It sounds very cliché, but this year's summer is really hot! There are many ways to combat the scorching summer heat, and in the coffee world, the best solution is undoubtedly the incredibly popular Cold Brew of recent years. If you also want to easily make authentic and delicious cold brew at home, please follow Front Street Coffee to learn well~

When it comes to cold brew, many people think of cold immersion. Mix cold water and coffee grounds, let it sit for a few hours, and finally filter out the coffee grounds to get iced coffee liquid. This is also the simplest way to make cold brew coffee. Depending on how you make it, cold brew coffee can be very refreshing, or very strong, and can also have good acidity.

Since it only comes into contact with low-temperature cold water at 4-10°C throughout the process, the extraction efficiency is very low, and bitter large molecules are not easily released. The long low-temperature immersion allows compounds such as sugars and organic acids to be extracted more fully, so the acidity, sweetness, and body in the coffee are more balanced.

What coffee beans are suitable for making cold brew?

Currently on the market, there is a dazzling array of coffee beans with various processing methods and different roast levels. As long as they are single-origin coffee beans labeled for pour-over use, they can all be used to make cold brew coffee. Deep-roasted coffee, when extracted with hot water, presents a rich coffee aroma, first mellow and bitter, then sweet; but when made into cold brew, at icy temperatures it tastes more of burnt bitterness and carbonized notes, and it is hard to have the refinement of hot coffee.

Therefore, Front Street Coffee more recommends light to medium roast coffee beans. If you want a refreshing juicy feel, you can choose light-roasted washed coffee, such as washed Yirgacheffe and Kenya AA. If you want a stronger fruity and winey aroma, you can use barrel-aged or honey-processed coffee, such as Colombia Rose Valley and Honduras Lychee Orchid. If you do not like coffee with acidity and only like a balanced "coffee taste," you can also choose Papua New Guinea Paradise Bird.

What coffee-to-water ratio should be used for cold brew?

Front Street Coffee has noticed that some friends, for convenience, directly pour coffee grounds and water into a pot and start steeping. As long as it is coffee extraction, the parameter of coffee-to-water ratio is involved. Without weighing, coffee is like opening a blind box—you never know what taste you will get. To ensure the brewed coffee tastes better, Front Street Coffee suggests keeping cold brew production between 1:10 and 1:13. If the concentration is too high, an appropriate amount of ice cubes can be added to dilute it.

Front Street Coffee has noticed that some friends, for convenience, directly pour coffee grounds and water into a pot and start steeping. As long as it is coffee extraction, the parameter of coffee-to-water ratio is involved. Without weighing, coffee is like opening a blind box—you never know what taste you will get. To ensure the brewed coffee tastes better, Front Street Coffee suggests keeping cold brew production between 1:10 and 1:13. If the concentration is too high, an appropriate amount of ice cubes can be added to dilute it.

The pairing of grind size and steeping time

Since the temperature of cold brew is already fixed, the strength of the coffee flavor is determined by adjusting grind size and time in relation to each other.

We usually think that the finer the coffee is ground, the faster and more flavor comes out, and the coarser it is ground, the slower the flavor substances are released. However, in still cold water, fine coffee particles tend to stick together and form larger "little clumps," making it difficult for the liquid to extract the substances inside, and the coffee easily has bitterness and a gritty mouthfeel. Front Street Coffee has summarized past experience: cold brew made with fine granulated sugar consistency, with a 70-85% passing rate through the Chinese No. 20 standard sieve, has the most moderate concentration.

 Front Street Coffee usually recommends a steeping time of 8-24 hours for cold brew. The actual extraction time should be adjusted according to the coarseness of the grind. It is very simple: fine grinding requires a shorter steeping time, while coarse grinding requires more time. Bitterness is often caused by using a fine grind but not adjusting the refrigeration time, resulting in coffee with miscellaneous bitter flavors such as wood chips and dry grass.

As one of the "lazy person's coffees," Front Street Coffee suggests using a coarse grind the night before with a long production time. The next day, even if you are too busy during the day, taking it out at night will not over-extract it. After filtering, store it in the refrigerator to age overnight to make the flavor clearer.

How many days can prepared cold brew coffee be kept?

The longer it sits in the refrigerator, the stronger the fermented taste of the cold brew coffee becomes, eventually masking the coffee's own aroma. Whether it is ice drip or cold brew coffee, Front Street Coffee recommends drinking it within 3 days. Although after 3 days the cold brew coffee will not necessarily spoil, nor will it necessarily taste bad, for considerations of flavor experience and health safety, all cold brew/ice drip coffees made by Front Street Coffee have a tasting period set at 3 days.

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