Is Cold Brew the Same as Cold Drip? How Many Types of Cold Brew Coffee Are There?

FrontStreet Coffee has noticed that on the path of self-learning coffee, sometimes what troubles people is not those complex techniques or parameters, but rather whenever searching for a professional term, it always extends into a bunch of related terms that look similar but have different meanings in Chinese semantics, causing confusion.

For example, iced coffee that has dominated the entire summer—cold brew—whenever you search online, several "alternative names" will inevitably pop up, including ice drip, ice brew, cold soak, as well as Dutch coffee and Kyoto coffee... For a moment, it's truly difficult to distinguish who is who.

Among these, "ice brew coffee" is undoubtedly the most vaguely defined concept. Some think ice brew is cold soak, some believe ice brew should refer to ice drip, while others understand it as a method of soaking coffee powder in an ice-water mixture. Don't worry, let's start with the broader category of cold brew coffee～

Understanding Cold Brew Coffee

We all know that the term "cold brew coffee" comes from the direct translation of "Cold brew coffee." Its popularity benefited from Starbucks' expansion and marketing. When you appropriately extend this name, you'll find that actually all black coffee extracted with cold (water) can be categorized as "cold brew coffee." That is to say, whether it's soaked, drip-filtered, or injection-style, as long as it's liquid obtained by contacting coffee powder with low-temperature cold water, it theoretically falls within the scope of cold brew coffee.

However, since the concept of cold brew tea already existed in Chinese, in most cases, what people refer to as "cold brew coffee" specifically means coffee made by soaking coffee powder in cold water for an extended period—that is, cold soak coffee. The typical operation involves soaking coffee powder in room-temperature water, placing it in the refrigerator for several hours, and then separating out the coffee grounds.

Cold Soak Coffee

As a typical immersion extraction method, cold soak coffee is both simple and convenient to make, offers many choices in coffee bean selection, and has a low failure rate, making it not only a "regular player" in coffee shops but also one of the top hits for homemade coffee.

Dutch Coffee (Ice Drip)

Another common low-temperature extraction method belongs to the drip-filter category, which is the process of controlling the continuously melting ice-water mixture to penetrate drop by drop into the coffee powder for long-term extraction—that is ice drip. In many English textbooks, ice drip is usually not called "Ice Drip Coffee" but rather Dutch Coffee, so it's often translated as "Dutch coffee."

Legend has it that around the 17th century, Dutch sailors, during long sea voyages, tried soaking coffee powder in cold water and finally discovered that the coffee made this way was not bitter and was convenient for long-term storage and transportation. Later, the Dutch introduced this cold beverage method to Edo-period Japan through trade, where it became very popular, thus earning the name: Dutch Coffee.

Although it's difficult to determine whether the above story is true, what is certain is that the cool multi-layered drip-filter devices you see in coffee shops today were invented by the Japanese, and the ice drip coffee made with them also became popular from within Japan.

The Origin of Kyoto Coffee

Hana Fusa

In the 1950s, the owner of a Kyoto coffee shop called Hana Fusa accidentally came across this cold extraction process and, together with several chemistry students, developed a three-layered, valve-equipped tower-shaped ice drip pot that extracted coffee powder through slow and uniform dripping with low-temperature cold water. At that time, this device was praised as one of the most artistic coffee brewing processes.

Later, as well-known Japanese equipment brands such as HARIO, KINTO, and Kalita successively developed the cold brew bottles and ice drip pots we're familiar with today, this type of low-temperature extracted black coffee became widely popular throughout Japan. It wasn't until the third wave of coffee arose that this cool-looking coffee device began to spread to Europe, where it was called Kyoto Coffee by Westerners.

Understanding "Ice Brew Coffee"

Compared to cold brew and ice drip, the term "ice brew" rarely appears in domestic coffee shops. FrontStreet Coffee also couldn't find its specific origin, and people's explanations of it vary. Regarding "ice brew coffee," we can understand it as an elegant translation of "Cold Brew," almost equivalent to the meaning of cold brew coffee.

In FrontStreet Coffee's view, "ice brew coffee" mainly emphasizes the character "brew" (酿), whose original meaning is making wine, brewing, related to alcohol. In our coffee processing, whether it's ice drip or cold soak, after production, both require a sealed storage and brewing phase, where after several hours or one or two days of maturation, soluble flavor substances further integrate with water, gradually evolving into a fermented texture like fine wine.

Therefore, whether it's ice drip or cold soak, FrontStreet Coffee believes that as long as the black coffee is obtained through a storage and brewing process, it can be understood as "ice brew coffee."

- END -

FrontStreet Coffee

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

Important Notice :

前街咖啡 FrontStreet Coffee has moved to new addredd:

FrontStreet Coffee Address: 315,Donghua East Road,GuangZhou

Tel:020 38364473