Many well-known brand coffee shops have launched new "iced coffee" products exclusive to summer, such as affogato made with coffee and ice cream, iced drip coffee filtered with ice water, and cold brew coffee made by directly soaking coffee powder in cold water.
Cold brew coffee, also known as ColdBrewCoffee in English, is made by soaking ground coffee beans in cold water for more than 8 hours, and then filtering out the coffee grounds through a filter. The method of making cold brew coffee is very simple. Just choose a fresh coffee bean that suits your taste, and then use the correct parameters to make delicious iced coffee. So, how to choose the grinding size, powder-to-water ratio and other parameters for making cold brew coffee?
Cold Brew Coffee Bean Buying Guide
Because cold brew coffee only has a cool and clean taste, Front Street recommends choosing some medium-light roasted coffee beans, which can express the floral and fruity acidity.
①Front Street Panama Butterfly. This washed coffee bean containing 70% Geisha is undoubtedly a very cost-effective coffee bean. When used to make cold brew coffee, it will show a clean and fresh floral, citrus, and oolong tea flavor.
②Front Street Ethiopia Yirgacheffe Red Cherry Project. As the most representative African coffee bean, Front Street Yirgacheffe has captured a large number of coffee drinkers with its rich floral aroma and fruity tones. As a sun-dried Ethiopian bean, Red Cherry Project has very good quality and is also very suitable for making cold brew coffee. Making cold brew coffee shows very sweet berry, layered, honey and other flavors.
③ Front Street Costa Rican Musician Series Mozart. Musician series coffee beans have always been known for their highly recognizable flavor. Front Street Mozart coffee beans are processed with anaerobic honey, showing aromatic flavors of osmanthus, grapes, and fermented wine. Front Street Mozart does an excellent job making iced coffee, emphasizing both flavor and taste.
Grinding degree
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. When comparing the grinding degree of hand grinding, you can choose a slightly finer grinding degree. Taking the No. 20 standard screen pass rate of 85% as the reference standard, it is better to have as little fine powder as possible.
Through tests, Front Street found that too much fine powder will not only make the filtration time longer, but even after filtering, there will be more oil and fine powder floating on the surface of the coffee liquid, affecting the taste.
Pink to water ratio
So how much water is needed for soaking? The previous production standard was that the ratio of powder to water to ice was 1:8:4, that is, the actual ratio of powder to water was 1:12. Ice cubes were added to ensure that the temperature of the water was low enough and the extraction efficiency could be maintained at a stable level.
temperature
Generally, cold brew coffee needs to be extracted at low temperature in the refrigerator. When extracted at low temperature, the extraction time takes 24 hours. So, can cold brew coffee be extracted 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.
Front Street Coffee (FrontStreet Coffee) How to Make Cold Brew Coffee
Cold brew coffee is a very easy method to master. FrontStreet Coffee's cold brew method is based on 50 grams of coffee powder. The grinding thickness of the coffee powder is 85% using a No. 20 standard sieve. Put the coffee powder into a glass bottle, then add 400 ml of room temperature water and 200 grams of hard ice cubes (a total of 600 grams of ice-water mixture) into the bottle. The powder-to-water ratio is 1:12. Then use a stirring rod to stir the coffee powder and water evenly, then seal and place in the refrigerator.
After placing it in the refrigerator for 12-24 hours, use filter paper to filter out the coffee grounds to obtain clean coffee liquid. Then use a clean sealed bottle to store the coffee liquid and refrigerate it for about 4 hours before drinking.
In fact, compared to the strict parameters of other coffee extraction methods, cold brewing is very compatible. From the selection of coffee beans to the sealed container, to the ratio of powder to water, grinding thickness, and soaking time, it has a wide range of control. In other words, as long as the parameter combination is not particularly extreme, you can make good iced coffee.
However, some friends encountered problems while trying it. They clearly used the same coffee beans and "copied" the parameters, but the cold brew they made was not as rich and sweet as what they drank in the store. Why is this? Front Street has summarized several key details here. Friends at home may wish to check themselves accordingly to see if the problem comes from here.
The soaking time should not be less than8hours and over18hours
In hand brewing, we pay special attention to the water temperature and time, because water is the main brewing medium, and the temperature directly affects the extraction efficiency of coffee. If it is too high or too low, it will change the taste of the coffee. Since cold extraction is only in contact with low-temperature water of 4-10°C throughout the process, the extraction efficiency is very slow. Therefore, it is necessary to extend the soaking time to release more aroma substances, thereby allowing the extraction of sugars, organic acids and other compounds more fully, and the resulting coffee will be more balanced in terms of acidity, sweetness and body. Under normal circumstances, it is usually recommended to control the soaking time of cold brew coffee between 8 and 18 hours.
Front Street once conducted a cold brew experiment using time as a variable, soaking one type of coffee separately.6hours,10hours,16hours,24hours, finally discovered6The coffee tastes too thin, the aroma is bland, and it’s over-steeped24The cold brew was obviously bitter and showed signs of over-extraction.10hours and16The flavor of the two groups showed the best performance during the hour, with rich aroma and strong taste.
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
