What Fruits Are Suitable for Cold Brew Coffee Specials? What's the Ideal Ratio for Black Coffee with Milk?

Discovering Creative Ways to Enjoy Cold Brew Coffee

Generally, coffee shops recommend enjoying cold brew black to appreciate the coffee's inherent flavors and the unique texture that comes from low-temperature extraction. However, as one of the most popular coffee choices for home enthusiasts, cold brew has evolved with numerous innovative preparation methods. Each addition of different ingredients can reveal distinct flavor profiles.

Today, FrontStreet Coffee will summarize various hidden ways to enjoy cold brew and help you discover which might become your favorite.

1. Adding Fruits

Coffee often naturally carries "fruit notes," and many fruits are suitable for cold steeping, making the practice of adding fruits to cold brew quite common.

In the coffee flavor wheel, fruit descriptions occupy a significant portion, including major categories like citrus, berries, and dried fruits, with more specific varieties such as blueberry, strawberry, cherry, grapefruit, orange, apple, peach, pear, and pineapple—all highly distinctive. Therefore, many coffee beans are suitable for fruit-infused cold brew, such as the tropical fruit-forward Guohuai 8.0, citrusy Guo Ding Ding, strawberry candy with raisin sweetness, natural grape acidity from Sidra, and Kenyan coffee with plum juice notes—not only perfect for steeping alone but also for creating exciting combinations with various fruits.

Beyond coffee beans, FrontStreet Coffee believes selecting complementary fruits is equally important. When choosing fruits, we consider whether they're suitable for extended steeping (preferably overnight) and whether they can release compatible aromas when infused in coffee. Based on FrontStreet Coffee's experience, to create fruit cold brew that's refreshing yet not overpowering, we recommend using varieties with sweet, juicy, and aromatic characteristics, such as Kyoho grapes, honey peaches, lychees, as well as seasonal strawberries, cherries, and sweet oranges. For more details, you might want to revisit our article from last year: "Which fruits make the best cold brew coffee?"

2. Adding Dried Flowers

Although there are many coffee beans suitable for cold brew, the slow extraction in cold water results in relatively simple flavor profiles compared to hot pour-over. Clever coffee enthusiasts have thought to add other ingredients to provide unique aromas to the coffee, such as dried flower petals, which are particularly favored by many women.

Considering that cold brew involves minimal intervention and occurs in a completely static environment, to allow fragrant aromas to enter the coffee and impart a touch of freshness, it's best to choose flowers with distinct and easily extractable aromas, such as osmanthus, jasmine, and rose. These three flowers are not only readily available in daily life but also have higher compatibility with coffee flavors. However, although these dried flowers are rich in aroma, their flavor profile is relatively light, so they're best paired with light to medium-roast coffee beans that have floral and fruity notes, allowing both elements to complement each other. For specific methods, you can refer to FrontStreet Coffee's article from last autumn: "The most popular specialty coffee drinks of autumn—easy to master!"

3. Adding Preserved Plums

As a traditional Chinese snack, preserved plums offer a salty, sour, and refreshing taste with rich fruit aroma and a sweet aftertaste when held in the mouth. They can be used not only in creative dishes but also in various specialty drinks or popular cold beverages. FrontStreet Coffee once added five preserved plums to a pitcher of cold brew made with sun-dried Hu Die beans. After an overnight infusion, the coffee developed complex aromas reminiscent of perilla, raspberry, and cherry, extending from its original citrus acidity and tea-like notes—creating an exceptionally distinctive flavor profile.

Besides preserved plums, you likely have many other types of candied fruits in your snack collection. Why not unleash your imagination and try combining them with coffee to see whether the result brings surprises or delights?

For instance, whenever FrontStreet Coffee buys herbal tea, the shop owner includes a complimentary pack of nine-processed tangerine peel. The first taste is intensely salty, followed by the sweet and sour notes of the preserved fruit, soon giving way to a mouthful of tangerine peel aroma that both stimulates saliva and soothes the throat. When FrontStreet Coffee added it to a pitcher of cold brew made with Finca El Diviso · Ombligon beans, it created yet another flavor dimension, with blackcurrant juice combined with citrus and preserved fruit notes, creating an exceptionally rich profile.

4. Pairing with Milk

When it comes to milk cold brew, there are generally two preparation methods. The first involves replacing water with milk to steep coffee grounds directly (see our article on this method), followed by filtration. This produces an iced coffee with a mellow entrance and viscous texture, combining both the smoothness of milk and the delicate aroma of the beans. It's worth noting that milk contains abundant protein and milk fat, which can overpower coffee flavors, so it's better suited for medium to dark-roasted beans to achieve a fuller mouthfeel.

The second method involves mixing prepared cold brew with fresh milk for consumption (see our article on this approach). The addition of fresh milk not only softens any coarse textures that might result from low-temperature extraction but also adds a touch of smoothness and creaminess to the cold brew, making the coffee more approachable.

5. Adding Coconut Water

Coconut water is rich in various amino acids, vitamins, and minerals. It offers a light sweetness with a hint of saltiness, quenching thirst and relieving summer heat. With its transparent and clear appearance, it has always been an excellent partner for iced coffee, and cold brew is no exception.

FrontStreet Coffee once experimented by mixing 100ml of iced coconut water with 100ml of strawberry candy cold brew (ground-to-water ratio of 1:10) in a 1:1 ratio to create a coconut-flavored cold brew coffee. Each sip offered both the sweet-tart notes of raisin and strawberry gummy candy, along with the refreshing aroma of coconut—an incredibly delightful experience.

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