Still in the scorching summer of Guangdong, everyone is crazy about iced coffee—even the cold drip coffee at Front Street's store has been "wiped out." Many friends ask Front Street whether they can make cold drip coffee at home and how to do it. Next, Front Street will talk in detail about how to make a delicious cup of cold drip coffee.
What is the principle behind cold drip coffee?
Before seriously discussing cold drip coffee, Front Street needs to briefly introduce two common methods of low-temperature coffee extraction: cold brew coffee and cold drip coffee.
Cold brew coffee, also called cold water immersion coffee, as the name suggests, is the process of soaking coffee grounds in cold or room-temperature water, placing it in a low-temperature environment such as a refrigerator to extract the coffee liquid, and finally filtering out the coffee grounds before drinking. It is relatively convenient to make and only requires an airtight container.
Cold drip coffee, on the other hand, is the process of slowly dripping ice water at a steady rate onto coffee grounds to extract the coffee. After the drip filtration is complete, it needs to be refrigerated overnight for fermentation before drinking. Since the drip filtration time is usually 6–8 hours, if you want to drink a specific coffee bean, you need to make an appointment with Front Street in advance, as Front Street needs to start preparing ahead of time.
Because coffee beans produce some high-molecular compounds after roasting, most of which taste bitter, when we usually brew coffee with hot water, the dissolution rate of various high-molecular compounds increases, so the bitterness is relatively stronger. In the process of low-temperature coffee extraction, the water temperature used is lower; after contacting the coffee grounds, the dissolution rate of bitter substances is lower, while other flavor substances are slowly released, so it tastes sweet with weak bitterness.
Steps for making cold drip coffee
To make cold drip coffee, first we need to prepare a cold drip coffee maker set, choose coffee beans with the flavor type you like, and decide the extraction ratio parameters in advance.
1.Choose a cold drip coffee maker
Currently, coffee equipment on the market is dazzlingly diverse, but the cold drip coffee maker still has three main parts: the upper pot for ice water (connected to a valve that can adjust the water drip rate), the filter cup for coffee grounds, and the lower pot for collecting the dripped coffee liquid. What everyone sees at Front Street's store is the Tiamo HG2713, which additionally has a ring-shaped glass flow-guiding tube. Everyone can choose according to their own needs and budget.
2.Choose coffee beans
The choice of coffee beans is also crucial. If we often drink coffee, we certainly know that different coffee beans present different flavors.
Front Street usually uses medium-light roasted coffee beans for cold drip, which can be simply divided into two major categories: the fermentation-aroma type with prominent flavors, such as Front Street Strawberry Candy, Front Street Mozart, Front Street Flower Moon Night, and Rose Valley, etc. There is also another fresh, clean, floral-fruity, sweet-and-sour type, such as Front Street Natural Red Cherry, Front Street Gutingting, Front Street Washed Butterfly, Front Street Kenya Little Tomato, etc.
For everyday cold drip coffee, we use Front Street Yirgacheffe coffee beans for extraction. As one of the representatives of specialty coffee in the world, Yirgacheffe has a unique citrus and lemon fruit aroma, along with the fragrance of jasmine, a fresh and bright floral-fruity scent, and layered acidity, clean without off-flavors. Its rich and balanced mouthfeel is Yirgacheffe's captivating characteristic. It is hailed as a representative of African specialty coffee and enjoys a great reputation in the eyes of coffee connoisseurs around the world. The so-called Yirgacheffe flavor is elegant citrus, lemon, berries, and rich floral aroma, also with a clear tea-like feel, making it unforgettable after one sip. To express such delicate flavor and mouthfeel, the coffee's high-quality growing environment, variety, processing method, as well as roasting and brewing, are all indispensable.
3.Find the right coffee grind size
The grind size for Front Street cold drip coffee is 80–85% passing through China's No. 20 standard sieve. We all know that if the coffee grounds are ground too coarse, the coffee taste will be weak; if ground too fine, the coffee will be strong and bitter. Similarly, if the coffee grounds are too coarse, there will be no flavor, while if the coffee grounds are too fine, it is easy to cause clogging and prevent normal drainage, thereby making the coffee bitter. Therefore, choosing the right grind size is very important.
Considering that cold drip is in a low-temperature environment throughout the process and the extraction rate is relatively low, FrontStreet Coffee baristas recommend using a slightly finer grind size than pour-over. Here, a standard sieve passing rate of 85% is used.
4.Control the water drip speed and coffee-to-water ratio
Similar to the flow rate of pour-over, but the flow rate of cold drip is calculated by drips per second. The slower the flow rate, the longer the total time required, and over-extraction is also more likely. Front Street generally uses 7 drips every 10 seconds for extraction; each person can adjust the flow rate according to their own preference. The coffee-to-water ratio is 1:10. Since Front Street's cold drip coffee is served diluted with ice cubes, a higher concentration is used. If making it at home, you can extract at 1:12–1:14.
To make cold drip, Front Street uses 60g of coffee beans ground into powder, places a round filter paper in the powder cup, pours in the coffee grounds, and finally lays another filter paper on the surface, then wets the coffee grounds with water. This can save drip filtration time and also avoid uneven extraction. Fill the upper pot with an ice-water mixture, that is, ice and water at 1:1, to extract a total of 600g of coffee liquid.
5.Drink after refrigeration
Pour the dripped coffee liquid into an airtight container and store it in the refrigerator for 12 hours before drinking. Front Street generally does the drip filtration during daytime business hours, can put it in the refrigerator for cold storage by evening, and the next day it can be enjoyed with 2 ice cubes added.
The prepared Front Street Yirgacheffe cold drip coffee has a very refreshing sweet-and-sour taste on the palate, with the aroma of dark fruits, very suitable for drinking in the scorching summer.
The above content is compiled by CoffeeHunters, a coffee news website.
