Have You Ever Wondered, What is the Best Coffee for Cold Brew?

August 23, 2020 // 5 minute read

Brew Dog Metrics is independent: we research, test, and rate the top products to help you make the right buying choice. We sometimes use affiliate links and may receive a small commission on your purchase at no added cost to you. Learn more...

While most people enjoy a cup of hot coffee every morning, some may prefer their coffee a bit differently. When it’s a hot summer in the middle of the day, you might still want the benefits of a coffee cup without having to deal with the heat of a hot cup.

That is where cold brew coffee comes in handy. If you have not made cold brew coffee before, I will tell you all about it and what the best coffee for cold brew coffee is.

What is a Cold Brew?

Most people will confuse cold brew with iced coffee. There is, however, a very clear distinction between the two. While iced coffee is made through the regular coffee brewing method and then poured over ice cubes, cold brew coffee making process does not involve heat. This is what makes cold brew distinct, and this distinction comes with considerable extra work, but there are benefits to it too.

Cold brew coffee has low levels of acidity, for instance. The reason is, the elements that make hot coffee acidic only extract at certain high temperatures. When you skip the heat in the coffee-making process, these elements are avoided.

Have You Ever Wondered, What is the Best Coffee for Cold Brew

That is one reason why cold brew is gaining popularity nowadays. For people with acidity problems, cold brew might be a solution as it’s easy on the stomach.

What is the Best Coffee for Cold Brew?

When you decide to go cold brew, you need to consider a few important factors to make a great-tasting cup of cold brew. Here are the factors.

The Brewing Method

There are generally two methods of brewing cold brew coffee, the immersion method, and the cold drip brewing method.

To choose the best coffee, you will have to have the method you intend to use in mind. Cold drip involved dripping iced water through the grounds, which takes anywhere between 3 to 4 hours to brew a cup. On the other hand, the immersion method involves leaving the coffee grounds in the water for 12 to 24 hours to extract the flavor.

The Texture of the Grounds

Whether to choose course grind or a finer grind depends mostly on the method you are using to brew your coffee. If you are using the drip method, a course grind will do the job better. The reason for that is because when you use fine grounds, the coffee may be too dense to let the water through.

Also, due to the longer time required to make a cold brew coffee, a fine grind always leads to over-extraction of the ground, which can make the coffee taste bitter. THat is why a coarse grind is always recommended.

The Intensity of the Roast

When choosing beans for a cold brew coffee, whether to go dark or lighter is always debatable. It may come down to what you prefer.

Keep in mind, however, that lighter roasts are generally more acidic. Since the cold brew does not extract these acidic properties of coffee, it does not make a huge difference. On the other hand, dark roast beans have a richer flavor, which is why a lot of people prefer them.

Since the cellular bonds in darker roast beans have been weakened, they take a lot less time to extract, while the lighter roasts will generally take longer to extract, and therefore a longer time to brew.

Blended Coffee vs. Single-origin

When you are getting coffee for cold brew, single-origin coffee is recommended instead of blended coffee.

As the name suggests, single-origin coffee is coffee farmed from the same region as opposed to blending coffees from different regions, which is what blended coffee is.

With single-origin coffee, you get to appreciate the flavor of the coffee more.

Now that we have looked at qualities the best coffee when you are doing cold brew let us look at what you need to make a delicious cup of cold brew coffee.

Equipment you need to make cold brew coffee at home.

The equipment you need to make cold brew depends on the method you will use. If you plan to use a cold drip method, for instance, you will need to get the special equipment needed. Emersion method, on the other hand, can utilize basic coffee making items you have in your kitchen. Here is what you need to make cold brew coffee.

A Coffee Grinder

This is the most basic coffee making equipment when you are brewing any kind of coffee. If you choose to buy beans instead of ground coffee, you will need to have a grinder.

A Cold Dripper

A cold dripper is a special kind of coffee maker only meant for brewing cold coffee. It’s a stack of glass containers set up to collect coffee using the cold drip method.

When you decide to make cold brew, you will need to get yourself a cold dripper, especially if you want the convenience that comes with the shorter preparation time. You can get one on the market at an affordable price.

A Kitchen Scale

You will need a way some scale to measure the amount of coffee ground you are using to make your cold brew. If you don’t have a kitchen scale in your kitchen, you will need to get yourself one.

Coffee Filter

If you are making cold brew by the immersion method, you will need a coffee filter.

In Conclusion

People are always finding new innovative ways of enjoying coffee. Cold brew is the new trend in town and has many benefits, especially for people with sensitive stomach issues like ulcers and acidity.

If you haven’t tried it before and are considering trying, you will find everything you need to brew your first delicious cup in this article. Go on and fix yourself a cup.

Related Articles

Subscribe to the Brew Dog Newsletter

DISCLAIMER

We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com. Brew Dog Metrics also participates in affiliate programs with Clickbank and other sites.Brew Dog Metrics is compensated for referring traffic and business to these companies at no cost to you.

Share via
Copy link