The heat is on throughout Australia with very little sign of it easing. Our early morning coffee is sacred but as the day goes on and the temperature rises a hot coffee may not always the cooling drink we’re after, despite caffeine cravings! Cue iced coffee or its more evolved sophisticated alternative cold brew coffee.
Traditionally iced coffee is simply dropping some ice cubes into a glass over normally brewed coffee to cool it down, tasting a lot like cooled down coffee.
However, the secret to a great ice coffee is all in the brewing. It’s about changing the brewing process, hence the name cold brew. Different to regular hot coffee, cold-brewed coffee uses time rather than heat to extract caffeine from coffee beans. Using an immersion technique, coffee grounds and cold water are left to brew for an extended period of time, usually overnight and then filtered for drinking.
There are many ways to make cold brew coffee at home but a great, easy alternative is to use a French press, using room temperature water (see here for ideal water to coffee ratio) and steeping and chilling medium to coarse grounds overnight. It will come out from the fridge cold and strong, ready to be served with ice, water, milk, mineral water or even ice cream.
This extra time and cold-brew process results in a less acidic more delicate flavour and a smoother, less bitter finish. Left over concentrate can be used as an ingredient in frappe, espresso martinis and even baking recipes.
So next time you want to beat the heat, up your summer coffee game with a cold brew.