Have you heard of iced coffee?

The high temperatures in July and August make people lose their appetite. At this moment, all they want is a cold drink to cool down. Coffee lovers, do you know that besides adding ice cubes, there is another way to drink cool coffee?

This special brewing method is called "Cold Brew Coffee" or "Cold Brew Coffee". You only need simple equipment to brew a cup of refreshing coffee at home!

What is cold brew coffee?

Unlike coffee brewed with hot water, cold brewed coffee is made by soaking coffee powder in cold water at a certain ratio, putting it in the refrigerator for several hours, and then filtering and extracting it. Due to its special brewing process, its taste is different from iced coffee with ice cubes. It is less bitter, richer, and has a little alcohol fermentation feeling.

History of Cold Brew Coffee

Any method of brewing coffee by soaking coffee powder in cold water to extract coffee liquid is called Dutch Coffee, so both Cold Brew Coffee and Cold Drip Coffee belong to Dutch Coffee. It is said that this brewing method was invented by Dutch merchants who went to Batavia, Indonesia to trade in the early 18th century.

Coffee was introduced to Batavia, Indonesia, by Dutch merchants around 1699. In addition to wanting to create considerable economic profits by planting coffee in large quantities in their colonies, the Dutch themselves were also fascinated by this drink.

Because hot water brewed coffee contains a lot of oil, which is not conducive to the preservation of Dutch merchants when sailing on the sea, so the Dutch coffee that uses ice water to soak coffee powder was born! In addition to being able to be preserved for a long time, what surprised them even more was that the taste of the coffee was not bitter at all, and even had a sweet taste, which was unique.

Dutch coffee was introduced to Japan along with the trade footprints of Dutch merchants, and became very popular and gradually evolved into an ice drip pot with three pots.

As the third wave of coffee emerged from Japan, the techniques of hand-poured coffee and ice-drip coffee spread from Japan to all over the world and became popular in Europe and the United States. Interestingly, after 300 years, "Dutch coffee" finally spread back to the Netherlands with this wave.

Features of Cold Brew Coffee

1. Sweeter taste

The principle of making cold brewed coffee is to use low temperature and long time extraction. Low temperature extraction makes the coffee sweeter and even has a mellow wine aroma.

2. Reduce bitterness

The bitterness of ice-brewed coffee is relatively low because it uses the cold water soaking method. Instead of high-temperature extraction with hot water, many chemical molecules are not released, thus greatly reducing the bitterness of the coffee.

3. Long shelf life

Cold brewed coffee can be stored in the refrigerator for up to several weeks. The reason is that the molecular structure is not destroyed by hot water, so the shelf life can be extended. It may even change to different levels as time goes by.

4. Higher Caffeine Content

Because the water and coffee powder are in contact for a longer time, the caffeine content is higher than that extracted with hot water. Therefore, people who are sensitive to caffeine must be more careful and be careful not to consume too much.

Homemade Iced Coffee

Ice drip and ice brew coffee, which are methods of brewing coffee without hot water, have not yet become popular in China. However, this cold brewing method is already quite popular in European and American countries where coffee culture is popular! Its unique flavor and easy preparation make it one of the most popular brewing options in recent times.

Are you excited? Follow me and make your own iced coffee!

Three simple tips to easily enjoy iced coffee at home

You will need to prepare…

cold water

Coffee powder: medium-dark roasted coffee beans are recommended

Filter: filter cloth, filter screen or filter paper

Cold Brew Container

Auxiliary equipment: measuring spoon (or electronic scale), stirring stick

Refrigerator (cold storage)

1. The recommended ratio is 1:10 powder to water.

1 gram of coffee powder needs to be mixed with 100 ml of water.

Therefore, if you use 20 grams of coffee powder, you need to mix it with 200 ml of water, and so on. The ratio here does not need to be diluted. Pour the coffee powder and cold water into the container, stir well, and put it in the refrigerator.

2. Keep in the refrigerator for at least 12 to 24 hours

The length of time is the key to brewing cold coffee. Enough time is required to extract the essence of coffee powder at low temperature. The length of time can be adjusted according to personal preference.

3. Filter coffee powder

After at least 12 hours of refrigeration, take the coffee out of the refrigerator and filter the coffee powder through a filter. At this time, you need to wait slowly for the coffee liquid to filter, and there is no need to speed up the filtering process.

A delicious cup of iced coffee and you're done!