#CoffeeTalk: The hot new thing is cold
Summer is at your door step! With temperatures reaching 40 °C, escaping the heat and staying fresh can be a real challenge. Luckily for you, we have just what you need to get the best out of a hot summer day – nice and super refreshing cold coffee!
Not to be mistaken with an iced coffee which is brewed hot and then chilled by adding ice, Japanese-Style slow drip and Dutch cold-brew are two methods of extracting the coffee cold. Both methods have been around for more than four centuries and have a place in the hearts of coffee drinkers around the world. Good for all of us coffee lovers, cold coffee is experiencing a massive comeback in the third wave of coffee. While cold-brew results into more chocolate-like qualities, cold drip coffee tends to be more aromatic, has more delicate flavours and it is considered to have a lighter body.
Why everyone loves it? It is the taste that makes coffee lovers and enthusiasts, baristas and coffee experts excited - refreshingly juicy and sweet, dynamic and smooth, clean and full of delicate flavours. Another reason is that cold extraction eliminates most of bitter oils typically found in heat extracted coffee which makes it healthy, but does not take away its strength. And lastly, and this is very good news, you can actually prepare this wonderful drink at home! And it is not really that difficult at all. You will need to wait a while for your final drink, that is true, but we can promise you it is time worth the wait as the reward has the taste you will love.
How to? Just as when you are cooking, it all stands and falls on ingredients. First thing to remember, cold extraction highlights the flavour with all its nuances which means you can literally taste the whole story behind your coffee beans, all the special characteristics shaped by the region of origin. We tried Cafés Richard Single Origin coffee beans and we love them all. Cacao hints of Brésil, apricot and chocolate hints of Colombie, high-grown Costa Rica with its lasting red fruit hints, floral and citrus hints of Moka d’Ethiopie and gentle and sweet flavour of Sumatra; it is almost impossible to choose a favourite one!
Second most important thing is the water you are using. Not compromising on water quality will give you the best result possible. Try Highland Spring Still; refreshing mineral water with a clean taste originating from the heart of Scottish nature will allow all delicate flavours of single origin to shine through and that is exactly what you are going for.
Japanese style cold drip coffee is produced in a beautiful glass-dripper. Different models require slightly different doses of coffee, water and time but the process remains the same. Ground your coffee beans (the fresher, the better) and put it into a ground chamber, over the top of a filter. Now, put the water into a water chamber (some prefer room temperature water, some cold and some only accept a mixture of ice and water). Adjust a drip speed with a valve and watch the water traveling, drop by drop, into the coffee and extracting your drink into the lower chamber. The whole process can take you between 6 and 24 hours, depending on the brewer you are using. Well done you, enjoy your summer with the best cold coffee ever!
Dutch cold-brew does not require any special accessories, just follow these easy steps and you are good. Put your medium ground coffee (around 130 grams) into the nut milk bag and cinch it closed. Put the whole full bag into 2l large pitcher and add water. Place it into the fridge and leave it there for 12 hours. What you will get it is a coffee concentrate. You can dilute it 1:1 with water and you have enough coffee for a bunch of your friends or colleagues.
Quick tip: Get it ready in the evening and you have something to look forward to in the morning – refreshing glass of fresh cold coffee. You can even enjoy the fresh taste on the go – just pour the coffee into your bottle and take it with you wherever you are heading.
Source: Watler Hickey, Business Insider. Tony Naylor, The Guardian. Liz Clayton, Serious Eats.
Posted on: 05.03.2015
