Cold Brew: An Entirely Different Thing

With echoes of Willie Nelson singing “Always on My Mind” bouncing around in my head, I am still thinking about cold brew. As Andy blogged about in “Cold Brew vs Chilled Hot Brew,” cold brew is a creature of its own in the coffee realm. As in the name cold brew implies, the coffee is brewed cold or at room temperature, not hot. In the past, I felt cold brew was inferior to hot brewed coffee, but these recent findings are changing my mind. The problem is not the drink, but how we have prepared it. By following Lucia Solis, I found a podcast by James Harper. In James’ series “The Science of Coffee Series 3,” he begins with cold brew.

You can learn more in-depth about the UC Davis cold brew findings by listening to James Harper’s podcast: “Hot vs Cold: The science behind temperature and taste” and “Fruit juice or creamy almonds: Your guide to controlling cold brew flavors.”

On top of these great podcasts, I found this jewel of a video:

In this video European Coffee Trip talk to Alan Adler, inventor of Aeropress, about his recipe for two minute Aeropress cold brew.

Alan Adler, inventor of Aeropress and many other things, had an idea. He thought it was a bad idea but decided to try it anyway. What we have is a very good two-minute cold brew recipe. I believe there is room for tweaking the amount of coffee and water in his method. This video is a great starting point and I have enjoyed the coffee I have brewed so far.

What are your thoughts on cold brew? Do you have any tricks that have made something good to great or spectacular? Leave me your thoughts or questions in the comments and let’s keep the conversation going!

Also, before I stop writing, keep your eyes peeled for the end of May. We are working on a sweet artist series with the possibility of a limited cold brew!

Jason Hendry, Reverie Coffee Roasters Wholesale Manager