How to Make Cold Brew Coffee at Home? What's the Difference Between Cold Brew and Cold Drip? Sharing Cold Brew Coffee Making Methods!

The Rising Demand for Ice Drip Coffee

As the weather gradually becomes hotter, the ice drip coffee at FrontStreet Coffee has once again fallen into a state of short supply. Through interviews with FrontStreet Coffee, we discovered that many friends choose ice drip coffee among various iced coffees not only because its taste and flavor differ from other regular iced coffees, but also partly because they cannot make it at home.

Understanding Ice Drip Coffee

Ice drip coffee is a type of cold brew coffee made through long-term drip filtration using ice water. Its preparation typically requires a professional device called an ice drip pot. Because the extraction efficiency of ice water is extremely low, we need to use the flow-limiting valve of the ice drip pot to output ice water in the form of water droplets, thereby extending the extraction time and allowing the coffee to achieve complete extraction.

The Challenge for Home Brewers

However, for individual enthusiasts, an ice drip pot is not an essential item. This is both because its practicality is not that great, and because of its not-so-cheap price and cumbersome operation steps. This makes many friends hesitate, preferring to go out to buy a cup of ice drip coffee rather than spending money to buy a pot for homemade preparation.

A Simple Alternative Method

But actually, ice drip coffee doesn't necessarily require a dedicated ice drip pot to be made. Because there happens to be such an alternative method. The equipment needed to make ice drip coffee with this method is not only very simple, but the operation is also very easy and not complicated at all! That's right! This is a method that FrontStreet Coffee has been sharing and that is also very popular online - directly using ice cubes and a filter cup to replace the function of an ice drip pot for making ice drip coffee.

The Simple Setup Process

The specific operation is very simple. We just need to find a filter cup to hold the coffee grounds, then directly place ice cubes above the coffee grounds, and a simple "home version" ice drip pot is complete. As time passes, the ice cubes on the coffee grounds will gradually melt into water and extract the coffee. As long as the making environment is not very hot, the melting speed of the ice cubes is not as fast as everyone imagines. Therefore, this method can also allow the coffee to obtain relatively complete extraction, producing a cup of rich-flavored ice drip coffee.

Important Considerations

Although it's very simple, there are quite a few issues that need attention. Going wrong in one step will prevent the coffee from achieving complete extraction, and the flavor won't be as rich. Therefore, when sharing the making process, FrontStreet Coffee will list the problems, and everyone should avoid these pitfalls when making it.

"Home Version" Ice Drip Coffee Method

First, FrontStreet Coffee will introduce the equipment needed to make "home version" ice drip coffee: a container to collect coffee liquid, 1-2 any coffee filter cups, and 2 filter papers compatible with the filter cups. Then for materials, you only need to prepare coffee grounds and ice cubes! That's right, these are the things we usually use when making pour-over coffee, it's that simple.

Bean Selection and Grinding Parameters

For this demonstration, FrontStreet Coffee used Costa Rica's Strawberry Sugar beans, but everyone can choose their favorite beans according to their preferences. Then in terms of parameters, there is one point we need to pay special attention to, and that is grinding. Generally, the powder chamber design of an ice drip pot is a narrow, long cylinder. Such a design can increase the thickness of the powder bed, allowing hot water to pass through more coffee grounds to extract more substances. The filter cup is the opposite - to make extraction more uniform, they are designed with a narrow bottom and wide top. The same amount of powder poured into a filter cup will not form as thick a powder bed as the one formed in an ice drip pot's powder chamber. This means that the same amount of water will extract fewer substances due to the reduced path.

Optimal Grinding Settings

Therefore, if we want the coffee grounds to achieve the same extraction rate, it's best to adjust the grinding one level finer than the original. By making the grinding finer, the gaps between the powder particles are reduced, the area through which water needs to flow is increased, and complete extraction is achieved. Parameters are as follows: Amount of powder used: 25g. Powder-to-ice ratio: 1:10. Grinding degree: Ek43's 8.5 scale, 90% passing rate through #20 sieve (slightly finer than fine sugar, two levels finer than hot pour-over). When the materials are ready, we can start making ice drip coffee.

Step-by-Step Brewing Process

First, we wet the filter paper, pour in the coffee grounds, then use room temperature water equal to the amount of powder to "bloom" the coffee grounds. The blooming action here is not for degassing, but to wet the coffee grounds so that the subsequently dripping ice water can extract coffee grounds outside the range through capillary action. It's worth noting that in this step, we should try to keep the water pouring height as low as possible and reduce the amount of water injected to prevent holes being punched in the powder bed by water, which would lead to insufficient extraction.

Managing Initial Extraction

After the water injection is complete, some water will pass through the powder layer and fall directly into the lower pot. At this time, we can pour out all of this water because the temperature is too low, so they don't carry much coffee substance, and keeping them will only dilute the coffee extracted later. Then, we cut two filter papers approximately the same size as the powder bed surface (if there's not much powder, circular filter paper is also acceptable) and place them flat on the powder bed and wet them. Because ice water drips in the form of water droplets, to enable them to extract the coffee grounds more evenly, we need to use filter paper to disperse them. This step must not be ignored.

Adding Ice Cubes

When the filter paper is laid, we can directly place ice cubes on the filter paper. Since the space on the filter cup won't be very large and cannot accommodate all the required ice cubes, we can add the ice cubes in batches.

Using Two Filter Cups Method

If you have two filter cups, you can directly choose to use a filter cup to hold ice cubes (like the method on the right side of the picture below). This way you can add all the ice cubes at once without having to constantly monitor the melting progress of the ice cubes to decide whether to add more ice. It should be noted here that you must line the filter cup with filter paper before adding ice, otherwise when the ice cubes melt to a certain size, they will directly pass through the filter holes of the filter cup, giving your smooth powder bed a "heavy blow."

Completion of Extraction

Finally, we just need to wait for all the ice cubes to melt, then we can remove the filter cup and complete the coffee extraction!

Final Fermentation Process

But the making of ice drip coffee is not over yet! At this point, the ice drip coffee has not yet taken shape; it needs to be refrigerated for a long time to develop its flavor, wine aroma, and fermentation. Therefore, at this time, we need to use plastic wrap or prepare an additional sealed bottle to seal the ice drip coffee well, then place it in the refrigerator for cold storage.

Ready to Enjoy

After 8 hours, the ice drip coffee is officially ready to be enjoyed. At this time, we can choose to add ice to enjoy it, or extend the refrigeration fermentation time to make its wine aroma stronger~

Important Notice :

前街咖啡 FrontStreet Coffee has moved to new addredd:

FrontStreet Coffee Address: 315,Donghua East Road,GuangZhou

Tel:020 38364473