The art of brewing cold coffee

It may not sound so hard to make a cup of cold coffee. But it can actually be trickier than you think. We've all had a cup of coffee that's been standing on the counter so long that it gets cold. Cold and bitter and sour. Pretty much the exact opposite of what you want when the sun is shining.

However, cold coffee is incredibly easy to make, if you just follow a few simple steps. Stay tuned and you will get my best tips! Text by Catrine Gyllensten

1. Fresh coffee. If I get to choose (and I do because this is my blog post), I think a cold coffee tases best when using a fruity coffee with a lot of sweetness. Of course, you can cold brew a dark roasted coffee of dubious quality, but since you are still here and reading this text, I dare say that you probably won't like it.
   
   
2. The right recipe. Just brewing coffee and adding ice will get you a watered down and diluted coffee – not what we're after here. Therefore, make sure you have a correct recipe where it is the final ratio between coffee and water (including any melted ice) we are lookign at.
   
   
3. Choose your method. Different brewing methods will give you different coffee experience. A Cold Brew doesn't taste exaxtly as an iced coffee. And an iced coffee made in a V60 doesn't taste quite the same as if you make it in an Aeropress.
   
   
4. Find your own favorite. In the end it doesn't really matter what I think, it is you who will drink the coffee, or who ever you make it for, and therefore it is your final recipe that is the absolute best for you! 

HOW TO BREW?

There we have the basics set. So how do you brew cold coffee? If you have plenty of time, you can choose to make a Cold Brew. The principle is the same as old school stove top coffee, it is the long time that the coffee is extracted in the water that brings out all its flavour. Therefore, we want coarsely ground coffee so that the extraction surface becomes laaaaarge (the opposite is e.g. an espresso where we want the coffee finely ground and smaaaaaal extraction surface because the water is hot, and passes through the coffee quickly and with pressure) and that all tastes are slowly allowed to arrive. However, Cold Brew is a very forgiving brewing method, so if you only have pre-ground coffee, that works too.

You can make cold brew in a pretty much anything, a presso pot, a bucket or a vase. The only thing is that you will need to strain your drink before you can drink it. So the easiest way is to use a Cold Brew Bottle from Hario (yep we sell it, available in three different colors) which has a built-in filter so that it becomes super simple. If you choose the simplest plug and play version, I can also tell you that a filled bottle holds just 800 g of water, so that's the bottle we based our recipe on.

1. Grind the coffee really coarse
2. Put all the coffee into the filter (or just straight down into your vase if you were going to use that)
3. Fill up with cold water
4. Let stand in the fridge around 8 h (make sure you have some kind of lid on)
5. Bring out and serve in a glass with ice (remember to filter first if you haven't brewed in something with a built-in filter.)

Also check out our Little Drink Book that we made together with the bartender team at Restaurant Surfers for inspo on some really good coffee drinks.

ICED COFFEE

If you are hot now (!) and want to have your cold coffee right away, then any variant of iced coffee is for you! The point is that you replace some of the water you usually use to brew with ice, and thus brew a more concentrated coffee down over the ice. The result is a cold coffee that will be perfectly diluted.

I told you that the different brewing methods would also change the taste experience a little. That's right, of course. We have chosen to highlight the Hario V60, Aeropress and Chemex, partly because they are the three most common brewing methods but also because they give slightly different types of cup.

A Chemex with its relatively thick paper filter gives you a light, clean and ”filtered” Cup. An Aeropress you can play around with and adjust your different recipes, buth they will all give you a little more texture and juiciness. A classic V60 cup is generally "cleaner" than an Aeropress, but with a little more depth and sweetness than a Chemex.

V60 over ice

35 g of coffee
300 g of water
200 g ice cubes

1. Prepare 200 g of ice in a server.
2. Grind the coffee slightly finer than for filter.
3. Rinse your filter with water and discard.
4. Pour the coffee into your V60 and brew with the hot water.
5. When all the coffee has drained into the container, swirl it around together with the ice.
6. Pour the coffee into a glass with a few ice cubes.
7. Enjoy!

Aeropress over ice

20 g of coffee
150 g of water
100 g ice cubes in a mug

1. Prepare 100 g of ice in a mug or similar.
2. Grind the coffee slightly finer than the brewing coffee grind and pour it into the inverted Aeropress.
3. Pour in the hot water, let it steep for about 1 min.
4. Turn your Aeropress over and place it on the mug of ice.
5. Push through. This should take about 30 sec.
6. Att more ice or pour the coffee into a glass with a few ice cubes.
7. Enjoy!

Chemex over ice

50 g coffee
450 g of water
300 g ice cubes in a Chemex

1. Prepare 300 g of ice in a Chemex, preferably 6 cups.
2. Grind the coffee slightly finer than the one you use for a Chemex.
3. Rinse your filter with water and discard.
4. Pour the coffee into the filter and brew it with the hot water.
5. When all the coffee has drained into the container, swirl it around together with the ice.
6. Pour the coffee into a glass with a few ice cubes.
7. Enjoy!

Now I hope that you have become a little wiser, a little more excited to brew tasty cold coffee and above all a little more curious!