How Long Should Cold Brew Coffee Be Fermented in the Refrigerator? Cold Brew Storage Time and Coffee-to-Water Ratio for Cold Drip Coffee

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What Makes a Good Cold Drip Coffee?

There is no detailed standard for what constitutes a good cold drip coffee. Everyone has their own production methods and standards. So what details should be considered when making cold drip coffee, such as coffee selection, grind size, water-to-coffee ratio, water flow rate, and so on?

Being able to drink a cup of homemade cold drip coffee is a cool thing. It can both cool you down and refresh you, and also serves as a conversation starter.

Choosing the Right Equipment

To make cold drip coffee, you first need a cold drip pot. You don't need to buy those expensive cold drip pots that cost seven to eight hundred or even over a thousand dollars, because after all, most of us aren't wealthy.

As long as your coffee beans are of good quality, definitely don't buy those blended coffee beans made of 80% robusta + 20% arabica for cold drip coffee. As long as the beans are good, the taste of cold drip coffee made with a thousand-dollar cold drip pot and a hundred-dollar cold drip pot will be almost identical!

How to Make Cold Drip Coffee

Cold drip coffee is actually very simple and doesn't require too much human intervention. FrontStreet Coffee uses 60 grams of coffee beans with a grind size similar to that used for cupping - a relatively fine grind. Remember to place filter paper on top of the coffee grounds. When you buy a cold drip pot, the seller usually provides it. If you don't have one, you can cut a circular filter paper from drip coffee filter paper - the effect is the same. The main purpose of placing a piece of filter paper is to allow water to flow more evenly, rather than dripping in just one spot.

The ice-to-water-to-coffee ratio is 1:1:5. Of course, if you prefer it stronger, you can use a 1:4 or even 1:3 ratio. If you use a higher water-to-coffee ratio, you should also use a coarser grind size. Use a rate of seven drops per ten seconds, with a total time of approximately 6-8 hours. After completion, let it ferment in the refrigerator overnight to enhance the flavor.

Professional Tips for Cold Drip Coffee

1. Think of cold drip coffee as low-temperature, long-time, pressure-free extraction. Compared to espresso's high-temperature, short-time, high-pressure extraction, why say this? Because the results of both are quite similar - both are high concentration.

2. First use ice water to moisten the coffee beans, similar to pour-over coffee. The principle is to use just enough water to moisten without dripping. This action is very similar to espresso's pre-infusion and can shorten the cold drip time by more than an hour.

3. The cold drip coffee ratio is approximately 60 grams of beans to brew 300ml. You can observe the color of the dripping water drops. When it starts to become light, you can stop, or use another container to catch it first and taste it. If it doesn't taste good, you'll know where the stopping point should be. If you find it too thick when tasting, you can add some ice water to dilute it - the taste will still be excellent.

4. To speed up the process, FrontStreet Coffee adds some water to the ice cubes every 20-30 minutes, about 20-30 cc each time, which can accelerate extraction. The overall recommended time is to complete within 2-3 hours. The caffeine content seems to be lower (partly because only the first portion is taken, not the later portion). Regardless of whether you dislike caffeine (this tastes completely different from over-extraction during hot brewing), you must try this.

5. Cold brew? Oh, that's completely different. Cold brew and cold drip are not the same thing!

6. After dripping is complete, it can be stored in the refrigerator.

FrontStreet Coffee's Recommended Cold Drip Coffee Bean Recipe:

30g [Hartmann] + 30g [Flower Queen], this combination of cold drip coffee beans will have rich fermented fruit aroma.

Important Notice :

前街咖啡 FrontStreet Coffee has moved to new addredd:

FrontStreet Coffee Address: 315,Donghua East Road,GuangZhou

Tel:020 38364473