Summertime
Cold Coffee
Recipes
Iced Coffee: Flash Brew Method
This method brews coffee with hot water over ice as opposed to cold brew which uses room temp water. Personally, I love this method. The hot brew keeps all of the flavors and nuances in the cup while being an ice cold beverage. This will probably not be a good alternative for those that drink cold brew because they like coffee but their stomach doesn’t. The hot water is still extracting the compounds that might be upsetting your stomach.
Numbers:
16:1 ratio 360g water 200F 240g of fresh ice cubes 37.5g coffee Med-Fine (#16 Baratza Encore for V60)
Method:
I used a V60 Pour over brewer and a glass carafe. This process can be modified for a Chemex or auto drip as well. Put the ice cubes in the carafe. Rinsing the filter with hot water over the sink and not over the ice. Then grind the coffee a little finer then normal (I go down 2 notches on my Baratza Encore) and put the grounds in the brewer.
Pour a 2x bloom for :45 and give the brewer a swirl or a stir with a spoon. Then 3 pours of roughly 100g each. If you're brewing over 4 mins maybe adjust the grind coarser a notch. Give the carafe a couple swirls when finished to mix and melt the cubes.
This makes approximately 2 - 10oz glasses with 1 additional ice cube. It's important to remember to use the same water for both the brew water and ice cubes. If you prefer milk, try replacing the extra ice cube with the milk in a chilled glass.
Cold Brew Method
This method brews coffee with room temperature water and a long steeping period. This method has been popular over the past few years and has been a favorite for people with sensitive stomachs. Cold brew can be very tasty and smooth over ice with the chocolatey tones in coffee really shinning.
Numbers:
15:1 ratio 750g room temp water 50g coffee - coarse grind (#28 Baratza Encore) 24 hr. brew time
Method:
I use my French press for the brewing portion of this recipe. Grind the coffee coarse, like for a French press, and put the grounds in the brewer. Pour the room temp and give it a few swirls with a spoon to make sure all the grounds are saturated. Replace the top of the press and lower so so the screen sits just above the grounds. Let the brewer sit on the counter for 24hrs.
After the 24 hr. steeping, push the plunger on the press. You can pour and drink from here but I like one additional step. I pour the cold brewed coffee through a filter in my Chemex. I find this will give you an ultra clear cold brew. Pour into a glass with an additional ice cube and enjoy.
Before We Talk Brewing…
Brewed coffee is approximately 98.5% water. Make sure to use good tasting water, preferably filtered tap water or spring water. The optimal water temperature for brewing coffee is 195 to 205 degrees F.
I believe in freshness. Fresh roasted beans and freshly ground coffee are the only way to go here. Buy beans that are roasted within 2 weeks of the roast date and use them before a month of the roast date. Grind the coffee beans before brewing and only grind enough for 1 use.
Measuring out the coffee beans and water will help in making a good repeatable cup. I use a gram scale because 1 gram of water is equal to 1 ml of water. For a 475 ml(16oz) cup of filter coffee, I use 29.5 grams of coffee and 475 grams of water which gives me a 16:1 brew ratio. This is what I prefer and may be strong for some people but then you can move to ratio to 17 or 18:1.
If making filter coffee via a pour over or an auto drip, make sure to rinse the filters with hot water. Natural paper filters will leave behind more paper taste than chlorine or oxygen bleached white filters. If you want to use the natural filters, I would suggest rinsing twice.
A burr grinder is a bigger investment than a blade grinder but it’ll be worth every cent. The difference in taste and ease of brewing will be immediate. Blade grinders will have a larger variance in grind particle size. This will lead to some grounds being over extracted and some grounds under extracted leading to an unbalanced cup. Burr grinders look like 2 gears that fit together and offer more consistency with grind particle size. A burr grinder would be my #1 recommendation for a balanced and repeatable cup of coffee.
Pour Over
Tools Needed: Gram Scale, mug or carafe, pour over brewer and filters, burr grinder, gooseneck kettle, timer
Recipe for 12oz cup: 22g of coffee adding 350 grams of water with a target finish time of 3:30
Setup: Start your gooseneck kettle for 205F. Weigh out the beans. Place the brewer and filter on the mug and place on the scale. Grind the coffee.
Rinsing/Pre-warm: Start with rinsing the filter with hot water. Generously pour water from the kettle in circles around the brewer saturating the filter. Dump the rinse water that is in the cup. Then reset the cup and brewer on the scale, dump the coffee grinds in the brewer, and tare the scale. This is useful 2 ways. Rinsing the filter will mitigate the papery taste that the filter can leave behind and the rinsing will also pre-warm the brewer and cup. Natural brown paper filters will have more of a paper taste than white filters. Pre-warming is important to do with any brewing tool that will come in contact with the brew water. The warmer the tool, the less heat that tool will take from the water and we want the water around 200F when it mixes with the coffee. Also, make sure the coffee bed is level before continuing.
Bloom/Pre-soak: Start the timer and slowly pour water over the grounds in a circular motion wetting all of the grounds. Add enough water to be 2x or 3x the amount of dry coffee. If you are using 22g dry coffee then make the bloom pour up to 45g or 65g. When the water is added, trapped carbon dioxide starts to release. At first, this can prevent the grounds from full absorbing the water. When you continue to pour, the grounds will open up, absorb more, and swell like rising dough. Once all the water is poured, let the coffee sit for 30-45 seconds. I believe blooming helps the coffee extraction process by letting the grounds absorb water slowly thereby allowing the water to penetrate the grounds further for better extraction during the brewing process. A stir with a spoon during the bloom can help you find pockets of dry grounds and you want to be sure all the grounds are wet.
Pulse Pouring: I typically use 3 pours after the bloom. For a 350 gram finish, I bloom to 50 grams then pour 100 gram doses until I reach 350. Pouring should be done slowly in circles starting from the outside and going inward. Be careful not to pour directly on the filter as the water can bypass the coffee all together. I try to pour the 100 grams in 15-20 seconds then let it draw down for 15-20 seconds. I tend to be done pouring in the 2:40-2:50 range and with the right grind setting it’ll finish drawing down in the 3:20-3:30 range. I find pulse pouring is the easiest way to be constant with my results cup after cup.
French Press
Tools Needed: French press brewer, gram scale, mug, , burr grinder, water kettle, timer, spoon
Recipe for 14oz cup: 25g of coffee adding 400 grams of 205F water with a brew time of 4:00
Setup: Start your gooseneck kettle for 205F. Weigh out the beans and grind the coffee to a med-course setting.
Pre-warm: Pour the 205F water into the empty French press and mug. This is to pre-warm the metal brewer and ceramic mug. Pour out the water before continuing.
Pour and Brew: Dump the coffee grounds into the warmed French press and set on the scale then tare the scale. Start the timer and pour 400 grams of hot water directly over the grounds in one continuous pour making sure all of the coffee gets wet. Once the water is poured, stir the coffee slurry with a spoon to break up any clumps. Place the plunger on top of the brewer but do not push down. Remove the plunger when the timer hits 4:00 mins. Then using a warmed spoon, scope the grounds from the top that have formed a crust. At this point, the coffee can sit in the open press for another min or two. This will allow a little extra time for the remaining coffee particles sink to the bottom and will help the coffee cool. Replace the plunger on top and gently push the plunger down pushing the remaining grounds to the bottom of the brewer. When pouring the coffee into the mug do so by tipping the press forward and raising at the end. Stopping the pour right before the end of the stream will help prevent the amount of sediment in the bottom of the mug.
Auto-Drip Machines
Making coffee with an auto-drip machine is pretty straight forward but there are a few things that can be done to a routine to help with making a better tasting, more consistent cup.
Rinsing the paper filter inside the brew basket with hot water will reduce the papery taste that can leach into the cup from the filter. This rinsing will also pre-warm the brew basket. Pre-warming the coffee pot/carafe is also helpful with maintaining temperature.
Using a gram scale to weigh out the whole bean coffee and using a brew ratio will help with maintaining consistency day after day and between batch sizes. Example: If you typically brew 8 cups ~40 oz ~1200 ml, weigh out 66 grams of coffee for an 18:1 ratio or 70 for a 17:1 ration. Then if you brew half that size, you can take 600ml(20 oz) and divide by 18 or 17 to find how much coffee to use. I typically use an a 16:1 ratio but some commercial coffee makers won’t be able to brew correctly with that much coffee.
The features to look for in an auto drip machine are:
Appropriate brew water temperature (200F-205F)
Pre-soak/bloom of the grounds
Attention to the brew water dispersion
Thermal carafe instead of a hot plate or warmer
To simplify the process, the Specialty Coffee Association (SCA) has a list of certified home brewers that can meet their SCA Golden Cup standard. Any of these machines should be capable of producing fantastic coffee.
