It sounds very cliche, but this summer is really hot! There are many ways to combat the hot summer. In the coffee world, the best solution is of course Cold Brew, which has become so red in recent years that it has turned purple. If you also want to easily make authentic and delicious cold brew coffee at home, please come and learn from Front Street~
When it comes to cold brew, many people think of cold brew. Mix cold water and coffee powder, let it sit for a few hours, and finally filter out the coffee grounds to get the iced coffee liquid. This is also the easiest way to make cold brew coffee. Depending on how you make it, cold brew coffee can be very refreshing, strong, or have good acidity.
Since the whole process is only in contact with low-temperature cold water of 4-10°C, the extraction efficiency is very low and bitter macromolecules are not easily released. Long-term low-temperature soaking allows compounds such as sugars and organic acids to be more fully extracted, so the acidity, sweetness and mellowness of the coffee are more balanced.
What coffee beans are suitable for cold brew?
There are currently a dazzling array of coffee beans on the market with various processing methods and different roasting degrees. As long as they are single-origin coffee beans marked for hand brewing, they can be used to make cold brew coffee. When dark roasted coffee is extracted with hot water, it will present a rich coffee aroma, which is mellow and bitter at first and then sweet. However, when it is made into cold brew, it will taste more burnt, bitter and carbonized when drunk at an ice temperature, and it is difficult to have the sophistication of hot coffee.
Therefore, Front Street recommends light to medium roasted coffee beans. If you want a refreshing juice taste, you can choose lightly roasted washed coffee, such as washed Yirgacheffe and Kenya AA. If you want a more fruity wine aroma, you can use barrel-processed or honey-processed coffee, such as Colombian Rose Valley and Honduran Lychee Orchid. If you don’t like coffee with a sour taste and just like a balanced “coffee taste”, you can also choose Papua’s Bird of Paradise.
What ratio of powder to water should be used for cold brew?
Front Street noticed that for convenience, some friends would directly pour coffee powder and water into the pot and start soaking. As long as it is coffee extraction, the parameter of powder to water ratio is involved. Without weighing, coffee is like opening a blind box. You never know what the taste will be. In order to ensure that the extracted coffee tastes better, Front Street recommends that the cold brew should be controlled between 1:10 and 1:13. If the concentration is too high, you can add an appropriate amount of ice cubes to dilute it.
Front Street noticed that for convenience, some friends would directly pour coffee powder and water into the pot and start soaking. As long as it is coffee extraction, the parameter of powder to water ratio is involved. Without weighing, coffee is like opening a blind box. You never know what the taste will be. In order to ensure that the extracted coffee tastes better, Front Street recommends that the cold brew should be controlled between 1:10 and 1:13. If the concentration is too high, you can add an appropriate amount of ice cubes to dilute it.
Grind size and soaking time
Since the temperature of cold brew is fixed, the taste of the coffee is determined by adjusting the grind size and time.
We usually think that the finer the coffee is ground, the faster and more flavor will come out, and the coarser the coffee will be, the slower the flavors will be released. However, in standing cold water, fine coffee powders tend to stick together and form larger "little balls", making it difficult for the liquid to extract the substances inside, and the coffee will tend to have a bitter taste and a gritty taste. Front Street summarized past experience and found that the concentration of cold brew made from fine granulated sugar with a screening rate of 70-85% according to the Chinese No. 20 standard sieve is the most moderate.
Front Street usually recommends that the cold brew soaking time is 8 to 24 hours. The actual extraction time should be adjusted based on the thickness of the grind. Quite simply, fine grinding requires less soaking time, and coarse grinding requires more time. The bitter taste is often due to the fact that we use fine grinding but do not adjust the refrigeration time, causing the coffee to have mixed bitter flavors such as sawdust and hay.
Cold brew is one of the "lazy people's coffee". Front Street suggests that you can grind it coarsely the night before and make it for a long time. Even if you are too busy during the day the next day, it will not be over-extracted when you take it out at night. After filtering, store in the refrigerator to mature overnight to make the flavor more thorough.
How long can cold brew coffee be kept?
The longer it sits in the refrigerator, the stronger the fermentation flavor of cold brew coffee will become, eventually masking the aroma of the coffee itself. Whether it is ice drip or cold brew coffee, Front Street recommends drinking it within 3 days. Although cold brew coffee may not necessarily deteriorate or taste bad after 3 days, for the sake of flavor experience and health and safety, the tasting period of all cold brew/ice drip coffee produced by Front Street is set at 3 days.
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
