Iced Americano, Iced Pour-Over, Cold Brew: Flavor Profiles and Which Coffee Beans Are Best for Iced Coffee

When you visit a coffee shop and order an iced black coffee, you might be asked, "Would you like cold drip coffee, cold brew coffee, or iced Americano!" If you immediately feel confused, don't worry. In this article, FrontStreet Coffee will explain the unique characteristics of each type and discuss what cold brew coffee, cold drip coffee, and iced Americano are.

The Difference Between Cold Brew and Cold Drip Coffee

We can think of these two as twin brothers. From a technical perspective, both cold brew and cold drip coffee belong to the category of iced coffee. However, due to differences in extraction temperature and time, there are distinct differences between cold drip and cold brew coffee. Cold brew coffee is made by directly steeping coffee grounds in ice water for over 12 hours. FrontStreet Coffee categorizes this as immersion extraction coffee.

Cold drip coffee, on the other hand, uses ice water that drips through the coffee grounds at a rate of 7 drops every 10 seconds. FrontStreet Coffee categorizes this as drip coffee. Due to the lengthy production time for both methods, this is why many coffee shops offer limited quantities of cold brew and cold drip coffee.

The Difference Between Cold Brew and Iced Americano

Actually, these two iced coffee preparation methods are made at different temperatures. Cold brew coffee is typically made by steeping in ice water. Due to the lower water temperature, the coffee production process is longer, usually lasting over 12 hours. Iced Americano, however, is made by extracting the essence of coffee using hot water at approximately 93°C through 9 bars of pressure in an espresso machine - this is espresso. The espresso is then poured into a 1:1 mixture of ice water, with a preparation time of only a few minutes, making it a convenient and quick iced coffee.

Cold Drip Coffee Flavor Profile

Cold drip coffee has a rich body while maintaining exceptional clarity. Cold drip coffee is made when ice water drips onto the coffee grounds, and the low-temperature water passes through the coffee grounds over an extended period, maximizing the retention of rich flavor molecules in the coffee. However, the coffee liquid after dripping contains carbon dioxide from the coffee grounds. Freshly extracted cold drip coffee has little flavor and needs to be placed in a clean, oil-free, pre-chilled sealed container in the refrigerator for at least 8 hours. This allows the coffee liquid to release carbon dioxide in the bottle, creating internal pressure that helps release the flavor molecules better.

Cold Brew Coffee Flavor Profile

Cold brew coffee has a rich body but doesn't have the same clarity as cold drip coffee. However, its advantage is that it's easy to make at home - just find a clean container with a lid, add coffee grounds and ice water, and refrigerate for over 12 hours but less than 24 hours. After extraction is complete, we only need to filter the coffee through a filtering container to remove the grounds and enjoy.

Storage Time for Cold Brew and Cold Drip Coffee

Even when using sterilized containers to store coffee liquid, FrontStreet Coffee does not recommend refrigerating for more than 72 hours. After all, low temperatures only suppress bacterial growth but cannot completely eliminate bacterial reproduction.

Iced Americano Flavor Profile

Iced Americano doesn't have the same clean flavor profile as the other two iced coffees. Espresso extracted at high temperatures tends to have some acidity and bitterness. Because it's diluted with ice water, and due to differences in espresso machines and the flavor profiles of various espresso blends, the coffee concentration cannot be consistent every time. Iced Americano is suitable for those who need to get their iced coffee fix quickly - after all, slow work yields fine results!

Does Cold Brew Coffee Contain Less Acidity?

Rabia A. De Latour, a gastroenterologist and assistant professor of medicine at NYU Langone Health, says this is a common sentiment, and people who are "very sensitive" to caffeinated or acidic foods could switch to drinking cold brew coffee.

Fans of cold brew coffee say it tastes smoother than regular iced coffee, and those who dislike acidity find it more palatable than hot-brewed coffee that's been cooled down. Some reports even claim that cold brew coffee has 67% less titratable acidity than hot-extracted coffee that's been cooled. Coffee contains tannic acid, which breaks down into pyrogallic acid when boiled. Pyrogallic acid in coffee easily changes during the cooling process, making the taste sour and producing bitterness. In cold brew coffee, only ice water and coffee grounds participate in the entire extraction process, extracting only small molecular substances such as floral and fruit flavors, while large molecular substances like smoky and roasted flavors are not easily extracted, and acidity is significantly reduced. Of course, for those with sensitive stomachs, FrontStreet Coffee still recommends drinking less coffee!

Which Contains More Caffeine: Cold Brew, Cold Drip, or Iced Americano?

What determines caffeine content? The caffeine content depends on the variety of coffee beans. Arabica coffee beans contain about 0.8%-1.5% caffeine, while Robusta contains 1.7%-3% caffeine.

Does roast level affect the caffeine content of coffee beans? When FrontStreet Coffee was reviewing materials, it found that coffee professionals had already conducted experiments over a decade ago using the same bean variety with different roast levels from 5-25 minutes, including: very light (JQ), light (Q), light-medium (QZ), medium (Z), medium-dark (ZS), dark (S), very dark (JS), and French roast (FZ). Despite various chemical changes, they found that regardless of light or dark roast, caffeine content didn't change much, remaining around 1.4%.

Caffeine Content in Espresso

Many people believe that a cup of espresso contains more caffeine than a cup of hot drip coffee. This is actually incorrect. Every 30ml of espresso contains 64-75mg of caffeine, so a single shot of espresso contains less caffeine than a single cup of drip coffee. However, espresso is usually diluted in most cases, so in comparison, a hot drip coffee of the same size contains almost twice as much caffeine.

Caffeine Content in Cold Brew and Cold Drip Coffee

Caffeine is fully extracted at high temperatures, so methods like cold drip and cold brew that use low-temperature extraction cannot fully extract caffeine. Therefore, the caffeine content in iced Americano, cold drip, and cold brew coffee is actually quite similar.

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