The Rise of Cold Brew: A Coffee Revolution
Every now and again, something new comes along that proves truly revolutionary to the coffee-drinking community. One such development is the cold brew phenomenon. Although cold brew is not new, it has recently come into its own. Indeed, cold brew is the hottest thing in coffee right now.
If you have not yet tried cold brew, we encourage you to do so. We would not be surprised to look back at this time next year and realize that 2019 was the year of the cold brew. If you have tried it, what do you think? Do you like it better than hot brew coffee?
Not the Same As Iced Coffee
The first thing to understand is that cold brew is not the same thing as iced coffee. Not only are they brewed differently, they also taste different as well. A coffee drinker with discriminating taste buds can easily tell the difference between the two brews.
Iced coffee begins as a typical hot brew. It can be brewed with a traditional drip machine or a single cup brewer. What makes it iced coffee is that it is served over ice once brewing is complete. Putting ice in a cup of hot coffee is one way to cool it down but doing so also affects the taste.
Needless to say that hot coffee melts ice rather quickly. That ice dilutes the coffee as it turns to water. To counter this, some people put their hot brewed coffee in the refrigerator for a few hours. This does prevent dilution when you introduce ice, but it also increases the acidity of the coffee.
How Cold Brew is Made
Cold brew coffee takes its name from the fact that it is brewed using either cold or room temperature water. Rather than relying on hot water to extract the oils from ground roasted coffee, cold brew relies on time. It can take anywhere from 12 to 24 hours to brew a full pot.
There are two ways to cold brew. The first is to combine a lot of coffee with a little water to brew a concentrate. You just throw the coffee and water together and let it steep for as long as you want. Then you strain out the coffee and use the concentrate to make individual cups by adding water as desired.
The other method is to put the ground coffee into a filter, tie the filter closed, and steep it in the water. You use just about the same amount of coffee you would to make a hot brew, thus avoiding having to strain the coffee and work with a concentrate. You just drink it straight up once it’s brewed.
We carry some cold brew products here at Galaxie Coffee and we invite you to give them a try. Cold brew is a completely unique beverage with a much more subtle taste that can be quite rich. When you’re ordering cold brew, don’t forget to check out the rest of our beverages as well.