It’s Summer and Something’s Brewing

It’s summer and something’s brewing.

As summer is showing itself with temperatures heating up, it’s time to begin thinking about enjoying a cold brew on your patio. No, we are not talking about beer, (although we share the same craving). We are talking about cold brew coffee. Let’s take a look at what cold brew coffee is and how you can dial in the smooth, refreshing and often silky sensation that cold brew offers. 

Can you take your leftover drip coffee and pour it over ice?

You can, but not only will it be watered down, it will also be old and lose a lot of flavor and taste weak or watery. A cold brew coffee should be smooth and refreshing with a ton of sweet chocolatey flavor.

Will any beans work for cold brew?

Yes, any beans will work. The origin of the beans, the method they were processed, how they were roasted, and the grind size are all contributing factors in a well-made cup of cold brew. You do not need a special kind of bean or a specific processing method. All you have to look for are beans that carry the tasting notes you enjoy. 

We underwent a blind tasting process of six different samples from many origins around the world. Ultimately, we selected Pacavita, Honduras Organic beans. There were flavor notes of citrus, graham cracker, and spiced cocoa. Disclaimer here: Tasting notes are subjective and everyone has different tastes (read more about that here). After multiple cuppings (the process of blind tasting multiple roast samples at once), we could not stop talking about the Honduras roasts and how refreshing and smooth it was.

How do you make cold brew?

Rather than extracting the flavors through pressure (like espresso) or channeling the extraction through a drip coffee maker or pour-over, cold brew actually steeps like you would with tea. Starting with a 1:4 coffee to water ratio for the cold brew concentrate,  the grounds are put in a cold brew filter similar to a very large tea bag and soaked (steeped) for 20 hours at room temperature water. Using boiling or even really hot water will speed up the extraction time and leave you with a pretty bitter taste. The beans should be ground significantly more coarse compared to its hot coffee cousin. Also, as a reference, traditional drip coffee is approximately a 1:17 coffee to water ratio, but keep in mind you are making a concentrate.

After waiting anxiously for 20 hours, you have created your first cold brew concentrate. The concentrate itself is very pungent and very strong. We do not recommend drinking this straight. To really enjoy the silky-smooth cold brew over ice and perhaps milk or cream, you need to cut it with additional water to bring the cold brew to life.  You typically want a 50/50 ratio of cold brew concentrate to water, but you can adjust according to your personal taste. 

Is there a good substitute for cold brew?

Yes, there is: Japanese Iced Coffee. Japanese iced coffee does not require the long brew process of a cold brew. In fact, Japanese Iced Coffee is simply a filtered ice coffee. You would brew it like you would a normal pour over, however, you are going to split up the amount of water you use with ice. Typically, you would want a 60/40 water to ice ratio, but once again, you can adjust according to taste. The ratio also gets a little stronger with a 1:15 ratio compared to a 1:16 ratio. You also want to grind your beans a touch finer than you normally would. 

So, it’s time to experiment and step out of your normal caffeinated wonder and try a cold brew or Japanese Ice Coffee.