Cold brewing coffee

[Peter11216]

I'm enjoying my morning cigar with coffee I cold brewed. The coffee is surprisingly good. Has anyone else tried this? If so what do you think?

I brewed the coffee using about 1/3 coffee to 2/3 water by volume, with a relative coarse grind. Left it for 12 hours or so in the fridge. Filtered out the grounds, and then added boiling water to the concentrate. I think this prevents certain oils and other chemicals from dissolving into the coffee, and changes the flavour, making it a bit sweeter and smoother. The coffee seemed thinner, though. Taste was really good.

Best,

Pete

[mazolaman]

Pete,I've never tried this,but I will give the Italian stove top maker the morning off,and give it a go.

Will it still give the the kickstart required to me out to work?

[Peter11216]

Pete,I've never tried this,but I will give the Italian stove top maker the morning off,and give it a go.

Will it still give the the kickstart required to me out to work?

I think there may be less caffeine, so this might be something to try on the weekend. However I'm under the---uninformed---impression that caffeine dilutes pretty easily in water, so I'm not really sure. One can always drink more. Using enough grounds, you get a fairly strong concentrate. The shortest time I've tried is 12 hours, the longest 36. I couldn't tell a difference.

I stumbled across this because of some Japanese contraption I saw in a coffee shop. Apparently there is a serious coffee culture in Japan, and different brewing techniques are popular, including cold brewing and vacuum brewers. The vacuum brewers work by forcing water from a glass bulb into an open chamber containing coffee grounds. When the bulb is removed from heat, a vacuum results, and the brewed coffee is forced back into the bulb. It looks very cool, even if unpractical. Presumably the idea is to get the coffee into contact with the water at the right temperature for the right amount of time.

--- Pete

[snickers99]

Sounds like you might use more coffee with this method. Is that so? Also, do you simply add boiling water to taste?

[Peter11216]

Sounds like you might use more coffee with this method. Is that so? Also, do you simply add boiling water to taste?

Yeah, from my internet research, it seems people use a lot more than you would for regular brewing. I've been using something like 3 to 4 times as much as I would for hot water brewing. Don't get me wrong, I'm really unsure about this - but I think you can extract more of the "nice" coffee flavours with cold water while not extracting the oils that can make coffee sour or acrid tasting. I've noticed that bad espresso tends to have these qualities, overly bitter, often sour, when the water and pressure are off. I love good espresso but I only know one cafe near me that does it well, so I've been messing around with these other brew methods.

Yes, I've been adding boiling water in different amounts to see what I like best. Presumably the right amount varies depending on how strong you brew the concentrate. I think a very strong concentrate is probably best way to go, so that you can get a hot cup of coffee.

Best,

Pete

[frenchkiwi]

Interesting. I might try it.

If you want it stronger without adding more coffee, maybe grind it finer? (i always grind my coffee beans down to a thin espresso-style grind for use in a plunger - even though the plunger stuff sold in supermarkets is always a thicker grind. much more flavour in the thin grind).

As for getting rid of bitterness, in plunger coffee (not bialetti or espresso machine), a good tip is to only pour enough hot water to cover the grinds at first, and give it a stir. Watch the bitter tasting gases bubble at the surface. Then add the rest of the water. Makes a noticeable difference (also make sure water is slightly below boiling point, same as for loose leaf tea).

With bialetti i've found it's important to keep the temperature of the stove low so that it doesn't boil too quickly and get too hot - so easy to burn the coffee and make it bitter.

[Peter11216]

Interesting. I might try it.

If you want it stronger without adding more coffee, maybe grind it finer? (i always grind my coffee beans down to a thin espresso-style grind for use in a plunger - even though the plunger stuff sold in supermarkets is always a thicker grind. much more flavour in the thin grind).

As for getting rid of bitterness, in plunger coffee (not bialetti or espresso machine), a good tip is to only pour enough hot water to cover the grinds at first, and give it a stir. Watch the bitter tasting gases bubble at the surface. Then add the rest of the water. Makes a noticeable difference (also make sure water is slightly below boiling point, same as for loose leaf tea).

With bialetti i've found it's important to keep the temperature of the stove low so that it doesn't boil too quickly and get too hot - so easy to burn the coffee and make it bitter.

Thanks for the advice. It has taken me a long to time to figure out not to pour boiling water through coffee. I've never liked those stove tops bialetti's, but perhaps it's because I've been burning the coffee. At some time, I am definitely going to try the vacuum method, just because it looks fun. It isn't clear to me that it helps you get the right temperature for brewing though.

best,

Pete

[Maron76]

Thanks for posting this Pete, I am going to give it a try.Question though..... Is the hot water added just to bring the temp of the concentrate up? Or is it needed to finish the brewing process? Could you just add cold distilled water to dilute it for an iced coffee?

[Strada]

Interesting you are posting this, because I just got put on that reciepe and it is great. Coffee is so much smoooother that way.

I cosign it

[nick17]

i haven't done this before i have heard about this i have to try this some time

[mbrody]

Never heard of this before and now I am intrigued...have had the "Clover" brewed coffee at starbucks that uses the vacuum method, and it is outstanding. I really think the different methods make a difference.

[Peter11216]

Yes, I use some hot water just to bring the temperature up. The water is just to get the concentration right. I haven't tried iced coffee using this method, but when I was reading about cold brewing online, a number of people said it is the best way to make iced coffee.

Thanks for posting this Pete, I am going to give it a try.Question though..... Is the hot water added just to bring the temp of the concentrate up? Or is it needed to finish the brewing process? Could you just add cold distilled water to dilute it for an iced coffee?

[KarlJ]

The cold brewing method I used involved soaking a pound of freshly ground in coffee in approximately a liter of water. Let it sit overnight and filter the concentrate into the decanter. I only did it once and I believe the concentrate produced about 1 gallon of ice coffee when mixed with water. Personaly I didnt care for it, it seemed like the method extracted to much of the oils.

For Ice coffee I like to hot brew it with my Technivorm brewer. I use freshly ground coffee that was roasted in whithin 12 days of use. 80 grams of coffee and 1 1/2 liter of water. Transfer it immediately to the fridge and enjoy chilled and iced. The Technivorm is a great brewer. Mine mostly gets used for ice coffee or when groups of people visit. If I just want a cup or two of hot coffee I go to the pour over and if I want to wow some guest I go with the Vaccuum pot.

With coffee I follow the rule of 15. The green coffee bean is good for up to 15 months before roast. The roasted bean is stale after 15 days from roast. And the freshly ground bean will start to loose flavor about 15 minutes after being ground.

For hot brewed coffee you will get the best extraction at about 203F. Too cool and youll get less of the flavors and too hot youll burn off a lot of the good flavor.

Grind setting it is a matter of taste. Too fine=bitter to coarse=watery. Basically you want the 203F water to have enough contact time to extract all of the essential flavors possible without over/under extraction. When I got into GOOD coffee it took pounds of coffee for me to learn the right grind setting for a given brewing method.

For Hot coffee I personaly love the Chemex pour over. And for Espresso I turn to my Quickmill Anita and Macap Grinder with some Intelligentsia Black Cat (By the way Black Cat espresso makes a Damn good ice coffee IMO)

Ultimately it comes down to taste and its a lot of fun experimenting with all the methods! -Karl

[KarlJ]

Thanks for the advice. It has taken me a long to time to figure out not to pour boiling water through coffee. I've never liked those stove tops bialetti's, but perhaps it's because I've been burning the coffee. At some time, I am definitely going to try the vacuum method, just because it looks fun. It isn't clear to me that it helps you get the right temperature for brewing though.

best,

Pete

With the Vaccu pot you get the water boiling witch transfers it to the top vessel.(Best way is to pre heat the water in a kettle and add the pre heated water to the bulb then add the burner) When the water is in the top vessle you monitor the temp with a digital or analog probe until the temp is around 202-203f then you add the grounds and mix. Its been a while and I would have to re read my notes but I think the extraction time is about 3 minutes. After that you remove the burner and the brewed coffee drains back into the lower vessle leaving the grounds in the top vessle. It really produces a smooth brew and is totaly cool to do but its just to time consuming for everyday consumption. -Karl

[kiwirwe]

i had a cold coffee in KL from starbucks with a R&J cigar back in june and wow i love it. Its was 33 that day dam hot!!