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In the hot summer, cold coffee is also one of the drinks to cool down. When you walk into a coffee shop, you will find out whyIce drip coffeeIs the price so much higher than regular iced coffee? Of course, iced drip coffee is not just iced coffee with a nice name. The time-consuming extraction process and the sweet and fragrant flavor are all the reasons why it is worth an extraordinary price.
what isIce drip coffee？
Iced coffee is a coffee extraction method that uses ice water to drip filter. Different water temperatures will brew coffee with different flavors. The astringent substances in coffee at low temperatures are not easily dissolved, and it has a rich but not astringent, mellow but not bitter taste. It can be said to be the first choice for making iced coffee.
Ice drip coffeeThe origin and principle of
First, we need to clarify the differences between the three nouns:
Cold drip coffee;
Iced brewed coffee(Cold brew coffee)；
Dutch Coffee.
To put it simply, Dutch coffee is a general term. Ice-drip coffee and ice-brewed coffee are both a type of Dutch coffee making method and are also rooted in Dutch coffee. The definition of Dutch coffee is: brewing coffee powder with cold water.
"In the 1600s, when Dutch sailors were carrying coffee back to Europe from the then-colonial Indonesia, they couldn't drink hot coffee because there was no hot water on the ship, so they came up with ice-drip coffee. Coffee extracted with cold water has a soft, smooth taste and fragrant aroma. Not only the crew, but also ordinary people like it."
The above is the origin story of ice-drip coffee that is often heard in the market. In fact, it was made up by Japanese coffee industry companies to promote ice-drip coffee pots, and it is one of the marketing methods.
In fact, in Western countries, including the Netherlands, they mainly use the so-called "Cold-Brew" immersion method (soaking coffee powder in cold water for a long time) instead of the Japanese dripping method (extraction method in which ice water is dropped drop by drop). Moreover, there is no so-called Dutch Coffee in the West, but later coffee makers heard the origin story of Japanese-style iced coffee and used it in marketing.
Basic principles of ice drip coffee maker
Iced coffee is coffee that is drunk after being refrigerated and matured, so it is also called the "wine in coffee". The upper, middle and lower containers contain zero-temperature water, coffee powder and filtered coffee liquid in sequence, which is a continuous coffee extraction method.
Even if iced drip coffee is extracted under the same conditions, the taste will be very different due to different maturation periods. During the maturation process of ice-drip coffee, the molecules of the coffee components become larger, making it smoother than when it was first extracted. Ice-drip coffee extracted under the same conditions is left to mature for one day, one week, or ten days. The taste and aroma of different maturation times are different, and even the personal preference of the maturation period is also different.
Best time to enjoy iced drip coffee
According to FrontStreet Coffee's daily experience in making and selling ice-drip coffee, the best flavor of ice-drip coffee is best when it is made and refrigerated for 24-72 hours. Generally, after 72 hours, although the taste of the coffee will improve and the taste will be fuller, the aroma will become weaker and weaker~ So it is recommended that you drink it within 72 hours after the extraction is completed~
Recommended coffee beans suitable for making ice drippings
Ice-drip coffee is a type of coffee extracted at low temperature. The low-temperature environment will inhibit the release of heavy molecular substances. Some dark-roasted coffee beans will be mellow and sweet when Pour over(V60) at high temperatures, but when made into ice-drip coffee, they will be thin and tasteless. Therefore, the production of ice-drip coffee is more suitable for using medium-light to medium-roasted coffee beans.
Coffee with these roasting degrees usually retains more sweet and sour substances with small and medium molecules. Long-term low-temperature extraction can release these substances more fully. While the coffee tastes fresh and clean, it also has a full and fragrant taste.
FrontStreet Coffee stores make iced drip coffee, usually freshly roasting their own coffee beans. Only freshly roasted coffee beans will have a richer taste and aroma. All coffee beans sold by FrontStreet Coffee are shipped within five days of roasting.
To make ice-drip coffee, it is recommended to use medium-light roasted "Qian Street Ethiopian Sun-dried Oiran Coffee Beans". The flavor shows a full mixed berry juice taste, pleasant sweet and sour taste, a slightly fermented taste like fruit wine, and a sweet aftertaste like black tea.
Or you can use the medium-roasted "Front Street Panama Flower Butterfly Coffee Beans". The flavor expresses the fragrance of white flowers, the clean acidity of citrus fruits, the caramel sweetness of roasted sweet potatoes, and the sweetness of green tea.
Step-by-step process for making iced drip coffee at home
1) Put the coffee powder into the middle pot
Since ice-drip coffee cannot use high temperature to extract a large amount of aromatic substances in coffee powder, especially the macromolecular aromatic compounds that are mainly medium-dark roasted are difficult to dissolve in ice water, so light-medium roasted coffee beans with strong floral and fruity aroma, obvious sweet and sour taste, or light-medium roasted coffee beans with wine aroma are usually used.
Therefore, the grinding thickness of coffee powder is mainly medium and fine (China No. 20 standard sieve screening rate is 75%/the size of fine sugar). After putting in the coffee powder, remember to put a round juice filter on the surface to distribute the water flow.
2) Place ice cubes in the upper pot.
Use a mixture of ice and water below 5 degrees Celsius for trickling filtration. Special reminder: Before starting dripping, the coffee powder must be completely soaked in advance to avoid channeling, which prevents water droplets from passing through all the coffee powder evenly.
3) Control the water droplet flow rate of dripping
Controlling the drip flow rate is a very important step in making ice-drip coffee. If the drip flow rate is too fast, the extraction will be insufficient and the coffee will be very weak and without aroma. On the contrary, if the flow rate is too slow, the coffee will ferment and produce a sour or alcoholic taste. Based on the results of the experiment, FrontStreet Coffee recommends adjusting the flow rate controller of the ice-drip coffee pot to the optimal flow rate: 7 drops every 10 seconds.
4) Extraction ratio of iced coffee
The water-to-powder ratio of ice-drip coffee is about 1:8~1:10. If there are 100 grams of coffee powder, the weight of the ice + water mixture placed in the pot is about 800 to 1000 grams (it is recommended that ice:water = 1:1).
5) Wait for extraction
The biggest feature of ice-drip coffee is the long wait. Depending on the amount of coffee powder and ice cubes, it will basically wait 3.5 to 12 hours!
6) Refrigerated storage
After the ice dripping process is completed, the coffee liquid is usually placed in a clean sealed glass jar, tightly closed, and placed in the refrigerator for a period of time. This can enhance the aroma, sweet flavor, and fermentation of the coffee.
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
