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Iced Coffee: Flash Brewed or Cold Brewed

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 I’ve 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
 
Interesting and timely as hot weather is just about here. Anyway, I saw a new item up for pre-order, and as my daughter was looking for something along this line for ice coffee I decided to order this for her. It is called BodyBrew. I can't seem to log on to the site though as I am in a public library in a small rural town and the seem to have severe limitations on what you can look at. (Think censorship).


Mike
 
Nice article. I can drink both types but need milk and/or sweetener for the cold brewed method. Though I may like flashed brewed coffee better, I rarely make it since I already have iced tea ready.
 
I just planted my tomatoes this weekend, so the cold, wet weather has reasserted itself.

I sort of flash brew - I think. Using standard hot brew method, I make a concentrate (either half the water or double the grind). This I put in a bottle and put into the frig. When I want an ice coffee, I put ice cubes in a glass and add the concentrate. Most times I add milk and sugar and then add the concentrate - diluting the drink. Since the coffee is already cold the ice doesn't melt immediately, just straight extract can be pretty strong.

jim
 
I've been making cold brews in gallon mason jars the last couple of weeks. Steeping for 24 hours, results were decent but by no means "the most refreshing beverage I've ever had". I'll get the Chemex out this afternoon and give this flash brewing a try.
 
I do both cold brew and flash brew methods, though I usually add a hot bloom step to the cold brew where I pour in hot water weighing about double the weight of the ground coffee used to get some added brightness and acidity (sweet, berry flavors) otherwise the cold brew can be too muted for my likes. For someone who likes to add milk and likes bass and chocolaty notes cold brew is excellent. If you like bright, fruity coffees from Africa, flash brewed cold coffee is excellent (especially snuck into a movie theater int he summer).

My cold brews are made with the Bruer which uses a valve to slowly drip the water through the grounds rather than a toddy method. I tend to like the cold brew methods better with brighter, fruitier coffees to start with. Here's some cold coffee recipes:

Shakerato
130 g ice
double espresso
1/2 oz simple syrup
Shake

Brazen iced coffee recipe v3 (Flash Brew)
60 g coffee
550 ml water
340 g ice (~14 tray cubes)

Double "Alcatraz" Iced Chemex (Flash Brew for an overnight on Alcatraz)
80 g Ethiopian Chelektu Yirga Cheffe
566 ml Water
392 g Ice (~16 tray cubes)

Single-Serve Cold Process Aeropress (Cold Brew)
10 g coffee
150 ml cold water
1 ice cube
Soak in 8 oz Jelly Jar for 3 hours
Filter through AP



Bruer Drip Cold Brew (1 drip per second)
50 g coffee
100 g hot bloom (stirred)
300 g ice
300 g cold water
 
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I do both cold brew and flash brew methods, though I usually add a hot bloom step to the cold brew where I pour in hot water weighing about double the weight of the ground coffee used to get some added brightness and acidity (sweet, berry flavors) otherwise the cold brew can be too muted for my likes. For someone who likes to add milk and likes bass and chocolaty notes cold brew is excellent. If you like bright, fruity coffees from Africa, flash brewed cold coffee is excellent (especially snuck into a movie theater int he summer).

My cold brews are made with the Bruer which uses a valve to slowly drip the water through the grounds rather than a toddy method. I tend to like the cold brew methods better with brighter, fruitier coffees to start with. Here's some cold coffee recipes:

Shakerato
130 g ice
double espresso
1/2 oz simple syrup
Shake

Brazen iced coffee recipe v3 (Flash Brew)
60 g coffee
550 ml water
340 g ice (~14 tray cubes)

Double "Alcatraz" Iced Chemex (Flash Brew for an overnight on Alcatraz)
80 g Ethiopian Chelektu Yirga Cheffe
566 ml Water
392 g Ice (~16 tray cubes)

Single-Serve Cold Process Aeropress (Cold Brew)
10 g coffee
150 ml cold water
1 ice cube
Soak in 8 oz Jelly Jar for 3 hours
Filter through AP



Bruer Drip Cold Brew (1 drip per second)
50 g coffee
100 g hot bloom (stirred)
300 g ice
300 g cold water

tried the double Alcatraz recipe with a Yemeni I just roasted. Fantastic. Thanks for the recipe.
 
Glad you enjoyed it. My wife was pissed, we almost missed the ferry to Alcatraz because I was playing with coffee, but we just made it (had trouble finding parking) and had a great trip. I really enjoyed sleeping in an open cell in C block, my youngest daughter didn't want to sleep alone in a cell so she slept on a mattress on the floor in the cell next to me.

If you ever get an opportunity to do an overnight trip to Alcatraz (rare), take it. This was with a Boy Scout troop and well worth the time spent cleaning up the yard.

Oh, I should mention that I usually use a metal Kone filter with my Chemex when making flashed brewed coffee to give it more body and a better flow with larger batches.
 
Do you want your world rocked? How bout a method that purports to harness the strengths of BOTH methods!!

http://beansandwater.tumblr.com/post/22588752858/iced-coffee

The link is to an article by Lorenzo Perkins of Cuvee Coffee in Austin, Texas. He advocates a kind of preinfusion at traditional coffee brewing temperature, and then adding the iced-water for a lengthy immersion. There is also a lot of sciency type writing in his article, which makes it even more fun to read! I started brewing this way after he first wrote this, and I must say it's my preferred method (especially since enough can be made to last a day or two)!
 
Great thread. I will have to try the flash brewing method sometime. I'm fresh out of filters for my Kalita Wave.
 
I've "made" filters for my Kalita Wave when I ran out and the usual suppliers had no stock by forming #4 Melitta filters over an upside-down Aeropress or canning funnel to fit the brewer. It doesn't keep the nice folds, but it works in a pinch (and is considerably cheaper). I restocked my Kalita filters.

If there's anyone else who has the Kalita 155 and Kalita 185 Style brewers, you could try out my Kalita 340 flash coffee brewer. The coffee goes in the Kalita 155 and the ice goes in the Kalita 185 below it and the coffee trickles through the ice very quickly cooling it down and capturing the flavors and aroma. You can put any overflow ice in the base of the 185.

The recipe I used for this is:


14 g coffee (Ethiopia Guji is nice)
140 g water in the 155 filter (slowly poured over the coffee)
60 g ice in the 185 filter holder


$5889_kalita_340_iced__custom_.jpg
 
I just put coarse ground coffee in a mason jar with cold water the night before. In the morning, I strain, add ice and drink.

Cheers!
 

Toothpick

Needs milk and a bidet!
Staff member
I have done the cold brew once. I basically dumped some grounds in a pitcher full of water and put it in my fridge for 24 hours.
I don't think the pitcher was full though. Hard to remember it was a long time ago. It basically makes concentrated coffee.

You pour a little in a class, add ice and milk and presto. It was tasty.
 
Two scoops in the aeropress, hot water to a little above the "2" mark, stir 10 sec., press, add sugar to the mug, then milk 'till it's a little stronger than I'd like, then add 4 ice cubes & stir well. Very simple but tastes great with or without something to dip in it.
 
I picked up a Chemex today. For no good reason at all, really - I have too much coffee paraphernalia as it is. But, it gives me a good excuse to give the flash brewing method a whirl tomorrow. I'll report back if I have any epiphanies.
 
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