"Clean, mellow and smooth" is the second impression people have after tasting ice drops. Why is it said to be second? Because often, people will be shocked by its strong and long-lasting aroma of fermented wine, and when they come back to their senses, they begin to notice that its taste is also so excellent.
For example, some friends who have just come into contact with ice-drip coffee at the Front Street store will ask: "Is your ice-drip coffee added with alcohol? Or do the coffee beans themselves have the flavor of alcohol? Why does the wine taste so strong?" Hum hum, ice-drip coffee is non-alcoholic! If you want to know where the smell of alcohol comes from, listen to Front Street’s explanation!
Ice drip coffee
The preparation method of iced drip coffee is different from that of regular coffee extraction. It is often said on the front street that most coffee extraction requires hot water to quickly bring out the aromatic substances! And iced drip coffee is one of the few that is not among them.
Ice drip is a method of making cold brew coffee. Cold brew means extracting coffee by using lower temperature ice water. Because the extraction efficiency of ice water is very low, we need to spend more time extracting the aromatic substances in the coffee. For example, cold brew coffee requires soaking coffee powder in cold water for about 8 hours before filtering it out and drinking it! The production cycle of ice-drip coffee will be longer. We can directly understand its extraction method from its name: "Ice-drip", which means using ice water to extract the coffee drop by drop.
Taking the ice-drop making method in the past as an example, 60g of coffee powder is used and extracted at a powder-to-liquid ratio of 1:10, that is, 60g of powder is used to extract 600ml of coffee liquid (the coffee produced will be richer). The drip filtering speed of ice water is 7 drops in 10 seconds. It takes about 5 to 6 hours to drip filter out 600ml of coffee liquid.
During this period, we have to constantly pay attention to whether the trickling filtration speed of the ice water is stable. Because when ice water continues to seep out, the water pressure will change, which will affect the speed of trickling filtration. Therefore, we must remind ourselves from time to time to check whether there is any deviation in the dripping speed and make timely corrections. It sounds faster than cold brew coffee, but in fact it is not finished after dripping, because it still needs to be placed in the refrigerator for a period of time, and only after the refrigeration is completed can it be considered complete and can be drunk! At this time, the question arises: "Why can't the ice drops be drunk immediately?"
Why can’t the ice drops be ready and consumed immediately?
The answer is actually very simple, you will know after you try it~ Freshly extracted ice drops do not immediately have a very rich flavor. It tastes bland, thin, and even a little astringent, which makes people feel like it's under-extracted! But after being left overnight, it actually felt full of juice, clean and smooth, and the aroma of fermented wine was very fragrant. So, don’t underestimate the step of putting it in the refrigerator! The reason why you put coffee in the refrigerator is to allow it to mature in a low-temperature environment.
Accordingly, if you are pursuing fermentation and wine aroma, it is best to give priority to coffee beans that are full of ripe fruit flavor. You can directly purchase single products such as Front Street Strawberry Candy, Front Street Oiran, Front Street Blackberry, and Front Street Xizhao. They are all coffee beans that can easily be used to make delicious iced drippings at home.
A little knowledge from Front Street: "Low-temperature maturation" refers to a process in which food is placed in a relatively low-temperature environment and fermented by microorganisms. But because the activity of microorganisms is slowed down in a low-temperature environment, we need more time for them to carry out fermentation activities.
When we took the coffee out the next day, it had already acquired a very rich fruit flavor and wine aroma through microbial fermentation. This is how the aroma of wine we feel when drinking ice drops comes from.
But often, microbial fermentation is an uncontrollable operation mode. Once it is carelessly sealed, it is susceptible to bacterial infection, leading to deterioration. So before we put the ice drops in the refrigerator to mature, we first pour them into a sealed glass bottle. This can not only slow down the fermentation speed of coffee, but also inhibit the reproduction of bacteria. (The same applies to anaerobic fermentation~)
Generally speaking, iced drip coffee only takes 8 hours to mature. The feeling of drinking it is just as we described at the beginning: clean, smooth, mellow, rich fruit flavor, and fermented wine aroma! Moreover, if we extend its storage time to 12 hours, its fruit flavor will blend with the wine aroma and evolve into an even more amazing fruit wine flavor! ! (That’s why it stays open all night on the front street!)
I still have to make a quick mention here. Although low temperature and sealing reduce the chance of ice-drip coffee going bad, there is still a certain risk of going bad if you leave it for too long. Especially when the lid is constantly opened and closed, it will more easily lead to bacterial growth and deterioration. Therefore, for safety reasons, Front Street recommends that it is best to finish drinking the ice drops within five days after making them. This will at least protect people's health~
You can now buy the above coffee beans online at the Taobao store “FrontStreet Coffee” (前街咖啡). FrontStreet Coffee is a long-established specialty coffee roaster in Guangzhou, China, and its Guangzhou retail shop sells coffee beans only. The shop carries dozens of coffee beans from different origins around the world, including carefully selected single-origin beans for V60 pour-over and espresso. Guangzhou’s FrontStreet Coffee shop is recommended by many coffee lovers.
The FrontStreet 2013 Yunnan coffee beans sold in the store come from the Typica variety grown at FrontStreet Coffee’s own plantation in Yunnan. The name comes from the year the brand and the plantation were founded. You can buy these beans from China’s Yunnan origin at the Guangzhou shop and at FrontStreet’s Taobao store.
FrontStreet coffee beans are freshly roasted within 5 days and deliver consistently excellent quality and great value. Orders placed before 17:00 are shipped the same day, and most areas within Guangdong Province receive them the next day.
FrontStreet Coffee Taobao store: https://qianjiecoffee.taobao.com
Or search for “前街咖啡” (FrontStreet Coffee) on Taobao
Important Notice: FrontStreet Coffee has moved to a new address: 315, Donghua East Road, Guangzhou (coffee beans only)
Tel: 020 38364473
