I believe many friends know that although iced drip coffee belongs to the same category as iced coffee, iced Americano, iced latte, and iced pour-over, the price of iced drip coffee is always much more expensive than other iced coffees, and sometimes the portions are even smaller. For example, a cup of American style in Front Street costs 23 yuan, while a cup of iced drip coffee costs 40 yuan. The latter is more than ten yuan more expensive than the former. Why is this?
Regarding ice-drip coffee, in addition to the fact that it is more expensive, which often triggers various comparisons, its long production time also adds a lot of mystery to this kind of coffee.
Although both coffee is extracted under low-temperature water, the production steps and principles of ice dripping and cold brewing can be said to be completely different. Cold brew is cold brew. The method is simple and straightforward. You only need to mix coffee powder with water, then put it in the refrigerator for a few hours, and then filter the coffee grounds. Therefore, as long as you have coffee beans (powder), everyone can make cold brew at home.
Ice-drip coffee is just the opposite. A standard cup of ice-drip coffee first requires the use of a specific device - an ice-drip pot. The upper, middle and lower layers of the container are filled with ice water, coffee powder and filtered coffee liquid. It is a continuous coffee extraction method.
In addition, as we can easily tell from the name, ice-drip coffee not only requires "ice", but also requires "drip" extraction. Therefore, the bottom of the pot containing ice water must be equipped with a valve that can control the dripping of water to ensure that the coffee is always in the extraction state. Finally, until the coffee liquid reaches the target extraction volume, or all the ice water has been dripped into the coffee powder, the extraction is over. However, at this stage, the coffee liquid cannot be drunk directly. It needs to be refrigerated for a period of time to ferment and mature, so that the taste will become rich, smooth, and rich in layers.
To sum up, if we want to make standard ice-drip coffee, we not only need special equipment, but also need to keep an eye on the water droplets to maintain stable extraction. We must also grasp various parameters and details, and wait for a long fermentation process. Obviously, compared with the "hand-made" cold brew, the production elements of ice-drip coffee are much more complicated, which is the main reason why few people choose to make their own ice-drip coffee at home.
Front Street often mentioned in articles that different water temperatures can brew coffee with different flavors, and the astringent substances in coffee at low temperatures are not easily released. Like hand brewing, ice drip coffee is also a drip coffee, but it uses ice water below 5℃ as the solvent, which can be understood as low-temperature drip coffee.
Based on Front Street’s experience, the production time of ice drops is mainly affected by the following four factors: water drop speed, coffee powder grinding size, extraction ratio, and maturation time.
1, grinding degree of coffee powder
There are two points to pay attention to when grinding coffee powder. If the powder layer is too coarse, the resistance formed is smaller, and water is more likely to penetrate and fall into the lower pot. When the extraction efficiency of cold water is low, the coffee will be weak and lack of flavor. It doesn’t work if it’s too thin. If the resistance is too big, it will easily block the water accumulation, and the bitter taste will come out after soaking for a long time.
For the grasp of the ice drop grinding degree, Front Street will use the No. 20 (0.85mm) standard sieve for calibration. The grinding degrees of various common extraction methods are arranged from fine to coarse as follows: Ice drop (cold extraction) > Hand brewing (siphon pot) 80% > American drip filter 75-80% > Cupping 70-75% > French pressure 65-70%. Therefore, the grinding thickness of ice-drip coffee is finer than that of Pour over(V60) coffee, with a pass rate of about 83-85%.
2, the flow rate of water droplets
During the entire drip filtering process, new cold water will continue to pass through the powder layer, and then filter to form new coffee liquid. Compared with the static cold brew type, ice drip coffee is a dynamic brewing that extracts and filters at the same time. Therefore, in order to prevent extraction interruption, we must ensure that the water droplets contact the coffee powder layer at a uniform speed, so as to obtain a cup of ice drip coffee with both concentration and taste.
It can be seen that controlling the falling speed of water droplets is a very important part in the production of ice-drip coffee. If the flow rate of water droplets is too fast, it will easily be under-extracted, and the coffee will be very light and without aroma; on the contrary, if the flow rate is too slow, it will cause the coffee to ferment, resulting in a bad sour taste or off-flavor.
According to Front Street's experimental results, if you use light roasted coffee beans, you can adjust the valve to a faster state of 7 drops per 10 seconds to highlight the light floral and fruity aroma, such as Front Street red cherries and Front Street cherry tomatoes; when using medium-roasted coffee beans to make ice drops, such as Front Street Chiclaw and Front Street Strawberry Candy, Front Street recommends that the flow rate be controlled at a slow state of 5 drops per 10 seconds, so that the final coffee will have a more rounded body and fermentation feel.
3, extraction ratio
In addition to affecting the production time, the proportion of ice drops also determines the concentration and extraction rate of the coffee. Considering that the coffee must be added with ice to maintain a low temperature, Front Street is accustomed to using 1:10 when making ice drippings. For some people who prefer a refreshing taste, Front Street recommends using 1:12 to 1:14. The iced coffee made is more suitable for drinking directly.
4, ripening time
I believe many people know that even if ice drops are extracted under the same conditions, the taste will be very different due to different storage days.
Putting a freshly made pot of ice drops into the refrigerator allows the substances in the coffee to enter a slow and controllable fermentation process. After several hours of precipitation, the taste of the coffee will become clear and mellow. On the 3rd to 5th day, the fermentation flavor of the ice drops is the most prominent; and starting from the 6th day, the flavor substances dissolved in the water continue to change, part of the aroma has dissipated, and the acidity is no longer bright. Therefore, taking into account the flavor experience and health and safety, Front Street recommends that the prepared ice-drip coffee is best consumed within 5 days (from the date of production).
How long does it take to make a cup of iced drip coffee?
According to the specification of a cup of red cherry ice-drip coffee on Front Street, which is about 200ml, when it is made with a powder-to-liquid ratio of 1:10, 20g of coffee powder is needed, and 240g of ice water is added accordingly (coffee powder will absorb twice its own water). The valve flow rate is 7 drops every 10 seconds, and it takes about 2.5 hours to finish all the dripping.
But since we know that the production efficiency of ice drops is low, in most cases we will not make just one cup, but "fill as much as you can". Like the device used in the Front Street store, the lower pot can hold up to about 650ml of coffee liquid, so it will make three cups each time, that is, 60g of powder is used to drip 600g of coffee liquid, the valve drops 7 drops every 10 seconds, and the drip filtering time is about 7 hours. Finally, put the coffee liquid in the refrigerator to refrigerate overnight, and it can be sold the next day.
So when asked how long it takes to make a cup of iced drip coffee, there doesn’t seem to be anything wrong with saying it takes a day and a night.
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
