🧮 Re: Our secret formula for the Perfect Iced Brew!

Our first “Re:” technical summer series is focused on the concept of “bypass” as applied to iced coffee brewing. We also wanted to share with you our simple formulas to achieve the perfect iced brew on ANY method. We promise a short, yet interesting read that we hope you’ll get to try on your next iced brew!

First things first… what is “bypass”? It is simply the term used to describe any water that “bypasses” the actual brewing process (i.e. it never comes in contact with your coffee grounds, and is instead added to your final drink). This concept can be applied to hot drinks (i.e. an Americano is a shot of Espresso with “bypass” water), yet it is always applicable to iced drinks (i.e. iced coffee is typically a stronger coffee brew that’s poured over ice). Equating “bypass” with ice when making iced brews is a simple, effective way to remind us that a final dilution will ALWAYS happen (which can be easily forgotten, resulting in uninspiring, weak brews).

So, how do we apply it? Our go-to (when brewing 500 mL or more) is a 50% bypass, which means 50% of the water in the final brew will be ice. In our 500 mL (~16 fluid oz) example, we would use 30 g of coffee (ideally ground slightly finer than you’d regularly grind, so you’ll be able to extract enough soluble solids with a smaller volume of water) and 250 mL of hot water to brew, and pour this brew over 250 g of ice. If brewing a smaller amount (<500 mL), a 40% bypass is recommended, in order to have a sufficient volume of water for the actual extraction. Therefore, for any given final brew (i.e. amount of coffee you want):

Coffee (g) = 6% x Final Brew (mL)

Brew water (hot, mL) = Final Brew (mL) x (100% - % Bypass)

Ice (g) = Final Brew (mL) x % Bypass

We encourage you to play with this bypass concept this Summer! We’ve been doing lots of iced Ethereal and Rio Coco (which will likely run out in the next 2 weeks*), and have been delighted with the results! Perhaps you’ll find just the perfect bypass ratio for each of your favorite beans and favorite methods? We also just began posting specific applications of this concept (Aeropress this week!) on our Instagram and Facebook (find us as @ethosroasters), so we hope you’ll check them out!

Grateful for our 8th Summer… Brewing Greatness with you!

Jolian & Lisbeth

P.S. * Yes, this means “El Espejo” will be launching in July! 🙌

RE: Cold Brew vs. Iced | The Experiment

Cold or Iced? Whether you’re a Cold Brew lover, or an Iced coffee fan… Summer is always a great time to try a new cool method!

Let’s first address some basic questions:

What’s the difference? Two key brewing parameters: time and temperature. Cold brew is all about long brewing times (18-20 hrs) at low water temperatures (~40℉) while Iced coffee is the opposite - short brewing times (3-5 min) at high water temperatures (~200℉).

What’s the same? Both are typically brewed at higher strengths than hot brewed coffee - i.e. using ~50% more coffee per brewed cup - so they can be served over ice or be paired with milk without tasting too weak or watered down.

Now, our recipes using the exact same ratios, and the exact same method, so you can brew them and compare them! If you’d like to keep things scientific, you’d also need to brew the exact same bean under both methods… and try a few different beans! (Spoiler alert: you may prefer some beans iced, and some cold brewed! Some we think do particularly well on both: Poaquil, Rio Coco, Andes, and Ethereal!)

ICED COFFEE

1. Grind 2 oz coffee to a coarse (sea salt) level.

2. Place grinds into the bottom of your French Press.

3. Pour 16 fl oz of hot (200-205℉) spring or filtered water and mix well.

4. Steep for 5 min.

5. Plunge your Press and transfer to a new container (to stop the extraction!). Voilà! Your Iced Coffee concentrate is ready!

COLD BREW

1. Grind 2 oz coffee to a coarse (sea salt) level.

2. Place grinds at the bottom of your French Press.

3. Pour 16 oz of spring or filtered water and mix gently, ensuring all grounds are wet.

4. Cover, place in the fridge and let it steep for 18-22 h.

5. Plunge your Press and transfer to a new container (yes, also to stop the extraction). Voilà! Your Cold Brew concentrate is ready!

Place 8 fl oz of each concentrate in a cup, and add 4-8 oz of ice or milk to taste (again, add the exact same amount to each if you’d like to keep it scientific!). Now they’re ready to be tasted side-by-side!

If you don’t have a French Press (or just prefer filtered coffee), an alternative would be to make Iced Coffee as a Pour-Over and make Cold Brew using a disposable paper filter - keeping all ratios the same. The use of a paper filter (on both instances) will reduce the amount of oils and yield a much cleaner drink (i.e. no small ground particles in suspension).

Happy Cold/Iced brewing… and most importantly, thank you for choosing to Brew Greatness in the world with us every single day! It’s my absolute joy and honor to be your roaster,

Lisbeth

PS. We just sourced two new, very special coffees… a new high-impact single-origin from Congo launching in September… and a special Honey processed coffee from Honduras, which will be the star of this year’s Red Swan Holiday Blend! Truly can’t wait to share them with you (clearly… as I wasn’t supposed to tell you anything until next month! Ooops!)