It's gotten a bit hot here in Virginia and the attraction of a flat white or espresso or piping hot brewed cup in the afternoon, while better than having one's ears boxed, is less and less attractive. As a result, I decided to look into cold versions of coffee and began my normal, semi-obsessive research into how to do it.
Turns out, there's a debate. Excellent.
The two camps in the debate are the cold brewing camp and the flash brewing or Japanese method. You can find quite excellent coffee shops that subscribe to either and the results vary enough between the two (or so I've read), that it's hard to say one is clearly preferable to the other. Unless, of course, you're an opinionated, prickly old sot like me in which case you can.
Cold brewing relies on long extraction times and refrigeration to make the brew. There are many devices and proportions and procedures, but they all come down to grounds steeping in cold or room temperature water for as little as 4 and as much as 24 hours to make several cups of coffee. I believe this is the stuff you'll see bottled at some of the better coffee shops and gourmet stores.
Flash brewing, according to one of the guys at Counter Culture Coffee, was developed by the Japanese. George Howell is also a fan of this method. Again, the exact procedures and proportions vary, but imagine using any pour over utensil, I've been experimenting with the Chemex, and the same amount of grounds, simply put half the quantity of water in the chemex in ice form and use the other half in it's 205 degree state to extract the brew as normal. The hot coffee hits the ice at the bottom of the chemex and cools almost immediately.
The flash brewing folks say that cold brewing robs the coffee of the flavors unique to a single origin as well as the "top notes" which are typically floral or fruity in nature. The extraction, they claim, is not as efficient with cold water as with hot and many desirable components in the coffee aren't extracted. The cold brew fans say that their method is just as effective at extraction and that the proof is in the cup. From what I've read, the cold brew emphasizes chocolate and sweetness over specific varietal characteristics.
But as with most things, the truth is somewhere in between. One investigator into the debate claims that in blind testing, his preference often depended on which bean was used to brew the coffee. In other words, some beans were better for one method than the other. Low acid brazilians or sumatrans for cold brew and Ethiopian Yrgacheffe for flash brew.
I haven't tried the cold brewing method yet but have made a couple of flash brews here in the chemex with about 40% ice and 60% water and keeping the volume and grind size of the grounds the same as for my regular pour over. Using a phenomenally delicious Papua New Guinea only one day and then two days since roast, I've had really delicious iced coffee the last few afternoons. Just today, in fact, I made a cup for my bride after her workout in lieu of the normal flat white she gets. About 10 minutes after that, she texted me to say " this coffee may be the most refreshing beverage Ive ever had."
I would love to hear what experiences the rest of you have and even better some of the recipes you use for your coffee. Here's a link to a decent NYT article on iced coffee with lots of links to other expert opinions.
http://tmagazine.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/06/06/ristretto-i-dont-know-what-you-did-last-summer/?_r=0
Turns out, there's a debate. Excellent.
The two camps in the debate are the cold brewing camp and the flash brewing or Japanese method. You can find quite excellent coffee shops that subscribe to either and the results vary enough between the two (or so I've read), that it's hard to say one is clearly preferable to the other. Unless, of course, you're an opinionated, prickly old sot like me in which case you can.
Cold brewing relies on long extraction times and refrigeration to make the brew. There are many devices and proportions and procedures, but they all come down to grounds steeping in cold or room temperature water for as little as 4 and as much as 24 hours to make several cups of coffee. I believe this is the stuff you'll see bottled at some of the better coffee shops and gourmet stores.
Flash brewing, according to one of the guys at Counter Culture Coffee, was developed by the Japanese. George Howell is also a fan of this method. Again, the exact procedures and proportions vary, but imagine using any pour over utensil, I've been experimenting with the Chemex, and the same amount of grounds, simply put half the quantity of water in the chemex in ice form and use the other half in it's 205 degree state to extract the brew as normal. The hot coffee hits the ice at the bottom of the chemex and cools almost immediately.
The flash brewing folks say that cold brewing robs the coffee of the flavors unique to a single origin as well as the "top notes" which are typically floral or fruity in nature. The extraction, they claim, is not as efficient with cold water as with hot and many desirable components in the coffee aren't extracted. The cold brew fans say that their method is just as effective at extraction and that the proof is in the cup. From what I've read, the cold brew emphasizes chocolate and sweetness over specific varietal characteristics.
But as with most things, the truth is somewhere in between. One investigator into the debate claims that in blind testing, his preference often depended on which bean was used to brew the coffee. In other words, some beans were better for one method than the other. Low acid brazilians or sumatrans for cold brew and Ethiopian Yrgacheffe for flash brew.
I haven't tried the cold brewing method yet but have made a couple of flash brews here in the chemex with about 40% ice and 60% water and keeping the volume and grind size of the grounds the same as for my regular pour over. Using a phenomenally delicious Papua New Guinea only one day and then two days since roast, I've had really delicious iced coffee the last few afternoons. Just today, in fact, I made a cup for my bride after her workout in lieu of the normal flat white she gets. About 10 minutes after that, she texted me to say " this coffee may be the most refreshing beverage Ive ever had."
I would love to hear what experiences the rest of you have and even better some of the recipes you use for your coffee. Here's a link to a decent NYT article on iced coffee with lots of links to other expert opinions.
http://tmagazine.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/06/06/ristretto-i-dont-know-what-you-did-last-summer/?_r=0