The Right Way to Brew Cold Brew Coffee! What's the Perfect Coffee-to-Water Ratio for Cold Brew? How Fine Should the Grind Be for Cold Brew?

Introduction to Cold Brew Coffee

Previously, FrontStreet Coffee has shared many reasons why "cold brew coffee tastes bland," and many friends have suggested that FrontStreet Coffee directly publish an extraction tutorial. Coincidentally, the cold brew at our store has recently received widespread acclaim, and many customers have been asking about the related extraction parameters. So today, the guide to making cold brew coffee is here!

Making cold brew coffee is actually very simple. As long as we choose coffee beans that suit our preferences and use the right parameters, we can brew delicious cold brew coffee with our eyes closed. After all, this extraction method only involves mixing ground coffee with water and placing it in the refrigerator to chill, which basically completes the process. The main reason why many friends cannot brew delicious cold brew coffee is because they haven't mastered the parameters correctly. If we want to make a delicious cup of cold brew coffee, we must master three key parameters: grind size, ratio, and time.

Key Parameters for Cold Brew Coffee

Coffee Grind Size: The fineness of the grind determines the total surface area of the coffee grounds. When the total surface area of the coffee grounds is larger, water can penetrate more quickly to the inside, bringing out the flavor compounds from the coffee grounds. For long-term immersion extraction where there's no movement, a finer grind helps with the dissolution of flavor compounds. Therefore, in terms of coffee grind size, we can adjust it to be slightly finer than that used for pour-over coffee.

Coffee to Water Ratio: The coffee to water ratio refers to the proportion of coffee grounds to water, which determines the concentration of the coffee. The reason why many friends' cold brew coffee tastes bland is because their coffee to water ratio is too low, meaning they've added too much water, causing excessive dilution of the coffee concentration.

Actually, we can make cold brew coffee appropriately stronger, because if the concentration is high, we can dilute it by adding ice. But if the concentration is low... hmm, reduce it over high heat? That obviously won't work. Therefore, in the initial stage, we'd rather use a relatively high coffee to water ratio to make the coffee concentration higher, rather than using too much water which would make the coffee too bland.

Coffee Steeping Time: The last thing to pay attention to is the steeping time of the coffee. Since cold brew requires "steeping" to extract the compounds from the coffee grounds, the length of time determines how much substance is dissolved. If we want to make the coffee as concentrated as possible, it's best to appropriately extend the steeping time.

Once we are familiar with the above three points, we can move on to the actual making of cold brew coffee!

How to Make Cold Brew Coffee

First, let's choose a coffee bean that suits our preferences. If you want your cold brew coffee to be full of juiciness, sweet and sour, then you can choose lightly roasted coffee beans; if you want the cold brew coffee flavor to be very concrete and prominent, then we can choose beans that have undergone deeper fermentation during processing; and if we want something with a heavier mouthfeel, then we can choose some medium-dark to dark roasted coffee beans (when using dark roasted coffee beans for cold brew, you can add a small amount of osmanthus, and the resulting coffee will have unexpectedly delicious flavor).

For specific bean selection, everyone can move to "How to Quickly Find Your Favorite Coffee Beans?" to learn more. FrontStreet Coffee has chosen the "Mozart" blend, which has been quite popular among store customers recently, as the brewing bean for this session. The cold brew coffee made with it will have a very full juicy sensation, with flavor notes of: grape, berries, wine, and some purple floral notes similar to lavender.

Parameters are as follows:

• Coffee Amount: 80g (everyone can adjust according to their own consumption needs)
• Grind Setting: EK43's setting 9, with 85% passing through a #20 sieve, fine sugar grind
• Coffee to Water Ratio: 1:10
• Steeping Time: 12 hours

Remember to prepare a sealable container! When we grind the coffee beans into powder, the first thing to do is to pour the coffee grounds into the container!

Then pour in the target amount of water! Because FrontStreet Coffee is using 80g of coffee grounds, we will pour in 800ml of room temperature water.

After pouring the water, stir it a bit to speed up the wetting of the coffee grounds!

Then you can seal the bottle and place it in the refrigerator to chill.

When the steeping time is reached, we can take the coffee out, filter out the coffee grounds with filter paper, and enjoy the delicious cold brew coffee! (If it's brewed stronger, remember to dilute it with ice~)

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Important Notice :

前街咖啡 FrontStreet Coffee has moved to new addredd:

FrontStreet Coffee Address: 315,Donghua East Road,GuangZhou

Tel:020 38364473