So I know the accepted practice for cold brew is to do a coarse grind, and to brew somewhere between 8-24 hours depending on whether you’re doing it at room temperature or in the fridge.
But is this really necessary? Could I just use a finer grind and brew for less time? I’m asking because when you grind coarse, you end up having to use a lot more coffee beans (mass) than you would for the equivalent volume of any other type of coffee.
For context, I’m using a coffee sock which is just a glorified reusable coffee filter, so I don’t think that grind size is going to impact filtration that much.
You can use a suis vide and make it in 2 hours instead.
The whole volume/coffee mass trade-off is a bit misleading. Espresso has a much higher ratio, and cold brew is by taste and strength somewhere between filter coffee and espresso. Mixing cold brew half and half with sparkling water is a nice way to bulk it out if you want a greater volume of coffee.
Oh good, now I just need to acquire a suis vide :)
I do generally mix the cold brew half and half with filtered water. I do have to say, I love sparkling water of all kinds, but I tried this with sparkling water and was not a fan, haha.
Can you tell me more about doing it sous vide? I have a sous vide stick that I rarely use and would love to have a use for it!
So I broadly follow this. https://recipes.anovaculinary.com/recipe/sous-vide-cold-brew-coffee
I basically make cold brew coffee in a French press that I stick in the water bath at 65 degrees c for two hours and then decant it into a new jug I stick in the fridge.
What is it about brewing it cold that makes it better? Why not brew it normally and then cool it off? I love coffee, but have never really been a cold brew aficionado. I recently watched an episode of Americas Test Kitchen that showed the best way to make cold brew coffee, and when they used enough coffee grounds to brew two pots worth just to make two servings that wouldn’t be ready til the next day, I realized I probably would never become one.
I make it so my partner has immediate coffee concentrate ready for the morning rush. I also like the unique flavor it has, often I’m getting interesting notes nothing like when I brew the same coffee hot.
I would argue that it’s just down to a preference. I regularly go between hot brewed, iced coffee, and cold brew, and I would personally say that when I make iced coffee (the exact same way as hot but just leaving it in the fridge until it’s cold), it’s significantly harsher and is missing a lot of nuance.
Cold brew definitely also lacks complexity compared to hot - I think most coffees made as a cold brew will converge towards an oxidized/ chocolate flavor. It’s not really worth it to buy expensive coffees for cold brewing but I think it’s a pretty forgiving and easily-scaled process.
Cold brew is my go to for gifted beans or trying a new roaster/bean that turns out I didn’t terribly enjoy. I’m not wasting the beans and because it lacks complexity (and I’m going to hit it with a little sweetener and cream anyway lol) I can still end up with a very drinkable cup.
It’s maybe like 10% better … but it requires double the resources and literally thousands of times the prep time. The return on investment is so bad it’s laughable.
I will admit I haven’t given that method as much serious consideration as I probably should. I’ve done it several times and it has always tasted different from how I like it. The main reason I probably don’t do it more often is that I don’t actually own a coffee maker of any kind.
You can make a cold brew in a couple of minutes using an Aeropress, and the recipe given by the creator of that device (Alan Alder) says to use a fine espresso grind.
https://aeroprecipe.com/recipes/alan-adler-cold-brew-aeropress-recipe
Just try it. When I started making cold brew I did a bunch of experimenting with grind size and brew time. I dont grind much different from when I make hot coffee, but I found the brew to improve up to 24h or so. Anything less than 18h or so was not acceptable. One thing you can try if you want to speed things up is a hot bloom before adding the rest of the brew water and moving it to the fridge.
Did you ever experiment with the difference between brewing room temp and fridge?
No, I wrote off the room temp idea since coffee can spoil easily at room temp.
This is my general method, but I do brew for only 8-12 hours instead of a full 24. I did recently do a batch in the fridge and noticed the flavor profile was different, so I might have to switch over. So many variables… confusedmathlady.gif
