tl:dr – What exactly is cold brew? You’ve probably seen it advertised in coffee shops and even in supermarkets with the recent introduction of cold brew concentrates that can be mixed at home. How do you make them and what makes them so smooth and palatable versus other methods like espresso or pour over? I talk about exactly those questions in this post.
It was a sad moment acknowledging I wouldn’t be able to pull an espresso shot from my new machine once I felt ill. In a bid to protect the delicate brass boiler from accumulating ‘stuff’ from a tank full of unheated water – I had to shut the machine down completely. The water was drained out and discarded, the drip tray and water tanked washed and wiped clean. Everything was laid back in a clear non functioning arrangement to remind myself daily that this machine was ‘Not To Be Used‘.
I reached this point after 8 weeks of no coffee and a couple of attempts of enjoying iced lattes with almond milk. Both resulted in the worst gut ache, lasting 14 or so hours and interrupting my sleep. I had to give espresso and any associated drinks a miss. Instead, I dove into the world of cold brew coffee and matcha lattes in the various stores I visited.
I write about this experience in a few posts like:
- From Acid Reflux to Cold Brew: A New Brewing Chapter
- Chocolate to Matcha: My Go-To Drinks on Coffee Free Days
- Matcha Adventures: The Drinks I’ve Tried and Loved
I did have one question though;
What is cold brew?
Cold brew coffee is also known as cold water extraction or cold pressed coffee. Like every coffee extraction method, you steep your ground beans in water but the water is at a much cooler temperature. You can cold press coffee at ambient room temperature or stick in the fridge for an even colder extraction. As there is a lack of heat driving the steeping process, extraction will need to happen over longer periods of time, typically ranging between 12 to 24 hours.
As cold water is the only thing that comes in contact with our coffee grounds, the flavours leached into our final drink have a different profile in comparison to hotter methods. The compounds that are more soluble in hot water, are less present in your coffee resulting in different caffeine, oil and acidity content in your final cup. These were all important to me when managing a condition that could flare up with higher caffeine and acidic compounds.
This was such a huge benefit to me that I had to try and make cold brew at home. The beautiful thing is, anyone can try it at home. It doesn’t need any expensive or complicated equipment. If you have a sealable container that can hold your coffee-water mix and have a method to separate the suspension from the liquid – you can make cold brew. I used the following things for my cold brew setup:
- 2 litre clip top jar,
- DF54 grinder,
- organic cotton nut milk strainer,
- filtered water.
Drinking more cold brew coffee over the last few months has made me appreciate long and black coffee in a way I couldn’t before. Sure I could make and drink Americano’s (espresso diluted with hot water), filter or flash brewed pour overs (coffee filter paper with hot water or a mix of water and ice) and French press (coffee extracted through a fine metal sieve) – but I enjoyed cold brew coffee the most – largely because it didn’t affect my health as badly as other methods.
I’m curious, what’s a recent coffee that you’ve tried and ended being surprisingly special? Let’s talk about it in the comments.
Until our next cold brew,
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