Cold Brew Coffee Tutorial: Storage Duration and Flavor Profile Guide

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Introduction

A few days ago, a friend asked FrontStreet Coffee: "I don't have a refrigerator nearby, how should I make cold brew coffee?"

When we think of cold brew coffee, our first reaction is usually that it needs to be refrigerated or made as cold drip to be considered cold brew.

But sometimes we don't necessarily have a refrigerator, so what should we do? Making cold brew at room temperature is something I haven't tried before, so I decided to try it myself!

What is Cold Brew Coffee?

Cold brew coffee is exactly what it sounds like: Cold Brew Coffee. Put ground coffee powder into room temperature water, steep and extract for 12 hours, then filter out the coffee grounds to obtain the coffee liquid, which is cold brew coffee. Compared to regular hot-brewed coffee, the coffee flavor will be noticeably stronger, bitterness will be less, and the mouthfeel will become smoother.

It's important to note that the longer cold brew coffee sits, the stronger its fermentation characteristics will become, so the taste will vary from day to day. FrontStreet Coffee suggests drinking it within 3-4 days.

This coffee, which sounds quite labor-intensive, is actually much simpler to make than imagined.

You can think of it this way: Put coffee powder in cold water - let it steep in the refrigerator overnight - filter out the coffee grounds - done.

The principle is actually similar to cold drip coffee, except that cold brew coffee uses cold water for long-term extraction.

And because it's low-temperature extraction, it only dissolves small molecules like fruity acids and floral aromas.

Let's Get Started

Without further ado, let's immediately try making it with room temperature water.

First Attempt

A few days ago, I happened to catch FrontStreet Coffee's monthly promotional event, so I bought a bag of Yirgacheffe·Hua Kui.

I used a 1:15 coffee-to-water ratio, steeped it in Nongfu Spring room temperature water for 8 hours, then took it out and tasted it. It felt "a bit watery," with obvious insufficient floral aroma and sweetness, while the stone fruit flavors were relatively prominent.

I summarized the reasons: I didn't pay attention to the grind size, and the coffee particles were too coarse; the extraction time was insufficient, leading to incomplete flavor release; the coffee-to-water ratio was too large.

Second Attempt

I adopted a medium-fine grind size (85% pass rate through China standard #20 sieve);

Water temperature: 19°C; coffee-to-water ratio: 1:10; extraction times: 10 hours and 12 hours.

Flavor description after 10 hours of steeping:

Faint jasmine fragrance, berry acidity, caramel, cocoa, with some astringency.

Flavor description after 12 hours of steeping:

Rich floral aroma, berry fragrance, ripe plum, dark chocolate aftertaste; after 12 hours of steeping, the Yirgacheffe·Hua Kui's aroma and sweetness were more pronounced, and the overall profile was more balanced and rounded.

Coffee Bean Recommendations

Perhaps you'll ask, "What other coffee beans do you recommend for making cold brew coffee?"

I would recommend trying washed or specially processed beans.

The reason is simple: the cold brew coffee made from them has higher recognizability and better sweetness~

For example:

1. FrontStreet Coffee Yirgacheffe Wolka

Country: Ethiopia   Region: Yirgacheffe   Altitude: 1850-2100m

Processing: Washed     Grade: G1     Variety: Heirloom

Flavor: White floral notes, citrus, red plum, medium acidity

2. Honduras Sherry

Country: Honduras   Region: Marcala   Estate: Mocca Estate

Altitude: 1500-1700m     Variety: Caturra, Catuai, Pacas

Processing: Refined washed whiskey sherry barrel fermentation

Flavor: Vanilla, whiskey aroma, honeydew melon, dark chocolate aftertaste

3. Honduras Lychee Orchid

Region: Marcala   Estate: Mocca Estate   Altitude: 1500-1700m

Variety: Caturra, Catuai   Processing: Refined washed and brandy barrel processing

Flavor: Creamy texture, brandy fermented wine aroma, dark chocolate

4. Panama Butterfly

Region: Panama Boquete   Variety: 70% Gesha, Caturra, Catuai

Altitude: 1600-1650     Processing: Natural processing

Flavor: Classic Gesha flavors, citrus, tea-like sensation

Creative Serving Suggestions

Of course, you can also choose the following creative methods:

Add Sparkling Water

FrontStreet Coffee has tried using sparkling water to make cold brew coffee and found that the concentration tends to be high. The reason is that before putting it in the refrigerator, the sparkling water's cold brew coffee powder floats on the upper layer. After the bubbles rise and "hit" the coffee powder, after 13 hours, when taken out of the refrigerator, the coffee powder has already sunk to the bottom of the bottle. During the soaking process, the coffee powder has undergone movement from top to bottom, making it easier to extract substances from the coffee powder.

However, when FrontStreet Coffee used sparkling water to make cold brew Yirgacheffe, it smelled of richer berry fragrance. Although no bubbles were observed in the coffee liquid, drinking it gives a feeling of bubbles colliding in the mouth.

Add Milk

Generally, choosing light roast beans is to enjoy the floral and fruity aromas as well as sweet and sour sensations, so they are mostly consumed straight. For dark roast beans, their flavor is heavier,

So for these richer types of cold brew coffee made from dark roast, you can add milk to create a fragrant and smooth mouthfeel.

However, different dairy products for mixing will result in different mouthfeels, which can be divided into two categories: one is fresh milk, the other is creamer (fresh cream type).

Because fresh milk contains more water, the mouthfeel when mixed with fresh milk will be relatively refreshing with a thinner body; if mixed with creamer that tends toward fresh cream type,

because of the lower water content, the overall mouthfeel will be richer and have a thicker body.

When FrontStreet Coffee makes cold brew coffee and adds milk without sugar, it becomes a cold brew coffee latte.

It drinks naturally sweet with a sweet aftertaste.

Add Alcohol

FrontStreet Coffee thinks that if you could add a little Irish whiskey (grain-brewed) or brandy (fruit-brewed), it would also have a special flavor.

Of course, you can add any type of alcohol, but Irish whiskey is grain-brewed, unlike most Scotch whiskey which is made from barley.

Of course, if you want to drink non-alcoholic coffee with wine flavor, you can also try FrontStreet Coffee's Honduras Sherry, which uses whiskey barrel fermentation processing,

It has rich whiskey cream vanilla flavors, especially suitable for customers who want wine-flavored coffee.

Conclusion

This experiment of making cold brew coffee with room temperature water gave an unexpectedly good overall feeling!

And in terms of choosing coffee beans, it's still the same old saying - everyone should choose according to their own taste preferences!

For more specialty coffee beans, please add FrontStreet Coffee's private WeChat account: kaixinguoguo0925

Important Notice :

前街咖啡 FrontStreet Coffee has moved to new addredd:

FrontStreet Coffee Address: 315,Donghua East Road,GuangZhou

Tel:020 38364473