Photo courtesy Araku Coffee
True Brew
Steeped coffee served cold
By Sherri Johns
The National Coffee Association defines cold brew as “coffee extracted with water at ambient or cooler temperatures. In most cases, the brewing process trades time for temperature – instead of brewing with very hot water over a very quick duration, cold brewing typically uses cool water and extended periods of time to extract an optimal amount of flavor compounds and solids from the beans. Factors such as contact time, temperature, roast level, grind size, or steeping method may all influence the final brew composition.”
First, there was Toddy coffee, then cold brew, and now nitro, what’s next?
Frappuccino jump-started teens on cold variations, but cold brew is an adult beverage, COFFEE! Cold and black.
Let us venture back in time. Waaaay back. The word Toddy dates to the early 17th century. In the Indian Marathi language, Hindi Tari was an alcoholic drink made from spirits or the sap of the toddy palm tree.
Flash forward to 1964 when a chemical engineering chap, and a graduate of Cornell University, Todd Simpson, was inspired after tasting a cup of coffee created with a liquid concentrate made by an ancient Peruvian process. He developed a cold brew system using coarse-ground coffee steeped overnight. Simpson patented The Toddy® Cold Brew System. Avid followers praise the full-bodied round cup with 67% less acid.
We could say that even back then, cold brew was hot.
Toddy deserves mention as a pioneer of the process. The concentrate can be diluted with hot water or served over ice. You can then pour it full strength over ice cubes of milk for a cascading tasty effect.
According to Simpson, “a roasted coffee bean contains many compounds that are extracted during the brewing process. Some of those compounds, including certain oils and fatty acids, are soluble only at a high temperature.
During the cold brew process, coffee beans are never exposed to high temperatures. Cold water brewing extracts the delicious flavor compounds from coffee beans but leaves behind myriad bitter oils and biting fatty acids, including undesirable elements such as ketones, esters, and amides.”
Keep in mind that no matter what you brew, the quality of cold brew will never surpass the quality of the initial roasted coffee. Course grinds are recommended for cold brewing with longer infusion times. Hario offers a home brewer which looks cool and brews enough for a few days.
Next generation cold brew
Roasters are blending and roasting specifically for cold brew. Some coffees are better suited than others. Even processors are getting into the action. Honey or natural process coffee characteristics are magnified for a transparent clear cup with caramel and fruit notes. Roast degree, as always takes ownership too.
Infusing nitrogen into coffee makes it super creamy mouthfeel and aroma with cascading coffee droplets flowing down. It’s like a morning Guinness. Nitrogen is an inert gas, about 78% of what we breathe.
The effect is reminiscent of crema on an espresso. Who doesn’t love that? On the cold side, it makes a smooth, low-acid, refreshing drink at any time of the day or night. It’s popular in hot environments but please don’t serve nitro coffee on ice. It goes flat. It’s like serving sparkling water with ice. Concentrated cold brew and still cold brew are fine on ice. Consider frozen chocolate milk cubes. Mmmm.
Cold brew 101
The ratio is simple, 1 to 2. One pound of course ground coffee to two gallons of filtered water to make cold brew (not concentrate)
Place grounds in the filter. Add half the amount of water, stir gently to ensure there are no dry clumps to get an even extraction. Wait a few moments, add the remaining water. Go relax, come back the next morning and filter out the grounds.
Steeping time should be 8 to 12 hours, for a clear transparent cup with good shelf life. Some may steep longer. Experiment. The cooler the ambient temperature the longer the brew time.
Even AeroPress is on the bandwagon offering AeroPress devotees, a recipe for quick brew cold brew. Inventor Alan Adler expected a long steep time would be essential to the process.
He discovered that with and AeroPress; you can cut your cold brewing time down to about two minutes and still get full-flavored results! The proof is always in the cup. His recipe can be found on the AeroPress website.
As the fall leaves blow, cold brew’s peak season is on the wane. However, with cold brew and nitro brew competitions springing up around the globe there is bound to be something new for spring. Can’t wait to taste what’s next.