With the arrival of summer, Internet celebrity iced coffee will be remembered. Indeed, in this hot summer, a cup of iced coffee will instantly make you feel refreshed. The iced coffee I want to talk to you about in Front Street today is cold brew coffee. Cold brew coffee has become a favorite among office workers. Why do you say this? Front Street believes that the main reason why cold brew coffee is so popular is because its operation is very simple. Compared with Pour over(V60) coffee, it pales into insignificance.
Let’s talk about cold brew coffee with Front Street below!
Since it is said to be cold brew coffee, as the name suggests, cold brew coffee refers to coffee extracted at low temperature. It is often confused with iced coffee. Iced coffee usually refers to coffee that is brewed at high temperature and then added with ice cubes to cool it down before drinking. Therefore, the first and biggest difference between iced coffee and ordinary iced coffee is the extraction temperature. So what is cold brew coffee? Cold brew coffee, also known as Cold Brew Coffee in English, is made by grinding coffee beans into coffee powder, soaking it in cold water for at least 12 hours, and extracting and filtering it through professional equipment. If you want more body, you can extend the time to 24-48 hours.
Front Street believes that although cold brew coffee takes a long time to make, it does not require any production skills. With a bottle and a bag of beans in one night, you can drink iced coffee with a full and mellow taste when you wake up. This is why many people like cold brew coffee. The principle of making cold brew coffee is very simple. You only need to control the ratio of powder to water and steep it for a long time (more than 12 hours) to get a cup of cold and refreshing coffee. Grind the powder at home and brew it the night before, keep it in the refrigerator overnight, and drink ice-cold coffee when you wake up the next day. It feels quite refreshing, right?
The extraction method of cold brew coffee is different from that of Pour over(V60) coffee. The bitter substances extracted by cold brew at low temperature are much less, and the preparation method is simple. Front Street believes that anyone can make a delicious cup of cold brew coffee. Of course, this requires a good grasp of the powder-to-water ratio!
How to make cold brew coffee on Front Street
Front Street just said that the method of making cold brew coffee is very simple, especially compared with hand brewing, it is simpler and clearer. As long as the parameters are used correctly, you can easily make delicious iced coffee. So, how to choose the grinding size, powder-to-water ratio and other parameters for making cold brew coffee?
Front Street usually recommends that the ratio of powder to water for making cold brew coffee is 1:12, which is based on 50 grams of coffee powder. In this way, the concentration of the cold brew coffee produced is just right and you can taste it directly without dilution. Some friends also like to add milk/soda water or use it to make fancy coffee. In this case, they need to increase the concentration of the coffee. Front Street recommends that the ratio of cold brew coffee used to make special coffee is 1:10.
Cold brew coffee grind size
The grind size of coffee is related to brewing. Since cold brew coffee is soaked and extracted using ice water, the extraction efficiency is extremely low. In other words, there is no need to worry about over-extraction. The grinding degree of Front Street Cold Brew Coffee will be slightly finer than hand grinding. The pass rate of No. 20 standard sieve is 85% as the reference standard, and the fine powder should be as small as possible. However, Front Street reminds everyone that although low-temperature extraction can reduce the appearance of bitter substances, it is not 100%. If the grind is too fine, the sweet and sour substances in the coffee powder will be quickly extracted, and the mellow substances will be released. An appropriate amount of mellow substances can increase the body of coffee, but if soaked for a long time, a woody taste will begin to appear, reducing the overall cleanliness of the coffee.
Pink to water ratio
Some friends may ask: So how much water is most suitable for soaking? The production standard of Front Street is that the ratio of powder to water to ice is 1:8:4, that is, the actual ratio of powder to water is 1:12. Ice cubes are added to ensure that the temperature of the water is low enough and the extraction efficiency can be maintained at a stable level.
temperature
Front Street has told everyone: the water content of Pour over(V60) coffee is related to the degree of roasting, while the temperature of cold-brewed coffee does not need to be strictly controlled. It only needs to be placed in the refrigerator for low-temperature extraction. When extracting at low temperature, the extraction time takes 24 hours. So can cold brew coffee be brewed at room temperature? Of course, cold brew coffee can be extracted at room temperature, but the corresponding extraction time is shortened. However, when extracting at room temperature, FrontStreet Coffee recommends shortening the extraction time to 8 to 12 hours.
FrontStreet Coffee's cold brew production method is based on 50 grams of coffee powder. After grinding the coffee beans, put them into a clean and oil-free sealed container, add 400 ml of room temperature water and 200 grams of hard ice cubes (a total of 600 grams of ice-water mixture), cover the lid and shake gently to ensure that the coffee powder and ice water are fully in contact, then put it in the refrigerator to rest for 12-24 hours. After extraction, use filter paper or fine mesh to filter out the coffee grounds, then use a clean sealed bottle to put the coffee liquid in and refrigerate it for about 4 hours before drinking.
How long can cold brew coffee be kept after filtering?
Qianjiehe has said that the way to drink Pour over(V60) coffee is that the temperature and flavor are different, but it cannot be said to be stored for a long time. For example, if it is stored for a day, it must be drunk as soon as possible. But cold brew coffee is different. Theoretically, the longer cold brew coffee sits, the richer the fermentation flavor will be. However, over-fermentation causes coffee to lose its original flavor. For those who don’t like too strong fermentation smell, Front Street does not recommend trying it easily. The best tasting time for cold brew coffee is 2-3 days after filtering the coffee grounds, and the storage time is recommended to be no more than 7 days.
Low temperature and long extraction time are two major characteristics of cold brew coffee, and they are also the two main differences between cold brew coffee and hot brew coffee. Hot brew coffee uses hot water to extract coffee powder at a temperature between 88-91°C, generally no more than 5 minutes. The fastest espresso is only 18-23 seconds, while cold brew coffee takes far longer than hot brew coffee. When talking about the long extraction time of cold brew coffee, Front Street used a rather poetic saying, "What you drink is not just a cup of coffee, but also a long wait."
Characteristics of cold brew coffee
In terms of flavor, high temperature will decompose the tannic acid in coffee into pyroic acid, causing sourness and bitterness. Studies have shown that cold-brewed coffee contains 67% less acid than hot-brewed coffee. Therefore, compared with hot brewed coffee and iced coffee with hot brew and ice, the coffee made by cold brewing process has less acidity and is generally welcomed by people. For those who don’t like sour coffee, cold brew coffee is just fine!
In addition, Front Street found that low-temperature conditions and long-term contact with coffee powder caused only small-molecule flavor substances to be extracted, such as floral and fruity aromas, while larger-molecular flavor substances, such as smoky and roasted flavors, were difficult to extract. This is why cold brew coffee does not smell very impactful to the senses, but when you drink it, it tastes smoother, more fragrant, with clear layers, obvious sweetness, and no greasy feeling.
Of course, the prerequisite for these is to ensure the freshness of the coffee beans. FrontStreet Coffee knows that the freshness of coffee beans has a great impact on the flavor. The purpose of Front Street Roasting is "freshly roasted and good coffee", so that every customer who orders receives the freshest coffee. Therefore, the coffee beans shipped by FrontStreet Coffee are all roasted within 5 days, and the coffee bean cultivation period is about 4-7 days, so when customers get it, it is the time when the flavor is best.
Front Street believes that any method of making coffee requires constant practice, so that the full flavor of coffee can be better displayed. Front Street has half a hundred coffees from different production areas, allowing everyone to better taste different coffee flavors; friends can also come to FrontStreet Coffee to discuss coffee with our baristas!
Professional coffee knowledge exchange. For more coffee bean information, please follow Coffee Workshop (WeChat public account cafe_style)
For more specialty coffee beans, please add FrontStreet Coffee on private WeChat, WeChat ID: qjcoffeex
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
