Cold brew: what it is and how to make it
“Give me a sun, I care not how hot, and give me sherbat, I care not how cold, and my paradise will easily be like yours, Persians.” Lord Byron wrote these words in 1813, praising sherbat , a popular drink in the Middle East since the early Middle Ages.
The philosopher Francis Bacon had already tried it in 1626. Sherbat , which comes from the Arabic word for "drink," is considered the first non-alcoholic soft drink.
It's essentially a drink made with syrups and spices. It also became popular in the West and was widely consumed until the advent of carbonated beverages.
That's where the word "sorbet" comes from. What we propose now is to continue this tradition and create your own sherbat : make a cold brew of coffee that would make Lord Byron write a couple of verses about it.
What is cold brew coffee?
Cold brew is a cold infusion of coffee
Cold brew coffee is basically a cold brew of coffee . But it's not a brew of coffee that's been allowed to cool, but rather a brew that's been cold-extracted . And that's where the difference lies. Cold brew coffee is done by immersing the coffee in water for a long period of time, which can be between 12 and 24 hours.
Cold brewing causes coffee to secrete fewer acidic and bitter compounds, producing a beverage with sweeter notes . A study in the journal Nature shows that our perception of acidity and bitterness increases with hot or cold flavors.
How does cold extraction affect flavor?
Acidity can be beneficial in coffee ; it's one of the five basic tastes and can help enhance and create tasting notes. Even a subtle hint of bitterness can be beneficial, since, according to the Coffee Research Institute , it can compensate for too much acidity.
But if we make a hot brew and let it cool or chill it with ice, we run the risk of it becoming too acidic or bitter . When we make a cold brew, something we can easily do at home, we avoid this from happening and highlight tasting notes that are different from those of a hot brew or infusion.
History of cold brew coffee
Kyoto Coffee is a type of cold brew coffee that is made by cold dripping.
Sometimes, when something becomes trendy, as has happened with cold brew coffee in recent years, we run the risk of thinking it's something new. But trendy doesn't necessarily mean it's new , and neither does the way you make cold brew coffee.
Cold brew coffee has been served in Japan since at least 1600. It is known as “ Kyoto Coffee ” and is said to have been introduced by Dutch traders from Indonesia, who used it as a way to prepare coffee while on sea voyages .
The Japanese, with their spirit of turning everything into an art, soon began creating slow-drip devices so that coffee extraction would be not only delicious but also a visual pleasure.
Cold Brew Comes to the West
The Toddy is an easy system for preparing cold coffee
In the West, various coffee concentrates and syrups began to be produced and sold around 1800. Due to their caffeine (and sugar) concentration, they became a common drink among soldiers; it is said that it was the French legionaries in Algeria who first began drinking them.
The first to sell cold brew coffee were the Japanese company Ueshima Coffee Co., followed by the Italian giant Illy. In the United States, cold brew coffee was popularized by a chemist, Todd Simpson, who created an easy method for preparing it (the "Toddy cold-brew coffee system") during a trip to a plantation in Guatemala .
Today, cold brew coffee can be found in many different varieties and formats (and qualities!), both in the supermarket (although that's not what we would define as cold brew) and in your local specialty coffee shop. The important thing to remember is that trendy doesn't mean new, nor does quality. To achieve this, we need to pay attention to how to make cold brew correctly.
What does cold brew contain?
The basic ingredients of a cold brew are coffee and water . So simple. So delicious. And the process is very simple: submerge the coffee completely in water for a long period of time and then carefully filter it before serving.
As with all our coffee brews, the results will vary depending on the recipe we follow. The final quality of our cold brew will depend largely on the quality of the ingredients we use in the recipe . As always, we recommend using freshly ground specialty coffee and water with a dry residue of between 125 and 175 mg per liter.
Cold Brew Coffee Recipe
Steps to prepare cold brew coffee at home
This is our suggested cold brew coffee recipe for making 600 ml of cold brew. The ratio, if you want to make more or less than this amount, is 1 g of coffee and 15 g/ml of water . You'll need:
- Coffee 40 g
- Water 600 g/ml
- A mesh or silk
- A glass container
And how to make cold brew coffee:
- We grind the coffee with a medium grind
- We pour the coffee directly into the mesh
- We introduce the mesh into a glass container
- We pour the water into the container through the mesh with the coffee
- We stir gently
- We cover the container
- We let it rest for 15 hours in the refrigerator (be careful of strong odors!)
- After this resting time, we remove the mesh with the coffee and it will be ready.
Ineffable Recommendation
If you don't have a mesh, or you are a coffee addict and you like it nice and cold in the summer, you can opt for this Hario Mizudashi Cold Brew coffee maker .
Add the ground coffee, the corresponding water, and straight to the fridge to rest!
How to make cold brew in a French press?
You can also prepare a cold brew with a French press.
In addition to the previous recipe, you can also make cold brew using your French press or plunger coffee maker . The ingredients, method, and water-to-coffee ratio are the same; simply, instead of using a mesh strainer, we would use the coffee maker's filter to separate the solids from the coffee.
Following the same quantities that we have described above the procedure would be:
- Pour the ground coffee into the coffee maker
- Fill with the appropriate amount of water
- Stir, cover and let it rest in the refrigerator.
- Once the appropriate amount of time has passed, push/filter the coffee grounds to the bottom of the coffee maker and pour carefully (so most of the grounds won't pass into your glass)
Ineffable Recommendation
One option we really like at Ineffable Coffee is the Timemore French Press.
With a capacity of 450 ml and its insulation, it will keep your drinks fresh (and also hot) for longer.
So, for quality, design and price, we can't help but recommend it.
Enjoy seasonal coffee, visit our store
Does cold brew coffee have more caffeine?
A cold brew coffee has more caffeine than a hot brew
In addition to the cold brew recipe we've suggested, there are other ways to prepare this cold coffee infusion. The basic idea is that cold brewing requires a long brewing time and careful consideration of the coffee/water ratio .
You can also buy prepared cold brew; many specialty coffee shops already sell it packaged. But, as with any coffee we make, the time elapsed since we brew it will influence its flavor due to the natural oxidation process it undergoes.
Given how easy it is to prepare cold brew, we recommend trying it at home. This will also allow you to experiment with different coffees and recipes until you find the one you like best.
However, keep in mind that the longer the contact time between the coffee and the water, the greater the dissolution of solid compounds and, therefore, the higher the concentration of caffeine .
But this summer we hope you need all that caffeine and more.
Yes, enjoy it responsibly!
