How Long Should Cold Drip Coffee Ferment? Essential Guide to Optimal Brewing and Drinking Times

Cold drip coffee is typically served in limited quantities at cafés because each batch takes more than eight hours to prepare. Cold drip coffee originated in Europe. Since this cold coffee beverage is rumored to have been invented by the Dutch, some refer to it as DUTCH COFFEE. Additionally, during the preparation process, natural water droplets permeate through the coffee grounds and fall drop by drop into the lower chamber to be collected, which is why it's also called water-drip coffee. This process usually requires more than 8 hours.

How to Make Cold Drip Coffee at a Coffee Shop?

Materials needed: Cold drip pot, room temperature purified water, ice cubes, round cold drip filter paper, one bag of FrontStreet Coffee Strawberry Sugar coffee beans, coffee grinder, and a sealed bottle. (For this tutorial, we're using a coffee-to-water-to-ice ratio of 1:6:6, with 50g of coffee beans, 300g of water, and 300g of ice)

Step 1: Grind the coffee beans into coffee powder

(For reference only: This cold drip uses FrontStreet Coffee's Strawberry Sugar coffee beans, and the grinder used is an EK43s with a grind setting of 9, which is the same setting typically used for cold pour-over)

Step 2: Line the powder bowl of the cold drip pot with a round cold drip filter paper, moisten it with water, then pour in the coffee powder and spread it evenly.

Step 3: Cover the evenly spread coffee powder with another round cold drip filter paper, and use room temperature water to moisten the coffee powder. (Tip: Make sure to moisten all the powder, as this can shorten the dripping time and ensure the powder layer is evenly penetrated by water.)

Step 4: Control the dripping speed of the drip valve to 7 drops every 10 seconds, then wait for it to finish dripping.

(Since the dripping time is quite long, you need to check the dripping speed occasionally to prevent any changes.)

Proper Storage and Fermentation

After extraction is complete, cold drip coffee should be transferred to a clean container and refrigerated overnight for better flavor. This has become a common practice among many experienced coffee enthusiasts. Staying in the refrigerator overnight achieves sealed storage at low temperatures, which we can simply understand as "aging." This serves two purposes: controlling fermentation and preventing spoilage.

Although household refrigerators may appear clean on the surface, they actually contain many microorganisms that are difficult to detect with the naked eye. If not careful, this can lead to food spoilage or deterioration. Therefore, to ensure the coffee is not contaminated by external factors, the containers we use must have good sealing performance and be thoroughly cleaned. Low-temperature storage not only inhibits the reproduction rate of certain bacterial colonies but also allows the substances in the coffee to undergo a slow, controlled fermentation process. This also explains why the longer cold drip is stored, the more intense the fermented flavor of the coffee becomes.

Consumption Timeline

Generally, considering both flavor experience and health safety, whether it's cold drip or cold brew, for any extraction method performed at low temperatures, FrontStreet Coffee recommends consuming it within 5 days (counting from the preparation day).

Important Notice :

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