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
Grind 2 oz coffee to a coarse (sea salt) level.
Place grinds into the bottom of your French Press.
Pour 16 fl oz of hot (200-205℉) spring or filtered water and mix well.
Steep for 5 min.
Plunge your Press and transfer to a new container (to stop the extraction!). Voilà! Your Iced Coffee concentrate is ready!
COLD BREW
Grind 2 oz coffee to a coarse (sea salt) level.
Place grinds at the bottom of your French Press.
Pour 16 oz of spring or filtered water and mix gently, ensuring all grounds are wet.
Cover, place in the fridge and let it steep for 18-22 h.
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!)
