Ice, Ice, Baby

Cold brew is the new trend among conscious coffee drinkers in the western hemisphere. 

Compared to Frappuccino and Co., this delicate coffee drink contains little acid and is therefore particularly digestible. 

Find out how to make it yourself at home here.

The cold brew method is a simple type of extraction. In principle, the ground coffee is simply placed in water, which extracts the coffee. In practice, this means: Put the ground coffee in water for twelve hours to make a cold brew coffee.

High temperatures in hot water can speed up this process, but that doesn’t mean that the faster process is the better. Because heat adds significantly more acid to the coffee. It is possible to create delicious drinks that are natural and do not contain any additional E’s such as colors and flavors. The best thing: they taste even better. The whole thing has a long tradition both with the Japanese as “Cold Drip” and with the Americans as “Toddy”. I didn’t like coffee when I was a child – it was bitter and inedible for the children’s palate. The distinctive taste is mostly chemical in nature. With hot water, oils from the coffee grounds are exposed that would not appear at lower temperatures. These oils contain a number of acidic compounds, which gives coffee its famous bitter emergency. In the combination of acidity and aromas, the tongue experiences a so-called acid shock, so that the receptors of the tongue are numbed and, consequently, the individual nuances of a particular coffee are prevented from being tasted out. That is why, out of habit, many people coordinate their coffee with sugar and milk – this balances out the bitter substances.

But there is no doubt that a high proportion of acid harmonizes with a nice, hot cup of coffee, but in the case of cold brew the proportion of acid should be as low as possible so that the natural aromas of fruit can emerge. Cold brew and other methods of cold coffee preparation thus play a part in closing the above-mentioned and widespread odor-taste gap. According to studies, Cold Brew contains almost 67 percent less acids than the typical hot brewed coffee. In this way the “burnt” roasted taste is eliminated. Another plus: the reduced acidity is healthier for the stomach and teeth. Aromas and flavors can be equated with the cold brew method. In addition, different flavors such as berries, citrus, chocolate,

With Cold Brew, a lot more coffee aromas and flavors shimmer through, so that every bean used will taste very different, and the aromas of Cold Brew coffee will not change over time. Because cold brewed coffee is never heated during its production, so its chemical structure does not change when the drink cools down. The moment you filter out the coffee residue, you get a stable “coffee liquid”. The basis for this is the process that a change in temperature basically changes the taste. Cold-brewed coffee does not require a change in temperature, making the taste durable. In other words, Cold Brew retains its excellent taste over a long period of time. You can even keep it in the fridge for almost seven days without making it inedible. Making a professional cold brew coffee is also easier than you think.

You can easily copy the following step-by-step instructions at home. Let’s get started.

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Self-made cold brew in 10 easy steps

1. Use your favorite coffee! We use “Koppi” from Sweden because this coffee was roasted very lightly. The latter leads to a very fruity and delicate cold brew.

2. Weigh out 120 grams of coffee for one liter of filtered water. These values ​​are for the initial orientation. They can vary depending on the coffee used. For the right conditions, you should take your time and experiment. Everyone has a slightly different taste that you can find out by adjusting them.

3. Put the filtered water in a container of your choice. A glass, a carafe or, as in our case, a measuring cup is suitable for this.

4. Choose a very coarse grind on your grinder. This should even be coarser when preparing cold brew than when using Aeropress or French Press.

5. Now tip the coffee into the water and stir slowly once so that the ground material gets wet. Cover the mixture and wait twelve hours. (Picture 5, 6)

6. The cold brew should be at room temperature for this time. Important: Do not put in the refrigerator while the cold brew is drawing. (Photo 7)

7. Then rinse your filter, we use the classic Hario V60 under hot water to remove all paper residues and sticky flavors. Then let the filter cool for five minutes. (Photo 8)

8. Now filter your cold brew coffee. Do this slowly and wait until all remnants of the ground material are in the filter. (Photo 9)

9. Now you can fill the cold brew in a bottle and put it in the refrigerator. 10. What is your favorite way to enjoy the cold brew? I prefer to put three ice cubes in a whiskey glass and drink the cold brew straight and pure. Another tip: Fill a long drink glass with ice cubes, pour in tonic water and finally add 100 milliliters of cold brew – heavenly!

In principle, there are no limits to the imagination when dealing with cold brew coffee. There are no hard and fast rules. The main thing is that it is fun and tasty! (Photo 11)