How long should cold brew coffee steep? Should cold brew coffee steep at room temperature or in the refrigerator?

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For those of us living in cities that feel like furnaces, cold drinks are a refrigerator essential. Cold brew coffee satisfies both the craving for cold beverages and the need for caffeine. However, store-bought cold brew coffee is expensive! The cost of three cups of cold brew coffee is enough to buy a bag of beans, and one half-pound bag of coffee beans can make four batches of cold brew coffee, each producing 500ml. Next, FrontStreet Coffee will teach you how to save money by making cold brew coffee at home.

Cold Brew Coffee Methods

Cold brew coffee is actually divided into cold water immersion and ice water drip methods - simply put, cold brew coffee and ice drip coffee. FrontStreet Coffee only serves ice drip coffee at our storefront, so let's start with ice drip coffee!

Those who have visited FrontStreet Coffee know that our storefront has a complete set of equipment for making ice drip coffee. When assembled, it looks like a tower - quite impressive! As FrontStreet Coffee explains the brewing method below, we believe "impressive" won't be enough to describe it - "professional" is more fitting!

Ice Drip Coffee

FrontStreet Coffee's method for making ice drip coffee:

FrontStreet Coffee uses 60 grams of coffee grounds as a standard, sifted through a China standard #20 sieve to achieve about 85% extraction consistency. Using a coffee-to-water ratio of 1:10, it takes 6-8 hours to extract approximately 600ml of coffee liquid.

1. Place a circular filter paper at the bottom of the coffee grounds container and moisten it with water.

2. Fill the container with 60 grams of ground coffee and press down with a tamper-like tool to level the surface and make the interior more compact.

3. Place a circular filter paper on the surface of the coffee grounds to prevent craters from forming during prolonged dripping.

4. Add cold water for pre-soaking effect.

5. Fill the water container with a 1:1 mixture of ice and water.

6. Adjust the flow valve to 7 drops every 10 seconds.

7. After 6-8 hours when extraction is complete, pour the coffee liquid into an empty bottle, seal, and refrigerate overnight.

The characteristic of ice drip coffee is its rich, smooth texture that presents the best original flavor of coffee. Many coffee enthusiasts are quite fond of ice drip coffee. In weather where everything feels heavy, FrontStreet Coffee chooses coffee beans with more prominent acidity for ice drip coffee. For example, FrontStreet Coffee's Kenya "Little Tomato" beans are an excellent choice.

FrontStreet Coffee's Kenya "Little Tomato" Coffee Beans

• Country: Kenya
• Region: Thika
• Altitude: 1550m-1750m
• Varieties: SL28, SL34
• Processing: K72 washed processing

FrontStreet Coffee's Kenya coffee beans make ice drip coffee with clean flavor and bright acidity. It has a distinct juice-like quality, with noticeable cherry tomato acidity in the initial taste, grapefruit peel notes in the middle, and a finish of berry aroma and caramel sweetness.

Cold Brew Coffee

FrontStreet Coffee understands that most people don't have space at home for such large equipment, so cold brew coffee is the simplest method for most people. Generally, making cold brew coffee still requires grinding coffee beans. This work can be done when purchasing coffee beans - you can ask the merchant to grind them, which not only eliminates the need to adjust grind size but also saves time on weighing and grinding. If you want to make the process even more convenient, FrontStreet Coffee suggests purchasing some specialized tea bags. Simply place the coffee grounds in them ahead of time and tie them closed, then take them out when making cold brew.

1. Place the cold brew coffee bag in the extraction container and pull the drawstring out.
2. Add 100ml of room temperature or cold water to the container (recommended coffee-to-water ratio is 1:10, but this can be adjusted according to personal preference).
3. Shake gently to ensure the coffee grounds in the cold brew bag are thoroughly moistened.
4. Place in the refrigerator for 8-12 hours.
5. After 8-12 hours, remove the cold brew coffee bag.
6. Shake well and enjoy.

How long should cold brew coffee steep?

Two years ago, FrontStreet Coffee conducted experiments on how steeping time affects the flavor of cold brew coffee. Using the same coffee beans, same grind size, and same coffee-to-water ratio, we set extraction times at [4 hours], [8 hours], [12 hours], and [24 hours]. The conclusions were as follows:

[4 hours] The overall body was relatively thin with sufficient aroma, but after filtering out coffee grounds and bottling for refrigerated fermentation, the aroma was significantly diminished. The extraction rate was the lowest among the four groups, and the extracted flavors were not complete.

[8 hours] The flavor was relatively fresh and clean, with more extracted flavors than the [4 hours] group, but due to the shorter extraction time, the flavor layers were not rich, making the overall experience average.

[12 hours] The flavor layers were rich, with higher complexity than the previous two groups. Some inert molecules from the coffee beans were extracted in small amounts into the coffee liquid.

[24 hours] The flavor was most complex and rich. Due to the long steeping time, components from the coffee beans were fully extracted, and the water saturation was the highest among the four groups.

As extraction time increases, the resulting coffee extract becomes more intense and bitter in taste; as extraction time decreases, the coffee extract's acidity becomes more pronounced. After refrigerating all extracted coffee liquids for one day of fermentation, it was found that the [12 hours] group was the best choice because even after fermentation, the flavor remained excellent.

However, these are just reference data shared by FrontStreet Coffee. Adjustments should still be made based on personal taste preferences and the flavor characteristics of the coffee beans.

Should cold brew coffee steep at room temperature or in the refrigerator?

Regular readers of FrontStreet Coffee articles know that even slight changes in water temperature can affect coffee. The most common observation is: the lower the water temperature, the slower the coffee extraction rate, and the longer it takes to achieve the ideal extraction rate. However, as extraction time extends, more substances are extracted from the coffee, and some undesirable flavor compounds may also be extracted into the coffee liquid.

Pour-over coffee and ice drip coffee are two extreme and obvious examples.

Pour-over coffee uses near-boiling water (FrontStreet Coffee uses 90-93°C water for light and medium roast beans, and 86-88°C for dark roast beans), so FrontStreet Coffee's baristas typically control the entire extraction time to about 2 minutes for pour-over coffee.

Ice drip coffee uses an ice-water mixture. As taught in middle school physics, the reference temperature of an ice-water mixture is 0°C. Ideally, without considering the temperature increase from the ice water absorbing heat as it drips down, the water temperature for ice drip coffee is 0°C. FrontStreet Coffee's baristas start preparing ice drip coffee when they begin their shift and bottle the extracted coffee liquid for refrigerated storage as they're about to finish work. The entire process takes approximately 6-8 hours.

Additionally, considering the literal meaning of "cold brew" coffee, it's best to steep it in the refrigerator.

Important Notice :

前街咖啡 FrontStreet Coffee has moved to new addredd:

FrontStreet Coffee Address: 315,Donghua East Road,GuangZhou

Tel:020 38364473