What Is Cold Brew Coffee
Cold brew coffee is coffee that has been mixed with cold water instead of the typical boiling hot water most coffee styles use to extract the flavour from the beans. Cold brew coffee involves a long steeping process in which the beans sit in cold water for up to 24 hours to release their delicious coffee flavours. Cold brew is characterised as having a smooth, low-acid flavour and is heavier in colour and taste than its hot brewed counterparts. The longer the crushed beans sit in the cold water, the stronger the flavour they can impart into the water.
Cold brew coffee is perfect for lovers of Iced Coffee made without milk. Outside of Australia, an Iced Coffee is exactly that. A glass of cold coffee over ice cubes.
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How To Make Cold Brew Coffee
Making cold brew coffee is not hard, nor are there any secret magical spells needed. Cold brew coffee can be made by anyone and does not require the skills of a trained barista in order to master. You don’t need special equipment or fancy machines beyond a container for steeping the coffee and a strainer to separate out the grind at the end of the steeping process.
Grind the fresh coffee beans of choice coarsely. If you don’t have a coffee grinder, then resort to a hammer and a double zip-locked bag and let out your frustrations on the coffee beans until they are splinters.
You can use any coffee beans you have lying around that need to be used before they go stale. Cold brewing coffee is the perfect way to ensure you get every cent of value from your coffee grinds. For the extra money-savers, you can place your used compressed coffee discs from your perfectly tampered morning espresso or latte and soak them in cold water for the day. The flavour won’t be nearly as strong as you have already extracted the majority of the coffee in the initial cup; however, there is still a surprising amount of coffee that will reward the thrifty if you collect and store all of your coffee discs in an airtight container in the fridge for a week and then make a batch of cold brew on a Friday night. You can then add an extra hit of cooled Espresso to boost the flavour if you want it stronger.
Combine the coffee bean grounds with water in a 1:1 ratio. One cup of coffee bean grinds to one cup of water and let it steep overnight, or for a minimum of twelve hours.
The coffee slowly infuses into the water during this time, creating a strong, concentrated brew. Strain the next morning through a fine mesh strainer, and you are ready to drink, as is, over crushed ice or use it as a topping for ice cream or affogato coffees.
You can add milk or cream to the cold brew and mix it to make an Australian iced coffee. Get luxe and add a scoop of ice cream, blitz, and pour over ice cubes. There is nothing to stop you from frothing up some barista milk and topping your iced coffee with some latte art for that special twist!
Cold Brew Coffee Recipe
The basic cold brew coffee recipe is water and coffee left to sit and steep. Nothing fancy at all about that. Once you have your cold brew, then you can experiment with adding other flavours and spices to come up with your unique cold brew recipes. If you prefer to use a recipe someone else has already perfected, then a quick search of the internet will pull up a long list for you to try at home.
Cold Brew Black Coffee
All coffee is black. The strength of your black coffee will depend on the type of bean you used and the level of roast on the bean. The darker the roast, the more intense the flavour will become, but at the cost of your cold brew turning bitter and tasting acidic and astringent, which does not make for an enjoyable coffee experience for the majority of coffee drinkers.
Cold Brew Coffee Filter
Instead of using a metal fine mesh strainer, you can use coffee filter papers to separate your cold brew from the grinds when the process has concluded. Coffee filters are easy to procure and can be found in most stores that sell drip filter coffee machines and supplies. Failing that, the web has plenty of small online businesses that cater to selling and shipping all of the coffee-related products, accessories, and paraphernalia one can desire.
If you are extra desperate and in a bind, a new chucks wipe can act as the filter, or clean muslin cloth if you have some handy. Don’t use a paper towel. It ruins the coffee flavour and soaks up most of the liquid, defeating the point of making your cold brew.
Cold Brew Coffee Beans Australia
Any coffee beans can be used to make a cold brew. Anyone selling a bean specifically for cold brew is trying to pull the wool over your eyes. Most people use Arabica or Robusta or a blend of the four beans to get their preferred coffee blends and flavour profiles. Get more information on where you can get the best coffee beans in Australia.
Cold Brew Coffee Kit
Cold Brew Lovers Pack is one example of what a cold brew coffee kit looks like. You can even convert your infusion water bottle into a cold brew coffee machine, and most people have at least one stashed in the Tupperware drawer or cupboard.
Any device that allows you to separate the grinds from the liquid but lets the liquid in to infuse the coffee beans is a cold brew kit. As with all products these days, there is a push to sell the most outrageously overpriced items as being ‘the best products, but it is all smoke and mirrors lies.
The $5.00 infusion water bottle works exactly the same as the $600.00 fancy machine. The difference is one allows you to buy a decade worth of coffee beans to go with it, and the other one means you likely have more money than IQ points and will pay any price to display your wealth as a status symbol. If that is your kick in life, go for this one. Retailing at $599.00, it will look aesthetically more pleasing sitting on your granite or marble countertop than the cheaper water bottle version.
Cold Brew Coffee Maker: Woolworths, Coles & Kmart
All of the big retailers sell their branded version of Cold Brew Coffee Kits. Some smaller locations may have to order them in for a client if you live out of the major cities, but with online ordering and click-and-collect services gaining traction, getting your order filled is as fast as you filling out your order form and waiting for them to alert you it is ready for collection. While there, you can purchase your coffee beans or grinds if you haven’t already ordered a specialty blend from your local café or an online supplier or retailer.
Drip Cold Brew Coffee Maker
Drip cold brew coffee makers are the same thing; only the whole at the bottom of the top section is so small your liquid drips into the container below in individual drops. Does it make your coffee taste better? No. But it looks cool and gives you something to watch while the process happens if your brain monkey doesn’t wake up for conversation until after your first shot of coffee, however it comes!
As a side note, your cold brew coffee maker can also brew hot brews the same way for a faster result if you want your drip coffee hot and now, not in 24 hours.
How Long Does Cold Brew Coffee Keep
7-10 days is the standard answer to how long a cold brew coffee lasts when kept in an airtight container in the refrigerator. If your cold brew starts to taste or smell nasty, it is time to feed it to your plants. Plants love cold coffee and coffee grinds, so dig them into your garden and pot plants and watch your soil come to life! Fig trees particularly love coffee and would be considered the caffeine addicts of the plant world.
Dilute it with 3-parts water and 1-part cold brew, and see what your strength is like. If it seems too weak or too strong, adjust the ratio of water to coffee grinds that best suit your strength and flavour profile preferences.
Can I make Cold Brew Coffee With Decaf Coffee
Yes! Short and simple answers are often the best. The question is, why would you want to? See the next question on decaffeination and why Decaf coffee can be technically worse for you than caffeine. Decaf is to coffee what white sugar is to the sugar family. We know it is bad for us, but we like it anyway.
What Is The Decaffeination Process
The direct method: the coffee beans are steamed and then rinsed repeatedly with the chemical solvent to flush away the caffeine.
The indirect method: the chemical agent never touches the beans but treats the caffeine-laden water in which the beans have been soaked for hours.
Yum, chemical solvents, and CO2. If you are removing the caffeine from a coffee bean, one must ponder why one would choose to drink coffee that wasn’t, well, coffee. After all, what is the purpose of drinking coffee if not for the hit of caffeine?
Is Chicory A Good Substitute For Coffee
Chicory root is naturally caffeine-free, making it an excellent coffee substitute if you want to reduce your caffeine intake but still desire a coffee-like taste. You can add chicory root or root powder to hot water for a completely caffeine-free beverage or mix it into a small amount of regular coffee to enjoy a lower-caffeine beverage with the full coffee flavour.
Chicory is one of those products you will either like or hate on first taste. Some people find chicory has a subtle liquorish back note that does not sit well with them and overrides the coffee taste.
Is All Decaf Coffee The Same
No! While the two processes might be the same as used by their rivals, there is no way for the consumer to factually know how much of the caffeine was removed in the process, and each batch will have a varying amount. If you were to test all of the decaf coffee brands for caffeine residue, you would find a noticeable difference between batches produced by the same company and by the various brands. To get genuinely caffeine-free coffee, they would have to test each batch and spend money and time adjusting their process to achieve a caffeine-free product on a batch-by-batch basis. The cost and time to do that are prohibitive and would be passed onto the consumer, making for an outrageously expensive cup of coffee that isn’t technically coffee anymore, merely black water with a vague hint of coffee scent.The chances are even if you drink decaf coffee, you are still drinking caffeine but in a reduced amount. Your product won’t be completely caffeine-free, and unless you have access to the technology to test the product, you cannot know that.
