What's the Difference in Coffee Beans for Cold Drip Coffee? How Many Milliliters in a Serving of Cold Drip Coffee? Cold Drip Coffee Powder-to-Water Ratio

Many friends who come to FrontStreet Coffee say that watching the ice water slowly dripping through the cold drip tower is incredibly therapeutic, and they ask FrontStreet Coffee what kind of coffee this is. This is the biggest difference between cold drip coffee and many other coffee varieties—it typically requires 6-8 hours of slow extraction, so FrontStreet Coffee's cold drip production is limited, creating a situation where demand exceeds supply.

The Story of Cold Drip Coffee

What is Cold Drip Coffee?

Cold drip coffee refers to a method where ice water drips evenly over coffee grounds at room temperature, slowly extracting the aromatic compounds. Because the low temperature of ice water doesn't easily extract bitter compounds from coffee, and the slow flow rate significantly increases extraction efficiency, cold drip coffee tastes rich but not bitter. If you choose coffee beans with prominent flavor characteristics, the fermentation notes and sweet-tart fruit flavors, combined with the refreshing quality of ice, provide instant relief from summer heat.

The Origin of Cold Drip Coffee

We often hear about cold drip coffee, cold brew coffee, and Dutch Coffee—what are the differences and connections between these three? FrontStreet Coffee will start with a story about Dutch Coffee.

In the early 18th century, when Dutch people transported coffee beans from their colony Indonesia back to Europe, the journey was long and there was no hot water available on board, nor was there leisure time to brew a cup of coffee properly. Unable to drink hot coffee, they came up with the idea of extracting coffee with cold water. They used a container to hold ground coffee, added cold water, and let it steep for several hours. The coffee produced this way was very sweet and completely without bitterness. Dutch traders discovered this convenient method allowed them to enjoy coffee during maritime trade, and thus this cold water coffee-making method began to spread throughout the world.

However, this ice water extraction method didn't become widespread in the Netherlands but was instead preserved by the Japanese, who gradually modified and evolved it into today's cold drip coffee. Therefore, we sometimes see claims that "cold drip coffee was invented by the Japanese," but more accurately, it should be said that the Japanese improved upon the Dutch invention and preserved this brewing method, allowing us to enjoy this uniquely flavored iced coffee.

After reading the story above, FrontStreet Coffee believes you now understand that this method of steeping coffee grounds in cold water to extract coffee liquid is what people call Dutch Coffee. Cold drip coffee, which is an improvement on the cold brewing principle, also belongs to the Dutch Coffee family. Additionally, there's another type of low-temperature extraction method: cold brew coffee refers to pouring ice water into a container of coffee grounds, letting it sit for 12-24 hours, and finally filtering out the grounds to obtain a cup of iced coffee with slight wine-like notes and sweet-tart flavors. The brewing principle is actually the same as Dutch Coffee, so it also belongs to the Dutch Coffee category.

How to Use a Cold Drip Tower

We can typically see various types of cold drip towers online, with different materials and shapes, but they generally consist of three main sections: upper, middle, and lower parts, which are also divided into four main structures: upper chamber, valve, coffee grounds chamber, and lower chamber.

The upper vessel is mainly used to hold ice and water, connected below to a metal object—this is the valve that can adjust the water flow rate to change the dripping speed, ensuring ice water drips evenly over the coffee grounds. The middle glass cup-like container holds the ground coffee, with a filter hole in the bottom center that allows the extracted coffee liquid to drip out. The large pot below collects the extracted coffee.

Here, FrontStreet Coffee has selected a popular Costa Rica Mozart coffee for this demonstration. Mozart coffee beans use raisin anaerobic honey processing, featuring flavors of raisin, osmanthus, and sweet fermented fruit notes. Cold drip coffee can make the fermentation characteristics more pronounced.

For grind size, FrontStreet Coffee generally chooses the same grind as for iced pour-over. Because low-temperature water reduces extraction efficiency, we grind the coffee finer to increase extraction. For this particular bean, we selected an 85% retention rate on a China #20 standard sieve, which corresponds to a grind setting of 9 on the EK-43S grinder used at FrontStreet Coffee.

First, we calculate the extraction parameters: using a 1:10 coffee-to-water ratio, extracting 600g of coffee liquid from 60g of coffee grounds. The ice-water mixture ratio is 1:1, and the valve flow rate is controlled at 7 drops per 10 seconds, typically completing the drip process within 6-8 hours. (Usually, the cold drip ratio ranges from 1:10 to 1:12, so you can adjust according to your taste preference.)

Place a circular filter paper at the bottom of the middle chamber, wet it with water to ensure proper adhesion, then pour in the ground coffee. Make sure to level the coffee bed to ensure even extraction. Place another circular filter paper on top of the coffee bed to prevent water drops from disturbing the grounds. Before starting the drip, you need to moisten the coffee bed with cold water first—this both saves extraction time and avoids uneven initial extraction.

Place the coffee chamber on the stand and start filling with the ice-water mixture, typically half ice and half water. Adjust the valve to control the flow rate at 7 drops per 10 seconds, ensuring the dripping water aligns with the position where coffee liquid filters out. Once dripping is complete, transfer the liquid from the lower chamber into an airtight container—FrontStreet Coffee uses glass bottles—and refrigerate for over 12 hours. Usually, it can be enjoyed the next day.

After a night of refrigeration, Mozart coffee will present a wine-like fermentation quality, with the sweet-tart notes of berries, pineapple, and other tropical fruits. The flavor is rich but not bitter, and when diluted with ice, it's like drinking a refreshing fruit wine.

Choosing Coffee Beans for Cold Drip Coffee

The biggest characteristic of cold drip coffee is its long extraction time at low temperatures. Therefore, when selecting coffee beans, we generally consider types with prominent flavor characteristics. Here, FrontStreet Coffee introduces several typical flavor types of coffee beans.

1. Tropical Fruit and Fermented Wine Aroma Types

For example, the Mozart coffee mentioned earlier by FrontStreet Coffee has the sweet-tart notes of dark berries, combined with wine-like flavors that develop during low-temperature maturation, making the overall taste even better. Additionally, FrontStreet Coffee's menu includes several coffees of this type, with the most representative being FrontStreet Coffee's Flower Moon Night, FrontStreet Coffee's Sherry, and FrontStreet Coffee's Strawberry Candy. They all have very prominent fermentation aromas and are equally suitable for making iced pour-over and cold brew coffee.

2. Clean and Refreshing Types

Some washed-processed coffees have very clean and full acidity. When made into cold drip coffee, they produce juice-like acidity with the clear, refreshing aroma of cherry tomatoes and grapefruit, making them perfect for hot summer days. For example, FrontStreet Coffee's Kenya Cherry Tomato coffee, FrontStreet Coffee's Guodingding, and FrontStreet Coffee's Flower Butterfly coffee—if you're a fan of clean, refreshing flavors, you'll definitely love this pure and crisp taste.

3. Sweet and Palatable Types

Compared to the light to medium roast coffees mentioned above, dark roast coffees are less commonly used for cold drip coffee, as they might be too intense and bitter. However, this isn't necessarily true. FrontStreet Coffee has tried using Indonesia's Golden Mandheling to make cold drip coffee, which has rich chocolate sweetness and a fermented aroma when served with ice—completely without bitterness. If you can't handle the "intense" flavor of Mandheling, FrontStreet Coffee's Queen Manor can also present nutty and chocolate flavor notes, with a smooth, creamy texture when diluted with ice.

4. Flavor Blend Types

Friends who often drink espresso must know that coffee beans can be blended, and the same applies to cold drip coffee. Besides using single-origin beans with distinct flavors, cold drip coffee can also be made by mixing two or more single-origin beans for extraction. For example, FrontStreet Coffee has tried blending FrontStreet Coffee's Lychee Orchid coffee and FrontStreet Coffee's Musician Series Beethoven coffee in a 1:1 ratio, hoping to create a coffee with both wine-like and fruity flavors. After this blended drip extraction, the resulting coffee displays rich brandy aroma and honey sweetness, along with refreshing fruit acidity. Following this approach, you can create personalized combinations to achieve a cold drip coffee with your preferred taste and flavor profile.

Regarding flavor expression, you can refer to FrontStreet Coffee's categorical recommendations above for selection. Because cold drip coffee extracts at low temperatures and the process is relatively slow, it's quite forgiving. You can adjust based on factors like available equipment and budget at home. It's worth noting that all flavor expressions depend on the freshness of the coffee beans' roast, so FrontStreet Coffee recommends choosing coffee beans within their optimal flavor window. FrontStreet Coffee's roasting philosophy is fresh-roasted quality coffee—all coffee beans shipped by FrontStreet Coffee are roasted within 5 days, hoping every customer can enjoy good coffee during its peak flavor period.

Important Notice :

前街咖啡 FrontStreet Coffee has moved to new addredd:

FrontStreet Coffee Address: 315,Donghua East Road,GuangZhou

Tel:020 38364473