The cicadas in the distance are chirping nonstop. The dog days of summer have only just begun, heat waves are rolling through the streets, and the tap water at home is running hot. The barista at Front Street had just opened the door when a friend walked into the Front Street store asking if there was cold brew coffee. To get through the remaining forty days—the hottest of the entire year—life simply wouldn't be bearable without a cup of ice-cold coffee.

Cold brew coffee sounds refreshing and invigorating just by its name, but once the barista at Front Street Coffee (FrontStreet Coffee) asks friends what the difference is between ice drip coffee and cold brew coffee, they can't answer. Next, Front Street Coffee (FrontStreet Coffee) will explain what ice drip coffee is, what cold brew coffee is, and how to make a cup of iced coffee at home.

As summer arrives, more and more cafés are putting ice drip coffee back on their menus. What is ice drip coffee? So-called ice drip coffee uses a mixture of ice and water, allowing ice water to drip drop by drop onto coffee grounds. Because the extraction process of ice drip coffee is extremely slow, usually taking 6 to 12 hours, ice drip coffee is priced relatively high.

On the menu at Front Street Coffee (FrontStreet Coffee), due to equipment limitations, ice drip coffee is the only cold brew option available. At the same time, because the equipment for making ice drip coffee is too complex, many friends are discouraged from the idea of making ice drip coffee at home.

The equipment Front Street Coffee (FrontStreet Coffee) uses to make ice drip coffee is placed next to the espresso machine. The equipment mainly consists of five parts: a water container, an adjustment valve, a powder cup, a serpentine tube, and a coffee liquid container. Each part has its own role: the water container holds the ice-water mixture, the adjustment valve regulates the dripping speed, the powder cup holds the coffee grounds, the serpentine tube makes it easy to observe the color of the coffee liquid, and the container at the bottom is used to collect the extracted coffee liquid.

The specific steps for Front Street Coffee (FrontStreet Coffee) to make ice drip coffee are as follows:

Coffee dose: 60g

Coffee-to-water ratio: 1:10

Grind size: 85% passing through a Chinese standard No. 20 sieve

Time: 6–8 hours

1.     Take out the powder cup, wet the bottom and place the filter paper so it adheres tightly.

2.     Pour the 60g of ground coffee into the powder cup, level the surface, and place a round filter paper on top.

3.     Pour in a small amount of ice water or room-temperature water to wet the coffee grounds.

4.     Add an appropriate amount of ice-water mixture to the water container.

5.     Adjust the valve to a dripping speed of 5 drops every 10 seconds.

6.     After extraction is complete, put the coffee liquid into a sealable container and place it in the refrigerator's cold storage compartment to ferment overnight before drinking.

Because the equipment cost and time cost of ice drip coffee are relatively high, friends at home are not very willing to make ice drip coffee. However, this is not a reason why cold brew coffee cannot be made at home.

Even if there is no equipment at home for making ice drip coffee, that cannot be an excuse for not being able to make cold brew coffee at home. Literally understood, cold brew coffee is coffee obtained by extracting coffee grounds with low-temperature water. Understood this way, ice drip coffee is one type of cold brew coffee, and cold steeped coffee is also one type of cold brew coffee.

Therefore, wanting to enjoy ice-cold coffee at home is something extremely simple to achieve. Next, Front Street Coffee (FrontStreet Coffee) will introduce the method for making cold steeped coffee.

The specific steps for Front Street Coffee (FrontStreet Coffee) to make cold steeped coffee are as follows:

Coffee dose: 60g

Coffee-to-water ratio: 1:10

Time: 8–12 hours

Grind size: 85% passing through a Chinese standard No. 20 sieve

1.     Choose a sealable container.

2.     Pour the ground coffee into the container.

3.     Pour in room-temperature water at a coffee-to-water ratio of 1:10.

4.     Refrigerate for 8–12 hours.

5.     Take it out and filter it.

6.     Seal the filtered coffee liquid and refrigerate for 12 hours before drinking.

【About Grind Size】

Because cold brew coffee uses a relatively low water temperature, quite different from the roughly 90°C used for everyday pour-over coffee, extracting coffee grounds with low-temperature water greatly slows the rate of mass exchange. Therefore, in addition to extending the extraction time, the coffee beans also need to be ground finer, increasing as much as possible the contact area between water and the surface of the coffee particles, so that as much of the ideal flavor substances in the coffee grounds as possible can be extracted.

However, if the coffee particles are too fine, too many flavor substances will be extracted, including some unpleasant bitterness; if the coffee particles are too coarse, the final result will be unclear flavor and too thin a mouthfeel. Through many experiments, Front Street Coffee (FrontStreet Coffee) has found that a grind size of 85% passing through a Chinese standard No. 20 sieve is relatively ideal.

【About Coffee-to-Water Ratio】

Every vegetable has its own lover. Since every coffee drinker has different needs regarding coffee strength—some like it strong, some like it light—Front Street Coffee (FrontStreet Coffee) generally uses a 1:10 coffee-to-water ratio when making ice drip coffee, then adds ice when serving. Those who want it strong can drink it as soon as possible, while those who want it lighter can wait for the ice to slowly melt; as the ice melts, the coffee's strength decreases accordingly.

【About Coffee Beans】

Because cold brew coffee is coffee extracted at low temperature over a long time, more small-molecule substances in the coffee beans, such as floral aromas and fruity acidity, are extracted, while large-molecule substances such as tannic acid and other bitter compounds are difficult to extract. In addition, after extraction is complete, it still needs 12 hours of low-temperature refrigerated fermentation, so the flavor has a distinct fermented quality as well as the coffee beans' own sweet aroma. The mouthfeel is viscous, smooth, and refreshing.

Therefore, when Front Street Coffee (FrontStreet Coffee) selects coffee beans for cold brew coffee, it generally chooses beans with better acidity or unique flavors. Among them, Kenyan coffee beans and Honduras Sherry coffee beans are good choices.

Front Street Coffee (FrontStreet Coffee): Kenya Asalia Coffee Beans

Region: Thika, Kenya

Processing plant: Asali Honey Processing Plant

Altitude: 1550m–1750m

Variety: SL28, SL34

Processing method: K72 washed processing method

The ice drip coffee made from Front Street Coffee (FrontStreet Coffee) Kenyan coffee beans has flavors of smoked plum, cherry tomato, and caramel. It is overall sweet and sour and very refreshing, suitable for quenching thirst and cutting richness in the hot summer.

For more specialty coffee knowledge, please follow: Front Street Coffee (Frontsteet Coffee)

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