Continuing with the coffee-based recipes for the summer, today we enter the world of "Cold Brew".
The first thing to clarify is that it is not a "cold" coffee, that is, it is not a coffee that is prepared with hot water and then cooled or allowed to cool. Cold brew itself is cold brewed coffee. For this reason, it is different from classic iced coffee, which, having been prepared hot, develops more bitterness when cooled.
Due to the fact that it is emulsified with cold water, it needs more time to prepare, as the ground coffee must be left to rest in the water for at least 12 hours.
The preparation method is very simple and given the process of obtaining it, the coffee preserves better, so that you can prepare a large quantity and keep it in the fridge for up to 10-15 days. The coffee obtained is less acidic (softer) in which the aromas are better preserved.
The liquid obtained is quite concentrated and it is only necessary to add cold water to dilute it to our liking. Recently several people are experimenting with adding tonic, milk or sparkling water among others.
As we said before, its preparation is very simple and we only need three objects to be able to do it (or even only two):
- a coffee grinder
- a container where to make the mixture (preferably glass)
- and a cloth strainer or paper filter.
And that's it. The rest you need is patience, as it requires some waiting time :)
But how is it done?
Well, it is as simple as putting the ground coffee in water, in a ratio of 1: 4 and some suggest even 1: 7. With these proportions a concentrated coffee is obtained, thought to be taken with ice. The truth is that the proportion is determined by oneself depending on the coffee used and how intense or soft we want its flavor.
Instructions
Suppose we are going to prepare 1L of cold brew ... to do this, we grind the 250 g of coffee and we want it to be thick (a grind as if it were going to prepare a piston coffee maker). In any container, although I usually do it for convenience in a jug, we put the freshly ground coffee and add the liter of water.
We stir slightly so that all the coffee is moistened and cover the mouth of the container with a cloth or plastic or a lid. With what we have at hand.
We let the coffee rest for at least 12 hours, up to a maximum of 24, in the fridge. The longer the time, the greater the intensity. Many people recommend doing it at room temperature, but keeping it in the fridge reduces oxidation. If we want, it can be gently stirred every 6 hours but it is not essential either.
After the indicated resting time, we filter the coffee through a cloth or a paper filter. The concentrated coffee that is obtained is our desired cold brew and to drink it, we recommend adding twice as much water (or the chosen liquid). But the proportion of coffee with the diluting liquid is to everyone's taste, since it also depends on the coffee used to make it, since we know that at the level of flavor, an Arabica is not the same as a robusta.
Final tip
If you already have a piston coffee maker, the French press type, the ones that have a piston, you have it very easy; it is nothing more than using cold water in the infusion, instead of hot. Let the coffee rest for about 12 hours at room temperature or in the refrigerator (I certainly prefer it cold) and then pass it through the filter, which is incorporated into the coffee maker. If you wish, you can transfer the liquid coffee to another container and that's it. Enjoy our wonderful Cold Brew !!
So you have already seen that simpler, impossible. Go ahead and prepare this easy recipe and experiment with the liquid and the amount of it you want to use to dilute the coffee concentrate.
We leave you the following video developed by Xhynet Yseni who shows us his way of making Cold Brew and we see how simple it is to prepare it. By the way, at the end we see how he adds agave syrup to sweeten his drink; We prefer not to do so in order to be able to taste all the flavors of our Café Porte varieties.
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