How to Drink Cold Drip Coffee, What Coffee Beans to Use, and How Cold Drip Coffee Ferments

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Cold Brew Coffee Methods

Cold brew coffee can generally be divided into three preparation methods: water drip, ice drip, and cold brew. Due to different extraction conditions, these three methods produce different flavors and textures, but all belong to the category of cold brew coffee. The principle of cold brew coffee is the same as cold steeped tea—it uses low temperature and long steeping time to slowly extract the flavors from the coffee.

Water Drip Method

Extracted with room temperature water and consumed directly, resulting in a rich and mellow texture reminiscent of whiskey.

Ice Drip Method

Extracted with ice water and consumed directly, creating a light and refreshing experience similar to cocktails.

Cold Brew Method

Extracted coffee is refrigerated for fermentation, or coffee grounds are steeped at room temperature then refrigerated for fermentation, producing an aged character similar to aged Chinese rice wine.

Tea Bag Steeping Method

Steeped in cold water like tea bags and refrigerated for fermentation, resulting in a refreshing cold brew tea-like experience.

If making cold brew with a cold brew pot, besides serving with ice, it can also be consumed without ice. Because cold brew pots typically use a 1:12 coffee-to-water ratio, the coffee concentration isn't as high, so when it reaches room temperature, it has a concentration similar to pour-over coffee. However, due to low-temperature long-time extraction, the body is thicker than regular hot coffee that has been cooled.

For the tea bag method, due to lower concentration, it can be consumed without ice, but because the extraction rate is also lower, the watery texture becomes more noticeable when it reaches room temperature.

Cold Brew Coffee with Bubbles and Nitrogen

For the second type of cold brew coffee, because the coffee-to-water ratio is typically slightly larger than water drip or ice drip methods, or the extraction rate and concentration are lower, the resulting concentration is more moderate. In recent years, it has been presented in the form of nitro coffee (infused with nitrogen), creating a beer-like drinking experience. Besides being more visually appealing, it also enhances the aroma significantly.

Cold brew coffee infused with nitrogen has a refreshing and smooth texture.

Additionally, according to personal preference, cold brew coffee can be mixed with soda water, tonic water, or cola to present another kind of bubbly, cool, and refreshing enjoyment.

Special Flavors with Milk

Generally, people choose light roast beans to enjoy floral and fruity aromas and sweet and sour flavors, so they're mostly consumed plain. For dark roast beans, which have a heavier body, these more intense cold brew coffees can be blended with milk to create a fragrant and smooth texture. However, different dairy products create different textures, which can be divided into two categories: fresh milk and creamer. Fresh milk contains more water, so cold brew mixed with fresh milk has a more refreshing texture and thinner body. If mixed with creamer (which leans toward cream), because of lower water content, the overall texture is richer and the body is thicker.

Cold brew coffee with milk and no sugar is essentially a cold brew coffee latte, which naturally has a sweet aftertaste.

Mature Flavors with Fermented Agricultural Products (Alcohol)

If you can add a little Irish whiskey (grain-based) or brandy (fruit-based), it creates a special flavor.

Of course, you can add any type of alcohol, but Irish whiskey is grain-based, unlike most Scotch whiskey which is made from barley. Especially with the recent popularity of single malt whiskey, people want to appreciate the delicate flavor changes of the spirit itself. Once you add cold brew coffee, those delicate spirit flavors become unnoticeable—it's a pity to waste a bottle of good whiskey worth thousands. Brandy (below V.S.O.P. grade) has a fresher flavor and is cheaper, so it can also be used. Of course, you can add V.S.O.P. grade or higher brandy, but it comes back to one point—it's a pity! It's a pity to waste a bottle of good brandy worth thousands, just like single-origin cold brew coffee is recommended to be consumed plain to appreciate the original flavor of the beans. While adding other things increases the fun factor, it might also waste the flavor of good beans. Therefore, for cold brew coffee with alcohol, it's usually recommended to use cold brew made from dark roast blends—to put it simply, creating the richest variations with minimal cost.

FrontStreet Coffee's Recommended Ice Drip Coffee Recipe:

30g [Hartmann] + 30g [Flower Queen], which 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