Ice Drip Coffee Brewing Techniques & Tips: Guide to Coffee Bean Selection, Grind Size, Extraction, and Ratios

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Cold drip coffee has become a staple frozen coffee in cafés during summer. Due to the long preparation time, it generally requires advance reservation or cafés need to prepare it beforehand. The flavor of cold drip coffee differs significantly from coffee made with other brewing methods, leaving a lasting impression after just one sip. In this article, FrontStreet Coffee will teach you how to make cold drip coffee!

The Origin of Cold Drip Coffee

In the 17th century, Dutch sailors transporting coffee from their colony Indonesia back to Europe couldn't drink hot coffee because there was no hot water on board. This led them to invent cold drip coffee. Coffee extracted with cold water has a smooth and mellow taste with an enticing aroma, making it beloved not only by sailors but by the general public as well.

Actually! The origin story above was fabricated by Japanese coffee industry professionals to promote cold drip brewers—it's one of their marketing tactics. In reality, including in the Netherlands and other Western countries, the primary method isn't the Japanese drop-by-drop extraction method (where ice water drips drop by drop), but rather the so-called "Cold-Brew" immersion method (steeping coffee grounds in cold water for extended periods). Moreover, there's no such thing as "Dutch Coffee" (cold drip coffee) in the West.

The Invention of Cold Drip Coffee

Although cold drip is called Dutch coffee, it doesn't have deep connections to the Netherlands. Instead, it has profound ties to Japan, which is why it's also known as Kyoto coffee. The owner of Kyoto Hanabusa Coffee, while reading a coffee book, learned about the local coffee brewing method used by people in Indonesia, which was then a Dutch colony. He became very interested in this method and, with the help of chemistry students from Kyoto University and a medical equipment company, developed cold drip equipment based on the book's descriptions, aiming to recreate the Indonesian brewing method and thus invented cold drip coffee. Later, it became popular in Europe and America. Europeans and Americans, unaware of this history, simply called it Kyoto coffee.

Cold drip uses ice water at near-zero temperatures for extraction, reducing the volatilization of coffee flavors under low-temperature conditions and storing as much coffee aroma as possible in the coffee liquid. When you drink it, the coffee liquid's temperature rises, and the aroma contained within suddenly bursts forth, allowing the coffee drinker to experience intense aromas at the back of their tongue. This sudden aromatic explosion creates a great sense of happiness.

How to Make Cold Drip Coffee

1. FrontStreet Coffee uses a coffee-to-water ratio of 1:10 for cold drip, meaning 60 grams of coffee grounds to extract 600 milliliters of coffee liquid.

2. Place a circular filter paper at the bottom of the coffee grounds chamber, wet it with water to adhere to the chamber walls, then add 60g of ground coffee (coarse sugar size), level the coffee surface, and you can also use the tamper's own weight to lightly press the coffee layer to make the surface even.

Note: How to determine the grind size for cold drip coffee? It's difficult for our eyes to accurately observe the coarseness of coffee grounds. Therefore, we need some tools to help with calibration. FrontStreet Coffee uses a #20 (0.85mm) standard sieve for calibration.

FrontStreet Coffee's grind size standards by sieve pass rate:

Cold drip > Pour-over (Siphon) 80% > Mocha American drip 75-80% > Cupping 70-75% > French press 65-70%

Therefore, cold drip coffee grind size should be finer than pour-over coffee, approximately 83-85% pass rate.

3. Remember to place a piece of filter paper on top of the coffee grounds. The tension of the filter paper helps distribute water evenly. Without filter paper, the continuous water droplets would create a pit in the coffee bed over time.

4. Use ice water for "pre-infusion," which is similar to the blooming process in pour-over coffee. This can improve extraction efficiency and consistency of the final product. If you drip ice water directly, it might cause uneven moistening of the coffee grounds, with some coffee grounds being over-extracted while others don't participate in extraction at all.

5. Place a 1:1 mixture of ice and water in the water container, and adjust the regulator valve to approximately 7 drops every 10 seconds.

6. After brewing, pour the coffee liquid into a sealed glass bottle and refrigerate overnight to ferment, allowing the coffee flavors to meld together, resulting in better taste and easier drinking.

FrontStreet Coffee's Cold Drip Recipe Recommendations

① Classic Cold Drip: 30g FrontStreet Coffee Sherry + 30g FrontStreet Coffee Bahia. This is FrontStreet Coffee's homemade cold drip recipe and also a favorite among many customers. When brewing, mix the Sherry coffee beans with Bahia coffee beans before grinding. The resulting cold drip exhibits rich whiskey aroma, the interplay between refreshing citrus fruits and full-bodied vanilla cream leaves an endless aftertaste.

② Refreshing and Clean: 60g FrontStreet Coffee Kenya Cherry Tomato. The acidity of Cherry Tomato is very lively, with an overall profile like a glass of fruit juice. When used for cold drip coffee, it carries the fresh fragrance of cherry tomatoes and grapefruit, delivering a refreshing and light acidity perfect for summer drinking.

③ Sweet and Palatable: 60g FrontStreet Coffee Indonesia Gold Mandheling. Few cafés use dark-roasted coffee for cold drip coffee. If you haven't tried it, you might think cold drip made with dark-roasted coffee beans would be very bitter, but that's not the case. Using FrontStreet Coffee's cold drip method and refrigerating for 24 hours before serving with ice cubes, FrontStreet Coffee's Gold Mandheling cold drip coffee表现为 sweet, with a hint of chocolate bitterness, overall very clear, and a rich fermentation aroma that feels comforting.

④ Wine-like Character: 20g FrontStreet Coffee Red Cherry + 40g FrontStreet Coffee Mozart. The 2020 Mozart coffee used anaerobic honey processing, making its grape and blackcurrant flavors more pronounced. Meanwhile, Red Cherry used traditional natural processing, with flavors of sweet berries and fermented red wine aroma. Cold drip coffee made with this recipe is like a glass of chilled red wine.

Important Notice :

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