It’s finally summertime! With rising temperatures comes a demand for cold brew coffee.
Whether you like flash brew, Japanese-style iced pour over, espresso tonics, iced lattes, or just your good old cold brew - we’re cool with it! At Visions Espresso, we have all the equipment you need to make the perfect chilled coffee beverage, and we’ll be writing all about how to do so in this new blog series.
To start with, let’s talk about why coffee is traditionally brewed hot, and what needs to happen to serve it cold! Coffee beans, as we’ve come to call them, are actually the seed of a fruit that originally grew in Africa, and is now propagated all around the equatorial “coffee belt.” After being pulled from the “cherry” and otherwise processed, coffee is roasted to develop and release its natural flavor.
You don’t need to understand the chemical properties of aromatics to appreciate the smell of freshly roasted coffee. The mix of caramel, chocolate and sweet fruit flavors is immediately apparent. In order to release those flavors into water, the coffee is then ground, and the smell gets even better! This is because the smaller pieces have more surface area to release those aromatics. When you add hot water to this roasted coffee, we extract the rich and sweet flavors into the water.
Hot water does a great job of quickly dissolving the acid and oils in the coffee that taste great, not to mention the caffeine that helps us through the day! Hot water is not the only way to extract these, however. Espresso developed as a way to add pressure to brewing, making extraction much faster than hot water alone. If you take espresso or brewed coffee and let it age to a cold temperature, however, oxidation will change both the color and flavor of the drink. You may recognize this as the bitter or ashy taste of a cup left too long on your desk.
Cold brewing coffee, however, is the process of soaking the grounds for a longer time in room temperature or chilled water. Because the coffee is sitting in the water for 12-24 hours, it will have a different chemical composition, and a distinct flavor profile.
For many cafes, and home users, this coffee can feel more expressive than espresso! Cold brew can be made in large batches, and even concentrated such that it can be diluted with water or milk when served.
Long lasting, delicious, and strong, cold brew is a basic for any coffee bar and easily made at home.
What's your favorite way to enjoy cold brew coffee in the summer?? Share your recipes in the comments!
We are currently offering 10% OFF all cold brew equipment - use code COLDBREW10 at checkout! Enjoy brands like Alto and Toddy and look forward to more about cold coffee coming soon in part 2 of this new series!