What's the Cold Brew Coffee Water-to-Coffee Ratio? How Long Should Cold Brew Coffee Steep? Why Does Cold Brew Coffee Taste Weak?

Recently, FrontStreet Coffee has shared many methods for making cold brew coffee. Because the operation is very simple, many friends have started making cold brew coffee at home. However, quite a few friends have expressed that although they use the same method to make cold brew coffee, their coffee turns out to be quite tasteless. Bland and plain, just like some single people.

Generally speaking, there are only two possible reasons for coffee to turn out bland: one is incorrect extraction parameters, and the other is operational errors. But cold brew coffee is different from regular coffee making. Besides these two possibilities, there are other factors that can lead to under-extraction. Don't worry, today FrontStreet Coffee will share how to make your cold brew coffee both aromatic and rich. So the first step: find the right parameters.

Finding the Right Parameters

Whether the parameters used are correct will be directly reflected in the coffee's flavor and concentration. When you feel that the brewed coffee lacks concentration and tastes too bland, it's likely that the parameters are not correct. As for what parameters are suitable for brewing aromatic and rich cold brew, we can start with time and water amount. The method for making cold brew coffee is very simple: mix coffee grounds and water evenly, then seal and place in the refrigerator for cold steeping. The longer the steeping time, the fuller the flavor becomes. However, FrontStreet Coffee has found that many friends worry that steeping for too long will cause the coffee to develop bitter, harsh, or other over-extracted characteristics, so they remove and filter the cold brew coffee early.

In reality, making cold brew coffee basically doesn't require worrying about over-extraction. FrontStreet Coffee has often mentioned before that immersion is the extraction method with the highest fault tolerance. Because the extraction efficiency of immersion continuously decreases as the liquid concentration gradually saturates, this can effectively inhibit the release of bitter substances and prevent over-extraction. Moreover, the extraction efficiency of ice water is even lower, so we don't need to worry about over-extraction even more. Feel free to brew with confidence~ (A while ago, a friend asked in this article whether brewing with 94°C hot water for four minutes would cause over-extraction, and the answer is the same.) Generally, FrontStreet Coffee recommends starting with a steeping time of eight hours for cold brew coffee. When using room temperature water, eight hours can achieve a sufficient extraction rate, at least ensuring it has some flavor. Then, the longer the steeping time, the richer the flavor becomes.

As for the water amount, there's no need to elaborate too much, because everyone knows that water amount affects the concentration of coffee. When the water amount is relatively more, the brewed coffee concentration becomes lower; when the water amount is relatively less, the brewed coffee becomes richer. Typically, FrontStreet Coffee uses a coffee-to-water ratio of 1:10, because considering that ice will be added later for insulation, this relatively concentrated ratio was chosen. If you also have the habit of adding ice when drinking cold brew, you might as well try this 1:10 coffee-to-water ratio for making cold brew coffee~ (If you don't add ice, you can make it slightly more diluted, using a 1:12 coffee-to-water ratio.)

Adjusting to a Coarser Grind

That's right! This is somewhat counterintuitive. Normally, when coffee grounds are ground finer, their total surface area becomes larger, and the extraction rate should be higher - this is the concept we're familiar with. But this doesn't quite apply to cold brew! Because cold brew is a long, static immersion process. Although fine grinding can increase the total surface area of the coffee grounds, when the grind becomes finer, the coffee extraction efficiency might actually decrease. Because finer grinding means more fine coffee particles will be produced, and this makes it easier for the coffee grounds to clump together after absorbing water and sinking.

When the coffee grounds clump together at the bottom, water will have difficulty penetrating for extraction. The internal coffee grounds are isolated due to clumping, so water can only extract the surface coffee grounds. This means that the total surface area of coffee grounds in contact with water decreases rather than increases, thus reducing extraction efficiency and making under-extraction more likely to occur. There are two improvement solutions for this situation: one is to adjust to a coarser grind. Coarser grinding can increase the gaps between coffee grounds, reducing the occurrence of clumping and thereby increasing extraction efficiency. Generally, FrontStreet Coffee uses a grind size for cold brew steeping that's similar to pour-over coffee with hot water, or slightly finer by one setting for iced pour-over, depending on the specific beans. When beans are roasted darker, we need to use a coarser grind.

Another method is to use tea bags to separate the coffee grounds. Coffee grounds clump because they sink and accumulate after absorbing water. By separating the coffee grounds with tea bags, you can prevent the coffee grounds from sinking and clumping, resulting in higher extraction efficiency. You can decide on the portion size yourself - 5g per bag, 10g per bag, or 15g per bag are all acceptable~

Increasing Stirring

If you can't adjust the grind and don't have tea bags to assist, we can use a third method to improve coffee extraction and concentration - increasing the frequency of stirring.

By stirring the coffee grounds periodically, we can break up the clumped coffee grounds, allowing water to extract the coffee grounds that were originally isolated inside. At the same time, stirring can increase the dissolution rate of substances in a short period, so the final coffee can have higher extraction rate and concentration. However, it's worth noting that this method is relatively more troublesome because we need to stir the coffee grounds regularly. The dispersed state of the coffee grounds after being broken up won't last long - they will quickly sink and clump again, so we need to stir every once in a while, which is much more troublesome compared to other methods. Therefore, when conditions permit, FrontStreet Coffee would recommend adjusting to a coarser grind or using tea bags for portioning to improve extraction rate.

Important Notice :

前街咖啡 FrontStreet Coffee has moved to new addredd:

FrontStreet Coffee Address: 315,Donghua East Road,GuangZhou

Tel:020 38364473