FrontStreet Coffee's Cold Brew Recipe: Visual Guide to Cold Brew Coffee Making Process

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What is cold brew coffee? It's quite simple - it's iced coffee made by steeping coffee grounds in ice water and then extracting and filtering. While cold brew coffee may seem sophisticated, the actual preparation process is straightforward and crude, making it perfect for busy people to make at home. OK, today FrontStreet Coffee will teach everyone how to make cold brew coffee~

Cold Brew Coffee

Cold brew coffee is steeped for up to 12 hours overnight. Compared to regular hot brewed coffee, it delivers a perfect combination with noticeably stronger coffee flavor and less bitterness. This coffee, which sounds quite labor-intensive, is actually much simpler to make than you might imagine. Simply put, steep coffee grounds in cold water, let them infuse overnight in the refrigerator, then filter and you're done.

The principle is quite similar to cold brew coffee - cold brew uses cold water for extended extraction, only dissolving small molecules like fruit acids and floral aromas, resulting in a more fragrant, smooth taste that presents the coffee's best original flavor.

Many people have asked FrontStreet Coffee what beans are better for making cold brew.

Everyone knows that for making cold brew coffee, it's recommended to choose single-origin beans, which effectively removes bitterness and tannic acid, resulting in a rich, smooth, non-acidic, and stomach-friendly brew. Sometimes we also use two or more single-origin beans to make cold brew. Compared to regular iced coffee, cold brew has more aroma and a more delicate and subtle flavor. First, you need a cold brew pot, which you can buy on Taobao. HARIO and TIAMO models cost around 200 yuan for home use.

To get a delicious cup of cold brew coffee, you need to consider many factors during preparation, such as coffee bean variety, grind size, extraction time, and water quality.

Standards for Cold Brew Coffee

1. Coffee Bean Selection

We can start by looking at the genetic characteristics of coffee beans. For example, African coffee beans typically have exotic flavors like blueberry or citrus, along with fermented fruit notes, while Brazilian coffee beans tend to have more nutty, earthy, and cocoa tones.

It's hard to say which specific beans are more suitable for making cold brew coffee. Besides bean variety affecting coffee flavor, factors like growing soil, altitude, environmental humidity and temperature, and processing methods all influence the bean's flavor to some extent.

2. Grind Size

Grind size is always crucial for balanced coffee extraction. If the coffee grounds are too coarse, you might not be able to evenly extract the soluble substances from the coffee, resulting in a weak brew; conversely, if ground too finely, especially with dark-roasted beans, the extracted coffee will have woody flavors, and bitter substances will be more extracted, making the coffee both sour and bitter. Generally, cold brew coffee should be ground slightly coarser than regular coffee.

3. Extraction Time

Extraction time depends on your coffee grind size. Typically, the finer the grind, the shorter the extraction time should be, and the coarser the grind, the longer the time - same as with hot water extraction. When first steeping coffee grounds in water, you can stir several times to ensure full contact between coffee and water, releasing the oils and carbon dioxide from the grounds, which helps with better extraction. The optimal steeping time for cold brew coffee is 12-24 hours.

4. Water Quality

For any coffee, water quality is a crucial factor for the final taste. Especially for cold brew coffee, the fusion and steeping between water and grounds is key to the entire process. Therefore, cold brew coffee generally uses fresh filtered water or bottled water. You don't need to use ice or water close to 0°C - just try to keep the water temperature below 20°C.

Some people, after completing the cold brew extraction, will filter the coffee liquid and then let it naturally ferment in the refrigerator for a few hours to make the coffee flavor richer and more full-bodied. Although cold brew coffee is delicious and has lower caffeine content, don't overindulge - one cup at most is sufficient.

Although making cold brew coffee is simple, there's one very important thing I hope everyone will note: the coffee beans used for cold brew must not be too poor quality. As the saying goes, "Even the most skilled housewife can't cook a meal without rice" - if you use poor quality coffee beans, the final cold brew coffee quality cannot be good. So everyone, choose good beans for your cold brew coffee!

Important Notice :

前街咖啡 FrontStreet Coffee has moved to new addredd:

FrontStreet Coffee Address: 315,Donghua East Road,GuangZhou

Tel:020 38364473