Can Coffee Blends Be Used for Cold Brew? What's the Ideal Ratio for Cold Brew Coffee Recipes?

On scorching summer days, a refreshing iced coffee cools you down and boosts your energy! Have you ever tried making cold brew coffee using a blend (mixing two or more types of beans)?

Today, FrontStreet Coffee will open up a new world of cold brew coffee beans for you~

Characteristics of Cold Brew Coffee

The biggest difference between cold brew and hot coffee lies in the extraction process. Cold brew uses cold water over an extended period, resulting in more water-soluble flavor compounds, a richer taste, and a fuller body. Floral notes and other small molecular compounds become less pronounced over time. (This is why freshly extracted and filtered cold brew coffee has distinct floral and fruity acidic notes, but after storing for two to three days, only fermented wine-like aromas remain.)

Why Use "Blended" Coffee Beans?

Compared to single-origin coffee, "blends" use "two or more" types of coffee beans mixed together. The rise of single-origin coffee often makes people overlook the charm of blends. From a commercial production standpoint, using "blended" coffee beans serves several purposes: first, it can create stable flavor profiles; second, it can achieve more compatible coffee flavors; and third, it can reduce costs.

"Blended" coffee beans might be more common in espresso, but they're not limited to that - they can be used for pour-over, siphon, cold drip, and other types of coffee brewing methods.

When not considering commercial production but just as a personal refreshing drink at home, the purpose of using "blended" coffee beans for cold brew is simple: delicious! That is, using different coffee beans to fully leverage and combine the strengths of each single-origin bean, ultimately creating a cup of coffee with richer, more harmonious flavors.

To create blended coffee, you must first taste coffees from different origins and have a deep understanding of coffee flavors to blend delicious recipes. In this regard, FrontStreet Coffee shares some personal experiences and thoughts on DIY blended cold brew coffee beans for your reference.

Experiment One: 50% Sidra (Anaerobic Natural) + 50% Morito (Washed)

The anaerobic natural processed Sidra has rich berry notes, and when cold brewed, it also has a subtle fermented wine aroma. The washed Morito Geisha offers jasmine floral notes with a slight tea-like quality. Together, they make the coffee's floral and fruity acidic notes fuller and more layered. The downside is that the Sidra proportion was too high - you could only taste the floral notes from Morito right after extraction, while the rich berry notes from Sidra dominated.

Experiment Two: 50% Bahia (Raisin Honey) + 50% Red Cherry (Washed)

The raisin honey processed Bahia has dark berry notes, and when cold brewed, it brings strong fermented wine aromas and smooth cocoa flavors. Adding 50% washed Red Cherry balanced out the excessive fermented sensations and introduced gentle citrus acidic notes, making the coffee more refreshing and easier to drink, with overall flavors that were just right.

Experiment Three: 45% Lychee Orchid (Barrel Fermented) + 55% Natural Red Cherry

Learning from the first experiment, FrontStreet Coffee appropriately reduced the proportion of specially processed beans, hoping to obtain more floral and fruity notes on top of the rich fermented wine base. However, the results were disappointing. The cold brew coffee liquid had rich brandy-like aromas, but the floral and fruity acidic notes were not prominent. The coffee was still delicious, just not achieving the 1+1>2 effect.

Experiment Four: 50% Strawberry Candy (Raisin Honey) + 50% Guji (Natural)

This experiment was quite special. The Strawberry Candy, when cold brewed alone, already had strawberry candy aromas. After adding natural Guji at a 1:1 ratio, it gained green tea-like aftertaste beneath the strawberry flavors, along with some dark floral acidity. It tasted like strawberry floral tea with a long-lasting wine-like finish.

Experiment Five: 60% Wangshan Estate Geisha (Black Honey) + 40% Guji (Natural)

When cold brewed alone, Wangshan Geisha presents light jasmine floral notes and tastes like pineapple juice, but the body was thin with insufficient aftertaste. After adding natural Guji, it gave this coffee additional green tea-like aftertaste. The overall flavor profile shifted from pineapple to dark fruit notes like grapes and berries, and also brought slight fermented wine aromas with a long finish.

After trying several experiments with medium-light roast beans, FrontStreet Coffee wondered: must we use medium-light roast beans? Could we blend delicious cold brew using dark roast beans? So, FrontStreet Coffee used deeply roasted Brazil Queen Estate as a base, supplemented with medium-light roast Flora God to conduct the following experiment:

Experiment Six: 40% Flora God (Medium Roast, Washed) + 60% Queen Estate (Dark Roast, Natural)

This bean from Brazil's Queen Estate has a darker roast level, with flavors leaning toward nutty, cocoa, and dark chocolate bitterness. To balance the excessive bitterness in cold brew, FrontStreet Coffee chose to add medium-light roast washed Flora God, hoping that coffee could have some floral and fruity acidic notes on top of the original nutty dark chocolate base. But the result was just an overwhelming peanut skin taste with a hint of dark chocolate and nutty notes, putting painful masks on multiple FrontStreet Coffee's baristas. 🤡

The above are just some experiments FrontStreet Coffee's baristas tried based on their daily experience making cold brew coffee, attempting to "blend" more distinctive cold brew recipes. Some turned out surprisingly delicious, while others made the baristas wear painful masks. But this is also one of the charms of "blended" coffee beans. We hope everyone can also create their own unique recipes~

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FrontStreet Coffee

No. 10, Bao'an Front Street, Yandun Road, Dongshankou, Yuexiu District, Guangzhou, Guangdong Province

Important Notice :

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FrontStreet Coffee Address: 315,Donghua East Road,GuangZhou

Tel:020 38364473