CoffeeBrewing Sharing
1. The water-to-coffee ratio used for Front Street Coffee's cold drip is 1:10, meaning 60 grams of coffee grounds extract 600 milliliters of coffee liquid.
2. Place a circular filter paper at the bottom of the powder cup, wet it with water so it sticks to the wall of the cup, add the ground 60g of coffee (coarse granulated sugar size, Front Street storesuse EK-43s #10 setting), then shake it level to flatten the coffee surface. You can also use the tamper's own weight to lightly press the coffee bed, making the surface level.
3. Remember to place a piece of filter paper on the coffee surface. Because the tension of the filter paper allows water to distribute evenly. Without the filter paper, prolonged dripping will create a pit in the coffee bed.
4. Use ice water for "pre-infusion." This is actually similar to the blooming process in pour-over, and it can improve extraction efficiency and consistency of the final product. If you drip directly, it may cause uneven wetting of the coffee bed, with some coffee grounds being over-extracted while other parts don't participate in extraction at all.
5. Put a 1:1 ice-water mixture into the water container, and adjust the valve to about 7 drops every 10 seconds.
6. After brewing, pour the coffee liquid into a sealed glass bottle and put it in the refrigerator to ferment overnight, allowing the coffee's flavors to meld together. The taste will be better and easier to drink.
How high is the caffeine content of cold drip?
Many people think that cold drip coffee has a low caffeine content, because the lower the water temperature, the harder it is for caffeine to dissolve (the minimum temperature for caffeine dissolution is above 80 degrees Celsius). However, the low amount of caffeine extracted by cold water, accumulated over a long period of time, is actually not negligible. Therefore, some people believe that cold drip coffee has a higher caffeine content, and many experimental results have proven this claim.
Relevant research providesa reference: cold drip coffee (one cup with 20g grounds / 200ml coffee)is about135mg.For reference, a cup of espresso (20g grounds / 40g coffee) is about 100mg. Therefore, including varieties such as Americano, latte, flat white, cappuccino, etc., their caffeine content is lower than that of cold drip.
But what Front Street needs to emphasize is that a cup of cold drip coffee will vary greatly in caffeine content depending on the beans used by each cafe, the coarseness of the grind, the interval between water drops, and the total extraction time. In addition, everyone's tolerance for caffeine is different. Some friends can stay up until midnight after drinking just a small cup, while others can drink a large cup and still fall asleep on time. Therefore,For people who are especially sensitive to caffeine, Front Street suggests that no matter which type of coffee it is, it's best to consume as little as possible.
The above content is compiled by CoffeeHunters, a coffee news website.
