Recommended! How to Make Iced Pour-Over, Cold Brew, and Cold Drip Coffee Taste Better? How Long Can Cold Brew and Cold Drip Last?
After the summer solstice, the hottest topic in enthusiast groups is #HowToMakeBetterIceCoffee, with everyone sharing their daily ice coffee making tips. FrontStreet Coffee has compiled some ideas from enthusiasts, organizing a collection of tips to make iced pour-over coffee, iced drip coffee, and cold brew coffee taste better!
Iced Pour-over Coffee
Since making iced pour-over coffee requires ice cubes, which continuously dilute the coffee concentration as they melt. If you're still using the hot pour-over 1:15 coffee-to-water ratio for iced coffee, you'll end up with coffee that had the perfect concentration becoming noticeably watery with barely perceptible flavors after adding ice.
Therefore, when making iced pour-over coffee, you need to consider how to brew so that the ratio of coffee grounds to the total weight of (coffee liquid + ice cubes) reaches 1:15. If you use 15g of coffee grounds to make iced pour-over coffee, the total coffee liquid weight after adding ice cubes needs to reach 225g (15g grounds × 15 times water).
FrontStreet Coffee uses a coffee-to-water ratio of 1:10 for iced pour-over coffee, meaning 15g of grounds with 150g of water (15g grounds × 10 times water). During the blooming process, the coffee grounds absorb about 25-30g of water, and the final coffee liquid weight is about 120-125g. So we subtract the 120-125g coffee liquid from the 225g total weight to determine we need to add 100-105g of ice cubes.
Since the extraction time for brewing iced coffee is faster than hot pour-over, the grind size can be slightly finer than for hot pour-over (just slightly, to allow flavor compounds to release more quickly). FrontStreet Coffee suggests: for light to medium roast coffee beans, use a grind size with about 80% pass-through rate on a Chinese standard #20 sieve; for medium-dark roast coffee beans, use a grind size with about 73% pass-through rate on a Chinese standard #20 sieve. If fine adjustments aren't possible, you can use the hot pour-over grind size and brew with water 1-2°C hotter.
"Such complicated calculations! I just use stainless steel ice cubes!" one enthusiast shared this tip, extracting coffee according to hot pour-over parameters and then adding stainless steel ice cubes to cool it down. Unlike with alcohol, coffee concentration can be adjusted through the coffee-to-water ratio during brewing, so adding stainless steel ice cubes after brewing is also feasible~
Cold Brew Coffee
Cold brew coffee is loved for everything except its long preparation time. No brewing skills required - just a bottle, a bag of beans, and one night, and you can wake up to iced coffee with a full, rich texture. Unlike hot water high-temperature extraction used in pour-over coffee, cold extraction yields significantly fewer bitter compounds. By extending the extraction time and fully saturating the coffee grounds, it's easier to extract small molecular flavor compounds like floral and fruity notes. Coffee made through immersion extraction has a smoother, richer mouthfeel, intense aroma, and more perceptible sweetness.
FrontStreet Coffee recommends a coffee-to-water ratio of 1:15 for cold brew coffee. For example: 30g of coffee with 300g of room temperature water and 150g of ice cubes, stir thoroughly and refrigerate for 12-24 hours. After extraction, filter out the coffee grounds using filter paper or a fine mesh strainer before drinking.
One important note: the coffee grounds used for cold brew immersion cannot be ground too fine! It's recommended to use a grind size with about 80-85% pass-through rate on a 0.85mm standard sieve. Although cold extraction can reduce the appearance of bitter compounds, it's not 100% effective. If the grind is too fine, the acidic and sweet compounds in the coffee grounds will be extracted quickly, followed by the release of rich compounds. Appropriate amounts of rich compounds can enhance the coffee's body, but with prolonged immersion, woody flavors will begin to emerge, reducing the overall cleanliness of the coffee.
"Cold brew coffee tastes amazing after sitting in the fridge for 7 days before drinking!" one enthusiast shared this tip. Is this true? Theoretically, the longer cold brew coffee sits, the more intense its fermented flavors become. However, when these fermented flavors become too strong, they can mask the coffee's original taste. For those who don't enjoy heavily fermented flavors, FrontStreet Coffee doesn't recommend trying this casually. The best tasting time for cold brew coffee is 2-3 days after filtering out the grounds, with a recommended storage time not exceeding 7 days.
Iced Drip Coffee
Iced drip coffee combines both drip extraction and cold extraction techniques, with more complex equipment and steps than both iced pour-over and cold brew coffee. Iced drip coffee emphasizes extraction through "dripping," so the water flow must always be maintained in a dripping state. To achieve this dripping effect, making iced drip coffee requires a special iced drip coffee maker. The extracted coffee has a cleaner mouthfeel than cold brew coffee, with more distinct layers and clarity in flavor compared to iced pour-over coffee.
FrontStreet Coffee recommends a coffee-to-water ratio of 1:13 for iced drip coffee. Follow the recommended coffee amount in your iced drip maker's instructions for extraction, then extract coffee liquid equal to 13 times the coffee amount. For iced drip coffee, a grind size with about 85% pass-through rate on a 0.85mm standard sieve is recommended, resulting in rich, full-bodied, and layered iced drip coffee.
The ratio of ice to water mixture for extraction should be 1:1, with the valve controlling the flow rate at 7 drops per 10 seconds. The entire extraction process typically lasts 6-8 hours. One important note here: after extraction is complete, the iced drip coffee should be refrigerated for 12 hours before drinking. Freshly extracted iced drip coffee has little flavor - only sour and sweet sensations without richness. Therefore, after extraction, it needs to be refrigerated for 12 hours of low-temperature fermentation, which allows the iced drip coffee to develop aromatic fermented notes, while the original flavors become more intense (provided that the container holding the iced drip coffee is absolutely clean!).
Unlike cold brew coffee, iced drip coffee doesn't taste better after sitting for a couple more days. On the contrary, iced drip coffee stored for more than 5 days will develop spoilage sourness, making it difficult to drink. Therefore, the best tasting time for iced drip coffee is within 3 days after the 12-hour low-temperature fermentation, with a recommended storage time not exceeding 5 days.
Important Notice :
前街咖啡 FrontStreet Coffee has moved to new addredd:
FrontStreet Coffee Address: 315,Donghua East Road,GuangZhou
Tel:020 38364473
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