Which Coffee Beans Are Best for Cold Brew? Can Gesha Coffee Varieties Be Used for Cold Brew?

Since the cold brew coffee making process differs from conventional hot pour-over coffee and requires preparation a day in advance, FrontStreet Coffee's stores don't offer as extensive a selection of coffee beans for cold brew as they do for pour-over.

However, precisely because of this, FrontStreet Coffee carefully selects coffee beans that are particularly suitable for cold brew and have broad appeal when steeping, ensuring customers can have an exceptional experience even with limited options.

Because these cold brews appeal to most friends' tastes, many often quietly ask FrontStreet Coffee about the ingredients and recipes after drinking, so they can replicate the same deliciousness at home. Although FrontStreet Coffee recently shared general bean selection guidelines, many friends have privately messaged wanting more detailed cold brew bean recommendations. As mentioned earlier, cold brew coffee preparation differs from hot pour-over, so the same coffee beans will produce coffee with a very different style profile than conventional hot pour-over.

Characteristics of Cold Brew Coffee

The main characteristics of cold brew coffee are its lack of bitterness, mild acidity, gentle flavors, and the fermented notes produced by "low-temperature maturation." By overlaying the coffee beans' characteristics with cold brew coffee's properties and using our imagination, we can predict how a coffee bean will likely perform when made into cold brew. If you're not sure how to make these connections, don't worry—FrontStreet Coffee will next share some commonly used coffee beans for cold brew that you can directly use to make cold brew coffee that suits your preferences~

Rich Fruity Aroma Cold Brew

If you had to choose one type of cold brew coffee to get through this hot summer, FrontStreet Coffee believes that most friends would choose a cold brew with delightful sweet-tart flavors and rich fruity aromas. Because not only do these coffees have minimal bitterness, their pleasant sweet-tart flavors can also effectively combat the summer heat.

If we want to create such a juice-rich cold brew coffee, FrontStreet Coffee would recommend using sun-dried or honey-processed coffee beans from Ethiopia, Colombia, and Panama regions. Because coffee grown in these regions carries very rich fruit aromas, and sun-dried and honey processing can make these aromas even more developed. For example, in FrontStreet Coffee's bean selection, FrontStreet Coffee's Sidamo·ALO and Flower Queen perfectly meet these conditions. The cold brew made from them will have rich mango aromas, rounded citrus acidity, and hints of pineapple fermentation; or FrontStreet Coffee's Ethiopia Eto, which can produce cold brew with lychee, mango, and blueberry aromas.

Fresh Floral and Fruity Aroma Cold Brew

Some friends prefer cold brew coffee with floral aromas—those lighter, refreshing flavors that aren't too intense! If your taste preference leans toward this type, then when purchasing coffee beans, you can limit your keywords to "washed" or "Geisha (T2722)." Washed-processed beans have relatively less fermentation, allowing the coffee beans to better preserve their original flavors, especially washed coffee beans from Ethiopia and Panama regions, which are known for their fresh fruit flavors; As for the T2722 Geisha variety, its intense floral aroma is almost household knowledge.

For example, FrontStreet Coffee's Yirgacheffe·Gudining in the bean selection, when washed and steeped into cold brew, offers fresh flavors of lemon, white flowers, and green tea; or FrontStreet Coffee's Boquete·Washed Geisha and Washed Flower Butterfly, which produce cold brew with white floral aromas, citrus, and honey notes. However, it's worth noting that the white floral aroma can sometimes be so intense that people mistake it for bitterness or medicinal flavors, so when using beans with white floral aromas to make cold brew, you can appropriately increase the water amount slightly to reduce the coffee concentration.

Rich and Deep Cold Brew

Because some friends particularly enjoy the rich, deep flavors that dark roasts bring, FrontStreet Coffee recently shared how to use dark roast and espresso blend coffee beans to make cold brew coffee. If you also like this "acid-free," aromatic, and extremely full-bodied cold brew coffee, then you might want to try using dark roast coffee beans.

Coffee beans like FrontStreet Coffee's Jamaica·Blue Mountain and Indonesia·Golden Mandheling in the selection are excellent choices. The cold brew made from them will have rich chocolate flavors, caramel sweetness, and a very full body.

"Tipsy" Wine Aroma Cold Brew

Wine-aroma cold brew is an essential type at FrontStreet Coffee stores because its audience is truly extensive. Many friends love cold brew not just for its more intense flavors but also for its distinctive fermented notes that differ from conventional coffee. When we use some deeply fermented coffee beans to make cold brew, the resulting coffee often has more intense wine aromas—one sip feels like drinking alcohol, leaving people exclaiming how satisfying it is.

For friends who enjoy cold brew with intense wine aromas, FrontStreet Coffee would recommend using anaerobically processed coffee beans. Because most anaerobic processing allows coffee beans to undergo deeper fermentation, thereby creating distinct fermented notes. FrontStreet Coffee typically uses two beans for wine-aroma cold brew: one is FrontStreet Coffee's Honduras·Sherry from the bean selection. Since it's a medium roast anaerobically processed coffee bean, the cold brew extracted from it has almost no acidity, featuring more high sweetness from vanilla and cream, along with very intense whiskey-like aromas!

If friends prefer wine-aroma cold brew with fruity aromas and fruit acidity and higher sweetness, then FrontStreet Coffee's Costa Rica Strawberry Candy from the bean selection is undoubtedly the perfect choice! Its raisin honey processing gives it fermented aromas of strawberry, berries, and raisins. When made into cold brew, the coffee's sweetness is enhanced, and the strawberry and raisin aromas evolve into fruit wine flavors—excellent! Or Costa Rica·Mozart with the same processing also works well—in addition to berry and raisin aromas, we can also taste a purple floral aroma similar to lavender~

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