Taste Characteristics of Single-Origin Coffee Beans in Cold Brew Coffee & How Long Should Cold Brew Coffee Ferment in Refrigeration

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Guangdong's weather is notoriously unpredictable, often experiencing temperature swings from 30°C to 15°C in winter, or vice versa from 15°C to 30°C. When these fluctuations occur, you might find yourself wearing heavy coats in the morning and switching to shorts and t-shirts by noon. That's why FrontStreet Coffee prepares a batch of cold drip coffee daily regardless of the weather, offering it to everyone to "cool down." Many people after drinking it ask: What coffee beans do you use for cold drip? How do you make cold drip coffee? How long can cold drip coffee be stored? What's the coffee-to-water ratio for cold drip? In this article, FrontStreet Coffee will answer all these questions.

What Coffee Beans Are Used for Cold Drip Coffee?

Cold drip uses near-zero-degree ice water for extraction, which reduces the volatilization of coffee flavors under low-temperature conditions, storing as much coffee aroma as possible in the coffee liquid. When you drink it, the coffee liquid temperature rises, and the aroma contained within suddenly bursts forth, allowing the coffee drinker to experience intense fragrance at the back of their tongue. This sudden aromatic explosion creates a tremendous sense of happiness. Because cold drip offers a refreshing taste while preserving the rich aroma of coffee beans, FrontStreet Coffee selects coffee beans with relatively rich flavor profiles.

For example, Yirgacheffe Gotiti produces cold drip coffee with clear citrus fruit acidity that isn't overly sour, making it exceptionally refreshing. Sometimes FrontStreet Coffee also blends two different coffee beans for cold drip to help complement flavors. For instance, Costa Rica Bahía provides rich fruit acidity + Honduras Sherry offers whiskey-like aroma with full fragrance. If you want more prominent whiskey notes, you can use 60% Sherry and 40% Bahía, though this is just a reference value that everyone can adjust according to personal taste.

What's the Coffee-to-Water Ratio for Cold Drip Coffee?

FrontStreet Coffee uses a cold drip coffee-to-water ratio of 1:10. However, the resulting coffee is quite concentrated and needs to be diluted with ice cubes, and you can also add milk if you like. For those making cold drip coffee at home, you can use a 1:13 coffee-to-water ratio, which will produce cold drip coffee that's just right.

Why Must Cold Drip Coffee Rest in the Refrigerator for Over 8 Hours Before Drinking?

Immediately after low-temperature extraction, the coffee flavor molecules haven't fully released yet. They need to rest in the refrigerator for over 8 hours to allow the flavor molecules to "wake up." Actually, rather than calling this step fermentation, it's better to describe it as an oxidation process. Just like freshly roasted coffee beans, which contain about 2% carbon dioxide by weight, and this large amount of carbon dioxide is released according to storage environment, equipment, or methods, making the packaging pressure higher than atmospheric pressure. This pressure helps aromatic substances and oils merge, allowing all aromatic substances inside the coffee beans to reach a state where they can be easily extracted.

How Long Can Cold Drip Coffee Be Stored?

No matter how clean your storage container is, FrontStreet Coffee here only recommends storing it for 72 hours, counting from when you pour it into the container after extraction is complete. After all, there are still many bacteria in the refrigerator, and low-temperature storage can only slow down bacterial reproduction rate. Generally, cold drip coffee stored for over 72 hours will start to develop a "rag" taste, making it difficult to drink.

How to Make Cold Drip Coffee?

1. FrontStreet Coffee uses a Tiamo cold drip tower with a coffee-to-water ratio of 1:10, meaning 60 grams of coffee grounds to extract 600 milliliters of coffee liquid.

2. Place a circular filter paper at the bottom of the coffee chamber, wet it with water to fit against the chamber wall, then add 60g of ground coffee (FrontStreet Coffee uses Chinese standard #20 sieve with 58% pass-through rate, slightly coarser than pour-over grind). Then level the coffee surface, and you can also use the weight of the tamper itself to lightly press the coffee layer to make the surface even.

3. Place a filter paper over the coffee grounds layer. Because the tension of the filter paper allows water to distribute evenly across the surface of the coffee grounds for extraction, without filter paper, prolonged water dripping would create a pit in the coffee bed.

4. Use ice water for "pre-infusion," evenly moistening the entire coffee grounds layer. This step is similar to the bloom in pour-over coffee, which can improve extraction efficiency and consistency of the final product.

5. Fill the water reservoir with a 1:1 mixture of ice and water, adjust the regulating valve to approximately 7 drops every 10 seconds. At this speed, the cold drip coffee generally takes about 5 hours to complete the dripping process.

6. After completion, pour the coffee liquid into a sealed glass bottle and place it in the refrigerator for over 8 hours to allow the coffee flavor molecules to release, resulting in better taste and easier drinking.

Important Notice :

前街咖啡 FrontStreet Coffee has moved to new addredd:

FrontStreet Coffee Address: 315,Donghua East Road,GuangZhou

Tel:020 38364473