The Origin, Principles, Advantages, and Best Ways to Enjoy Cold Drip Coffee - What Coffee Beans Are Best for Cold Drip

As the weather becomes increasingly warm, cold drip coffee at FrontStreet Coffee has been selling exceptionally well. In reality, cold drip coffee isn't nearly as complicated as most people believe. Today, FrontStreet Coffee will share the method for making cold drip coffee.

Origin of Cold Drip Coffee

"In the 1600s, Dutch sailors transporting coffee from their colony in Indonesia back to Europe devised cold drip coffee because there was no hot water available on the ships, making it impossible to drink hot coffee. Coffee extracted with cold water tasted mellow and smooth with an enticing aroma. Not only the sailors but also ordinary people grew to love it."

Actually! The origin story above was fabricated by Japanese coffee industry professionals to promote cold drip towers and serves as one of their marketing strategies. In fact, in Western countries, including the Netherlands, the primary method isn't the Japanese drip-style (where ice water drips drop by drop), but rather the so-called "Cold-Brew" immersion method (where coffee grounds are steeped in cold water for an extended period). Furthermore, there's no such thing as cold drip coffee (Dutch Coffee) in the West.

Invention of Cold Drip Coffee

Although cold drip is called Dutch coffee, it doesn't have deep roots in the Netherlands. Instead, it has strong connections to Japan, which is why it's also known as Kyoto coffee. The owner of Kyoto Hanafusa Coffee, while reading coffee books, learned about the local coffee brewing methods in what was then the Dutch colony of Indonesia. 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 descriptions in the books, attempting to recreate the Indonesian brewing method, thus inventing cold drip coffee. Later, it became popular in Europe and America. Because Westerners were unfamiliar with this history, they simply called it Kyoto coffee.

Cold drip uses near-freezing ice water for extraction, reducing the volatilization of coffee flavors at low temperatures and storing as much coffee aroma as possible in the coffee liquid. When consumed, the coffee liquid's temperature rises, and the contained aroma suddenly bursts forth, allowing the coffee drinker to experience intense flavors at the back of their palate. This sudden aromatic explosion creates a profound sense of happiness.

FrontStreet Coffee's Cold Drip Coffee Making Guide

1. FrontStreet Coffee uses a water-to-coffee 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 ground coffee chamber, wet it with water to ensure it adheres to the chamber walls, then add the pre-ground 60g of coffee grounds (coarse sugar size, FrontStreet Coffee stores use EK-43s #10 setting), level the coffee surface, and you can also lightly press the coffee layer using the tamper's own weight to create an even surface.

3. Remember to place a filter paper on top of the coffee grounds. The filter paper's tension helps distribute water evenly. Without it, prolonged water dripping would create holes in the coffee bed.

4. Use ice water for "pre-soaking" – this is similar to the blooming process in pour-over coffee, which can improve extraction efficiency and final consistency. Direct cold dripping might result in uneven moistening of the coffee layer, causing some coffee grounds to be over-extracted while others don't participate in extraction at all.

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

6. After completion, pour the coffee liquid into a sealed glass bottle and refrigerate overnight to allow the coffee flavors to meld together, resulting in better taste and smoother mouthfeel.

Caffeine Content in Cold Drip Coffee

Many people believe cold drip coffee has low caffeine content because lower water temperatures make caffeine less soluble (caffeine's minimum solubility temperature is above 80°C Celsius). However, the small amount of caffeine extracted by cold water accumulates over the long extraction period and shouldn't be underestimated. Therefore, some argue that cold drip coffee actually has higher caffeine content, and many experimental results have proven this claim. The caffeine content in cold drip coffee varies greatly depending on the coffee beans used, water drip intervals, and total extraction time at each coffee shop. Therefore, for those sensitive to caffeine, instead of drinking cold drip coffee, FrontStreet Coffee recommends beverages with lower caffeine content such as Americano or latte.

How Do We Choose Coffee Beans for Cold Drip?

The first reaction of readers seeing this title might be: just choose one bean and drip it~ That's completely possible. However, using only one type of bean for cold drip might not fully showcase the bean's aroma, sweetness, or smoothness. Therefore, FrontStreet Coffee often uses two different coffee beans for blending when making cold drip, with the purpose of highlighting certain flavor characteristics. Below, FrontStreet Coffee introduces two blending methods for your reference.

Recipe One: 30g [FrontStreet Coffee Honduras Sherry] + 30g [FrontStreet Coffee Costa Rica Beethoven]

Barrel-processed Sherry combined with washed Beethoven creates fermented wine aromas, rich fruit acidity with honey-like sweetness. The whiskey barrel-fermented Sherry has distinct whiskey aromas with vanilla cream-like smoothness. The washed Beethoven has prominent citrus acidity with berry juice fullness. When made into cold drip, you'll experience rich whiskey aromas, with distinct citrus acidity and berry juice fullness upon entry, along with vanilla cream smoothness.

Recipe Two: 20g [FrontStreet Coffee Honduras Lychee Lan] + 40g [FrontStreet Coffee Gesha Village Red Label]

Barrel-processed Lychee Lan combined with natural-processed Gesha Village Red Label creates subtle brandy aromas, plum-like acidity paired with maple sweetness. The brandy barrel-processed Lychee Lan coffee has rich brandy aromas, chocolate-like aftertaste, and high sweet notes reminiscent of lychee and honey. The natural-processed Gesha Village Red Label offers plum and citrus fruit acidity with maple sweetness and cream-like smooth mouthfeel. When made into cold drip, you'll experience subtle brandy aromas, with rich fruit acidity leading to honey-like sweetness and cream-like smooth mouthfeel.

For professional coffee knowledge exchange and more coffee bean information, please follow Coffee Workshop (WeChat public account: cafe_style).

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