Hello everyone this is Aleks from Uncoffee, and here comes another edition of your favourite coffee newsletter ☕️
I had a very nice vacation! I took the time to relax, reflect, motivate and inspire myself and my family. I hope you too! And if some of you are still having their summer vacation on some hot spot on this year’s weird Earth, this issue might be the right one for you.
This time I decided to write about something which does not go well with the cold summer we have in Germany, but better times are coming and if you don’t mind the weather, you wouldn’t mind the colder brew I am about to serve you.
You got that right, this time I’ll be sparing some words on the not very known cold brew, a type of coffee that has been mistaken on many levels. Or at least mixed with an americano with ice. This year’s spring, a friend of mine called and asked me to tell him a good recipe for cold brew. I said “no idea mano, it's not something that you can say over a phone call”. Other people do it too, they think of cold brew as a fancy Starbucks frappuccino that has lots of ice in it. Well, it’s not. It’s rather more complex than that.
That call made me curious about what is the actual recipe for a good cold brew. So now that we put the fact that cold brew is not whatever coffee with ice aside, we can see what cold brew really is. A certain amount of coffee ground in certain size is put in water (larger container like a jar) to be brewed overnight (or any longer period), and then extracted for consumption. The fridge period is not the extraction, but rather the brewing, thus cold-brew. It can be served cold but it also can be warmed up!
The cold brew allows the coffee to release a specific balance of aromas and oils in the water in a cold environment. So yes, a cold brew can also be performed during cold weather, outside. It’s specified with a very unique flavour and color. For me, the color is the most distinct characteristic of a cold brew. There are two variables to watch after when brewing cold: the amount of water and the grind size. To start with cold brew, what you need is something as simple as a jar and an average quality of coffee beans. The last time I brewed was with the most average coffee beans I found at home.
From what I know, the cold brew had been popularised in US where it became quite popular in the past 10 years or so. And it's a new way of brewing coffee for sure but actually has its own history and the very first evidence that suggests that this type of brew existed in the world in the past comes from Japan from the 1600s. Other story has it that the cold brew is a technique adapted from a way the Dutch tradesmen would brew their coffee on their journeys to Japan. As much as the story is old, for me the cold brew story started 2 years ago when a colleague of mine came at work with a jar filled with something that resembled mud. When he asked me if I want some, my first instinct was hell no brother! But after he explained that what I'm seeing is a new way of brewing coffee (new for us, of course), quite different from the other brews, I gave it a try. It tasted like .. well.. terrible.
I didn't like even a tiny bit of it. These days, learning more about the cold brew I realise that that tasting episode had a flaw. The flaw was the wrong type of serving. Keep close attention to the way that you serve a cold brew (as explained a bit below). The extraction does not start at the moment you put the coffee in the water and then in the fridge. The extraction starts at the moment you start separating the coffee from the water, at the moment when you rinse the mixture of ground coffee and water. After a good process of draining, you would have something which is very strong in flavour and very difficult in taste. Then you tweak to your own taste by adding water to it. And this water can be cold, warm or whatever temperature you prefer.
As already mentioned, from equipment you’d need: coffee beans, strainer, filter paper, two larger (than the jar) containers, some cups and a fridge. The grind size should be just a little bit coarser than your grind for French press filter. So go a bit more coarse. You will notice that if you do the grinding with the manual grinder, it’s gonna be a quick grind. So you should end up with something like coarse salt.
There are few fancy options for a filtering jar. You can even use your french press (if it fits in the fridge). I use a jar I found in the kitchen, far from fancy. As long as it fits the amount of water and amount of coffee together, it will do just fine. Just avoid metal. Metal will interfere with the taste and the extraction process overall. Stick to glass.
Ok, so the next thing is the amount of things. As you can notice on the photo above, there is quite more coffee than you’d use for other brews. That’s because the par-excellence ratio between coffee and water is 1 cup : 30g coffee. Ok, this might be to my taste and subjective ratio but if you go less, less coffee will be extracted and you might end up with weaker taste. Just go for 30g and trust me, then, for 2 cups of water you’d need 60gr. Of coffee. All right.
Keep in mind that 2 cups of water does not mean 2 cups of coffee. At the end you will have a dark coffee liquid that you can use to serve your coffee as it suits you. 2, 3 cups, whatever.
You can get nerdy with the water, filtered, over-boiled, just make sure you use it at normal temperature. It does not have to be hot nor warm, a normal tap water would be just fine. Two cups of water in the jar, then you add the ~60gr coffee and stir peacefully ✌️ You deserve this time, take it for yourself. Give the coffee time to mix with the water. It will look like your dog ate last year’s Easter eggs, but nevermind. Close the jar and put it in the fridge in laid down position (this comment is optional, you can ignore it).
The good thing about cold brew is that you can put it in the fridge and forget what you were doing. Pick it up after 12, 24 or 36 hours. Just don’t forget it in the fridge for a week expecting to be a good brew at the end. Whenever you decide to extract it, take a larger cup or container, and drain the combination of water and coffee through the strainer. Stir the mixture occasionally as you want all of it to go through the strainer. Now, important: do not press over the coming coffee or the one in the jar in any way. Do not apply force. That might release unwanted and rather bitter tastes to your cold brew. Just do it peacefully, no pressure.
Once you have the liquid in the container, take a pour over funnel and place a filter paper over. You do the recommended ritual for soothing the filter paper, then filter the water from the large container into another container (well, you know your kitchen, you figure out). At the end you have a liquid that was once drained with a strainer, and filtered with a filter paper.
After that you’ll have your extract of coffee. I use this amount to prepare 3 cups of coffee, so I would add a cup and a half more tap water to it, and then some ice. But hey, you give it a try with an amount of water that works for you, just make sure you try the coffee after each addition.
More or less that’s what cold brewing is about.
Some people add milk to their cold-brew: perfectly fine. Do things that make you happy and add as much milk, ice or fire to your drink. Just, make it your own time slot and ritual that belongs just to you.
Cheers!