Why Cold Brew?

What better way to combat the heat of a summer afternoon than a smooth, caffeinated beverage? With the official 2017 hipster drink of the year, a cold brew coffee, you will never look at coffee the same way.

To talk about this, we first need to understand why this version of coffee became so popular in recent years. Is it due to a new crowd of coffee drinkers? The attention to quality over quickness? Or is it that now we know more about where our coffee comes from? I personally believe it is a combination of all three. With a quick search, we can find the farm and owners, reviews of their coffee, and their farming techniques; because of that, we no longer want a drink that was rushed through hot water and poorly served. Instead, we want a well-crafted drink, a drink where attention to detail and craftsmanship are applied to attain the best possible results.

Unlike espresso, which was invented to instantly brew coffee, cold brew is probably the slowest method to brew coffee; similar to the mindset change from the industrial revolution, which conceived the espresso machine, and the current mindset that drives us to explore our own selves, and the experiences that make us who we are.

The cold brew process is one of the most simple, yet most tricky of our coffee brewing options. The easy way to make a cold brew: buy a machine designed for this type of brew! Buying a cold brew machine will allow you to easily make coffee using the correct coffee to water ration. Alternatively, you can use any jar to make cold coffee; however, the exact coffee to water ratio and the filtering process will require some out of the box thinking. If you know me, you know I love the challenge in that, so let me tell you what I learned:
  1. If you have a French Press, you have a Cold Brewer!
    • But don't leave the plunger in the coffee; it will give it a metallic taste.
  2. Medium is usually best
    • It isn't written in stone, but light roast flavor will be weak, while dark roast might be bitter and have the acidity typical of under-extracted coffee (like a bad espresso) 
  3. Make concentrate and dilute it when serving
    • Being that it is time-consuming, it is usually better to make a concentrate. This can later be iced or warmed up before drinking and the results are great.
  4. Coffee spoils and flavor degrades fast
    • Try and make only what you will drink in a day or two to avoid bad coffee
  5. Experiment a lot!
    • You can follow tutorials, read the ratios I propose, or even buy a cold brew maker, but if you don't experiment with ratios and roasts, you are missing out! 

I found my personal favorite for this brewing method in a medium-dark roast with a very coarse grind coffee. I also like it better after a full 24-hour brewing in my glass french press. The coffee to water ratio I  go for is between 1:6 and 1:7. The result is a highly concentrated brew, which I usually dilute with water and ice in the mornings before work.

Please let me know what you think about cold brew, and remember that if you love coffee and want to explore the world one cup at the time, Coffee Esperanto brings you single origin coffee from around the world. Each shipment includes specific information regarding the exact farm your coffee comes from, preparation recommendations from the farmers, and cultural connections to their lives and customs.





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