“— watching other people order iced coffee inculcates the desire.”
June 8, 2017 9:45 AM   Subscribe

How Cold Brew Changed the Coffee Business [The New York Times] “There’s no way to rush cold brew. If you’re running a coffee shop, you need to anticipate demand. Every year, that demand is increasing: The United States is becoming a cold-brew nation. In the past, coffee sales lagged during the summer and rose sharply during the holiday season. But cold brew now drives a surge in demand during warmer months, too, far more so than other iced coffee drinks. Coffee sales spike when the mercury rises. Cold brew is also attracting an entirely new audience for coffee: millennials, many of whom are making it their drink of choice.”
posted by Fizz (120 comments total) 21 users marked this as a favorite
 
I love cold-brew but I'm lazy and impatient and this is a problem.
posted by Fizz at 9:51 AM on June 8, 2017 [5 favorites]


What's wrong with just putting regular drip-brew coffee onto ice? That's how they made iced coffee back in the old days of three years ago, and it worked perfectly well.
posted by hippybear at 9:55 AM on June 8, 2017 [33 favorites]


I hate cold-brew, and I love iced coffee (double strength, regular ice, no sugar, maybe milk.) Cold brew tastes like burnt, overbrewed coffee. Doesn't matter if I make it myself or if I buy it somewhere: cold brew is so bad that I can't finish it. And I'm a straight-espresso, fresh-diner-coffee drinker. It's my personal worst First World Problem when local coffee shops switch to All Cold Brew All The Time For No Reason and I have to go Iced Americano.
posted by blnkfrnk at 9:57 AM on June 8, 2017 [9 favorites]


What's wrong with just putting regular drip-brew coffee onto ice?
It's what I usually do. When cold-brew is available, I'll order it. I'm never sure if there is an actual taste difference or not. It's probably negligible.

But to answer your question, umm...I guess flavour and taste and stuff.
posted by Fizz at 9:57 AM on June 8, 2017 [1 favorite]


I drink iced coffee all year long and, honestly, I stopped making cold brew at home when we got a Ninja coffee pot -- it makes super-easy Japanese-style iced coffee by the cup or by the pot. Cold brew is sort of insipid by comparison, for my tastes. It is convenient having the concentrate around for making smoothies, though.

The new super-fancy coffee place in town finally put their cold brew on a few weeks ago. Haven't tried it on nitro, but the still stuff was actually very good (probably the best cold brew I've had), and I'll probably drink as much as I can afford to this summer (because yikes, that place is expensive).
posted by uncleozzy at 9:58 AM on June 8, 2017 [2 favorites]


I'm confused about how cold brew is attracting millenials to coffee, when we've already been pissing away our financial security through our $5-a-day latte habit.

But seriously, cold brew is great - although it's interesting it's apparently really taking off now, when it's been available for a long time. I was making cold brew years ago in a coffee shop in the midwest whose general stance towards new coffee trends was blissful oblivion or "ew, no."

What's wrong with just putting regular drip-brew coffee onto ice?

This is explained in the article, dude.

Cold brew is much less acidic. There's nothing wrong with putting regular drip-brew coffee onto ice, if that's what you like, but they don't have the same taste, and many prefer the taste of cold brew. (I can definitely taste the difference, BTW - and I don't think I'm fooling myself when I say that.)
posted by Kutsuwamushi at 9:58 AM on June 8, 2017 [38 favorites]


From the article:
“Cold brew is more than a slowed-down version of hot coffee; it’s a noticeably different product. Hot water will bring out the acids in coffee, a characteristic that professional tasters call “brightness.” Cold water doesn’t but still gets the full range of mouthfeel and sweetness. The absence of acidity in cold brew is even more pronounced when compared with the iced coffee from the dark ages (of a few years ago), when it was almost always made with hot coffee that was chilled in the refrigerator. When hot coffee cools, even more acids develop, many of them unpleasantly harsh.”
For anyone who doesn't want to read the full article but still has questions about the difference between regular and cold brew.
posted by Fizz at 10:02 AM on June 8, 2017 [37 favorites]


> There’s no way to rush cold brew. If you’re running a coffee shop, you need to anticipate demand.

Every bakery and pizza shop in the United States is tuning up their orchestra of the world's tiniest violins to play the world's saddest symphony.
posted by ardgedee at 10:02 AM on June 8, 2017 [63 favorites]


Cold brew extracts much less of the oils. I drink my cold brew black (and sometimes undiluted), but with regular coffee over ice I have to add just a wee bit of cream to make it palatable. I'm not much of a coffee drinker though.
posted by BrotherCaine at 10:04 AM on June 8, 2017 [2 favorites]


It's dead easy to make at home. I guess the next step for me would be to add additional subtle flavors.

Also, at least three shops near me offer cold-brew growler refills at a discount.
posted by tychotesla at 10:06 AM on June 8, 2017 [1 favorite]


I've become a big fan of cold brew tea. Put 14 teabags in a gallon of cold water and let it sit overnight in the fridge. It's the best iced tea you have.
posted by COD at 10:07 AM on June 8, 2017 [12 favorites]


Cold brew has a much deeper chocolate taste. I throw one in the fridge at the beginning of the week and it makes enough concentrate for the week. Definitely worthwhile since we hit 96 today.
posted by msbutah at 10:07 AM on June 8, 2017 [3 favorites]


What's wrong with just putting regular drip-brew coffee onto ice?

This is explained in the article, dude.


Wait, iced coffee was made with hot coffee that was chilled in the fridge?

No it wasn't. It was made with hot coffee and ice. And usually cream.

Fill cup with ice to above the brim, pour in appropriate amount of cream, add hot coffee. [Edit: and possibly more ice.]

Perhaps it's the slow fridge cooling that creates the negative flavors that were hinted at in the article, but I've never encountered an iced coffee made with brewed-and-then-let-to-sit-for-hours-to-get-cold-in-a-fridge coffee.

Even hot coffee tastes terrible if you let it sit for hours.
posted by hippybear at 10:09 AM on June 8, 2017 [5 favorites]


The biggest difference that I notice is that the coffee feels "thicker". Which isn't necessarily a bad thing, but it's just something I've noticed when I opt for cold-brew.

I also think the few times I've tried to make it at home, I've done it wrong. Maybe it's worth trying again.
posted by Fizz at 10:10 AM on June 8, 2017


I thought millenials were frivoling away their futures on avocadoes, not coffee. Which one is it?!!??

It would be interesting to do some research on how much people taste. Like, everyone says that just brewing coffee and then icing it is barbaric, you get swampy-tasting coffee, etc. And while I can taste some difference between cold-brew and my daily mason jar of iced Mr. Coffee, it's not enough of a difference for me to really care. I assume this is because I fall on the not-subtle side of the tasting spectrum, and that profound differences exist for those with the buds to taste.
posted by Frowner at 10:10 AM on June 8, 2017 [7 favorites]


Very interesting, the new supply problem. Since it stores well, then overproduction is the easy answer. That doesn't help at the beginning of the season so much, or if temps suddenly spike. For instance temps in Chicago last weekend and this upcoming weekend were/are supposed to be near 90, but during the week it's been quite cool (low 50s) in the morning, so I haven't made the switch to cold brew yet.

Cold brew is a batch process, so per cup it's the laziest way to make coffee. A pitcher of grounds+water + overnight then pour it through a filter, and the rest of the week it's ready and waiting for you to drink it.

From the article: There’s cold brew in the shop’s [... ] fizzy and tart drink called Our Sweetheart #4, an exquisite mixture of coffee and rosemary limeade. . This is one of the rare food descriptions that I cannot imagine how it would taste.
posted by Fig at 10:10 AM on June 8, 2017 [5 favorites]


Coffee makes for the most pedantic chat. This is what I'm here for.
posted by Fizz at 10:17 AM on June 8, 2017 [19 favorites]


I love making my own at home, for my afternoon iced coffee with a bit of milk. Make my own vanilla syrup, too. Makes me look forward to the afternoon.
posted by Thorzdad at 10:18 AM on June 8, 2017 [1 favorite]


Oh, lord no. There's a big difference between a well made cold brew and iced coffee. The latter is fine and I drink it often since it's cheaper, but a cold brew made properly tastes much smoother and richer. It's pretty much my ideal drink all year round and has been for decades. Unfortunately not all coffeeshops make great cold brew, so if you hit the wrong place, the difference or advantage might seem overstated. And for god's sake, put a stop to those barbarians who call them "iced toddies".
posted by gusottertrout at 10:20 AM on June 8, 2017 [6 favorites]


Also, I don't know from coffee with limeade, but an Indian restaurant in Missoula used to make coffee with rose water and it was delicious. Not as good as their homemade ginger beer though, which is something else I eagerly await really catching on.
posted by gusottertrout at 10:22 AM on June 8, 2017 [6 favorites]


I love cold brew, and I especially love nitro cold brew, which scratches the same itch that Guinness used to in my drinking days.
posted by Halloween Jack at 10:23 AM on June 8, 2017 [3 favorites]


Cold brew is much less acidic than regular drip brew coffee. I used to even heat it up and drink it hot. It has less to do with being cold than it has to do with being cold brewed, if that makes sense.

For me, it was the last kind of coffee I could drink before I finally had to stop altogether due to acid reflux. It's been tea, ever since.
posted by Elly Vortex at 10:25 AM on June 8, 2017 [2 favorites]


I love iced coffee, especially since the one episode of Twilight Zone with Shatner and the fortune teller machine I saw as a kid (which showed me iced coffee was actually a thing). My Dad thinks I am barbarous for doing so. We were out of town and hit a Starbucks. I ordered my usual iced, he starts in on his thing, so I turned and asked the barista what the breakdown was. He said it was better than 60-40 iced over hot.

VINDICATED!
posted by Samizdata at 10:26 AM on June 8, 2017 [3 favorites]


Love cold brew. Need to make the switch for the mornings here in PHX. 107° days are simply much too fucking hot for regular coffee.
posted by strelitzia at 10:26 AM on June 8, 2017 [3 favorites]


I love Cold Brew for two reasons:

1. It doesn't chew up my stomach and esophagus, as I have GERD. I love hot brewed drip coffee, but two days of that, and I'm in pain again.

2. I can get some, throw it in my 16 oz Kleen Kanteen thermos, and then throw that in my backpack. Delicious cold coffee for me to sip on all day.

I make it at home on occasion; I'm just trying to perfect the recipe. I do find, though, that it's much less finicky about the quality of bean, which is great - as I often get the stuff that's on sale.
posted by spinifex23 at 10:32 AM on June 8, 2017 [9 favorites]


Cold brew? Resounding yes.
Bubbly nitrogen infused cold brew? Eww.
posted by Splunge at 10:34 AM on June 8, 2017 [2 favorites]


I *suspect* folks that think that cold brew and iced coffee taste the same or are interchangeable are all either extremely regular coffee drinkers or aren't particularly sensitive to flavors. I only recently made a sincere effort to like coffee as a 30-something. I hated the coffee before then, and I am extremely sensitive to brewing style, freshness, roast, and origin because of this. I make no judgement on which is better (that's subjective), but they are different.

👏 Cold 👏 brew 👏 tastes 👏 different 👏 than 👏 iced 👏 coffee. 👏
posted by phlyingpenguin at 10:35 AM on June 8, 2017 [20 favorites]


I *suspect* folks that think that cold brew and iced coffee taste the same or are interchangeable are all either extremely regular coffee drinkers or aren't particularly sensitive to flavors.


posted by Fizz at 10:40 AM on June 8, 2017 [5 favorites]


Even hot coffee tastes terrible if you let it sit for hours.

It tastes particularly horrible if it's allowed to oxidize and evaporate off some of the volatile compounds. As it does if sitting in an open pot on a Bunn hot plate.

Coffee kept warm in a thermos tastes ok because neither of those processes can really get going.

Hot coffee brewed then chilled shortly after can taste fine and will keep for quite a while. It's not the same flavour profile as cold brewed, more acidic, but also brighter, but it can still be a very nice drink.

But it's undeniable that cooking coffee for hours makes it undrinkable.
posted by bonehead at 10:41 AM on June 8, 2017 [2 favorites]


Jeebus, you're clapping at me like you would a naughty canine. Stop that.
posted by hippybear at 10:42 AM on June 8, 2017 [20 favorites]


Cold brew is the end of the road for my caffeine addiction downward spiral. If you see my chugging cold brew (sipping! lol) you know I am close to rock bottom. It is just too smooth, no acid reflux to slow me down, and delicious.
Soon after the cold brew phase I will swear off coffee, again. Until, after a few weeks, after a lovely dinner, the notion enters my mind: "A cuppa would go just lovely with this piece of pie...".
And so it continues.
posted by slickvaguely at 10:44 AM on June 8, 2017 [3 favorites]


To be fair, I do think some coffeeshops rush the cold brew process or don't add enough coffee to the water, so in those instances it may taste more like a regular iced coffee or watered down coffee over ice than it should.
posted by gusottertrout at 10:44 AM on June 8, 2017 [2 favorites]


The problem with iced coffee is I chug it. Each and every time. Then my head explodes.
posted by lagomorphius at 10:47 AM on June 8, 2017 [4 favorites]


Cold brew is a batch process, so per cup it's the laziest way to make coffee

Yeah, this is largely why we used to drink cold brew at home. Being able to dole out a big-ass cup at a moment's notice is really convenient. It tastes fine -- and I used to think I preferred it -- but strong coffee brewed directly over ice is more "coffee-like," for lack of a better way to describe it, to me.
posted by uncleozzy at 10:49 AM on June 8, 2017


I used to make Cold Brew using a basic recipe from the Commander's Palace Cookbook. It used to add a unique flavor to my summer BBQs. Now I'm just basic.
posted by teabag at 10:50 AM on June 8, 2017 [2 favorites]


What's wrong with just putting regular drip-brew coffee onto ice? That's how they made iced coffee back in the old days of three years ago, and it worked perfectly well.
posted by hippybear at 9:55 AM on June 8 [3 favorites +] [!]


you must be from boston. good god please don't do this. 'acid on ice' is not cold brew coffee, which is much nicer on the stomach.

Is cold brew really a new thing? It's been in coffee shops for decades.
posted by eustatic at 10:54 AM on June 8, 2017 [3 favorites]


In the summer I make cold brew on the weekends and drink it with sweetened, condensed milk in the mornings. I have a feeling this is wrong in some way, but it's super easy and I love it.
posted by ArbitraryAndCapricious at 10:58 AM on June 8, 2017 [5 favorites]


What's wrong with just putting regular drip-brew coffee onto ice? That's how they made iced coffee back in the old days of three years ago, and it worked perfectly well.

I think the gustatory argument against doing that is that if you pour hot coffee onto ice cubes it will melt a lot of the ice cubes, and as a result, you will get watered-down coffee. The cold-brew method not only is already cold so your ice cubes stay...ice longer, the brew is also stronger, so that when the ice does melt, it's actually okay.

I do make my own cold-brew in the summer mainly so that it's handy in the morning (i require coffee first thing in the morning). And I've always used the NY Times method: Take 2/3 cup of grounds and 3 cups of water, and dump that into a jug at night and leave it there. Then, when you wake up, strain the stuff into another jug and dump the grounds. This gives you about 2-1/2 to 3 cups of strong cold brew, that I top off with enough water to make one quart; I leave that quart in the fridge and drink it over the course of about a week. Easy.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 10:59 AM on June 8, 2017 [3 favorites]


quart [...] over the course of about a week

Must be nice to have a one-day week.
posted by uncleozzy at 11:00 AM on June 8, 2017 [19 favorites]




What's wrong with just putting regular drip-brew coffee onto ice?


MMMMUUUUUSSSST NNNNOOOOOOTTTT FLLLAAAAAAMMEE THEE HEEEATHHHEEENNN
posted by lalochezia at 11:02 AM on June 8, 2017 [11 favorites]


Coffee makes for the most pedantic chat. This is what I'm here for.

You misspelled pedantic.

no you didn't.

...but you doublechecked, didn't you?

posted by leotrotsky at 11:02 AM on June 8, 2017 [14 favorites]


i make coffee with an aeropress directly into ice, come at me bro
posted by entropicamericana at 11:05 AM on June 8, 2017 [15 favorites]


I like hot brew for when I'm drinking coffee hot because I want those acids and punch, but when making Vietnamese coffee cold brew is the way to go. I haven't really tested out the difference in lattes and other cold drinks though.
posted by tavella at 11:05 AM on June 8, 2017 [1 favorite]


Is cold brew really a new thing? It's been in coffee shops for decades.

Starbucks just started with it, so it's like a whole new thing to folks.

The best cold brew coffee is hot. (bear with me)

Make cold brew concentrate. Store in fridge. 1 part concentrate to 2 parts hot water.

Magic.
posted by leotrotsky at 11:05 AM on June 8, 2017 [8 favorites]


I've never been a big iced coffee fan; usually the only time I drink it is when I'm on a road trip in hot weather (if it's not hot I get hot coffee). But although I've preferred French Press (or the less-cleanup-involved Aeropress version) coffee for a while now, I recently started making cold-brew concentrate and I prefer it even for hot coffee. I make a big bowlful once a week and the result just about fills a quart Mason jar. Then all week long I use about 1/3 Cup of the concentrate in my mug and top it off with hot water. I use a recipe I found online: 12oz coarse-ground coffee (I use dark-roasted Columbian, but I may switch to ful French Roast) to 6C water. Stir it up, put a large dish or skillet lid on top, let it sit on the countertop overnight. Next day I strain it through a cheesecloth, pop it in the fridge, done (other than rinsing and washing the cheesecloth for next time).
posted by Greg_Ace at 11:06 AM on June 8, 2017 [1 favorite]


The best cold brew coffee is hot. (bear with me)

Imagine being held at gunpoint (bear with me)

by a literate animal, and the only hope of rescue is (BEAR WITH ME)

posting a coded message on Metafilter.
posted by leotrotsky at 11:07 AM on June 8, 2017 [38 favorites]


you must be from boston

I've spent maybe 14 days in Boston total. Does that make me "from Boston"?
posted by hippybear at 11:08 AM on June 8, 2017


I honestly have never enjoyed cold coffee drinks, nor do I vary my hot coffee intake with the weather. I also despise flavours of any kind in coffee, and I look askance at anything ending in -ino. When I first heard of cold brewed, I wondered what they did to heat it up afterwards.

I suspect this is another innovation that won't even wave as it passes me by.
posted by GhostintheMachine at 11:11 AM on June 8, 2017 [1 favorite]


i make coffee with an aeropress directly into ice, come at me bro

I went back and forth between this and pourover before the Ninja entered my life. The Aeropress iced coffee is a little closer to cold brew, I think: smoother and not as zippy as drip or pourover.
posted by uncleozzy at 11:12 AM on June 8, 2017 [2 favorites]


Look what you made me do, Fizz. My co-workers thank you for the extra productivity this afternoon .
posted by Fig at 11:16 AM on June 8, 2017 [3 favorites]


Cold brew gets me overcaffeinated. I like it taste-wise and see why it's a thing (plus it is in line with the cold-pressed juice trend) but I forget that it has more caffeine than my regular coffee and then I'm twitching the rest of the day.
posted by spamandkimchi at 11:34 AM on June 8, 2017


Cold brew is much less acidic. There's nothing wrong with putting regular drip-brew coffee onto ice, if that's what you like, but they don't have the same taste, and many prefer the taste of cold brew. (I can definitely taste the difference, BTW - and I don't think I'm fooling myself when I say that.)

This is especially true if the place you go over-roasts the crap out of their beans to start with.

So. For reasons described in the article (acid!) Starbucks coffee tastes even worse iced than it does hot (if that's even possible), but their cold brew is actually pretty delicious. The odd thing is that when they don't have it, my local SBUX barista, who I love, inevitably says "Hey Bellman, we're out of cold brew so I made you a regular iced coffee but I added a couple shots to get you through the day" and I smile and say "awesome, thanks!" because she's really great and she's looking out for me and who else is gonna look out for you if not your barista? And then I go outside and toss it in the trash and walk down the block to the next Starbucks and pay another four bucks or whatever, because it's not about caffeine content, its about getting a drink that doesn't taste like burnt ass over ice. She's so cool and she's going out of her way to take care of me, and I really appreciate it, but how does she not know that?
posted by The Bellman at 11:38 AM on June 8, 2017 [10 favorites]


So I get my cold brew at Dunkies, as any Boston-bred boy should, and I notice that on some days - maybe one out of five - it tastes very bad indeed, almost as if it has spoiled. I've been taking it without milk lately, so it's not a sour milk thing, but it almost tastes like it is. Is this some sort of failure in their process? What can your average corporate coffeeshop employee do to screw up cold brew so badly?
posted by Rock Steady at 11:41 AM on June 8, 2017 [3 favorites]


Cold brew is also attracting an entirely new audience for coffee: millennials
🤔
posted by en forme de poire at 11:41 AM on June 8, 2017 [15 favorites]


I know quite a few older millennials in a relatively hip city and I can't think of anyone that passionately drinks cold brew coffee. Some of them drink iced coffee, but it's usually made from strong drip coffee that was refrigerated and then poured over ice. Or Vietnamese style where it's brewed directly onto ice.

I really wanted to like cold brew coffee but it tastes bad to me. There's a sourness that's offputting to me.
posted by Candleman at 11:42 AM on June 8, 2017


Mefi: I don't think I'm fooling myself when I say that.
posted by fairmettle at 11:43 AM on June 8, 2017 [1 favorite]


And the seasons trends, they go round and round
And the painted ponies go up and down ...
posted by Melismata at 11:45 AM on June 8, 2017


I've seen cold brew coffee on menus for decades but never had the desire to try it because coffee coffee that's not almost scalding is really off-putting for me. What does cold-brew coffee taste like if it's been heated up?
posted by Dr. Twist at 11:50 AM on June 8, 2017


Almost as tempting as a piping hot beer
posted by The Toad at 11:51 AM on June 8, 2017 [9 favorites]


Cold brew might be logistically tougher for the coffee shop, but it is logistically easier for me (I can predict my own demand pretty easily). So the coffee I make at home is cold brew.

I make a 3-liter jar overnight and it lasts for a week or so. That way I don't need to brew anything when I wake up, and the average prep time per cup is well under a minute.

From a taste perspective, it's not my absolute favorite way to make coffee, but it's fine. (I don't find it to be especially sour, actually -- I don't like sour notes in my coffee. It tastes a little ... musty might be it? Less so my own than when I've bought it in a store. But anyway I don't much mind.)
posted by grobstein at 11:53 AM on June 8, 2017


I'm generally not a coffee drinker (some experiences in the Navy with Stoker Coffee damaged me) and the thing I generally don't like about it is the whole acidity thing. So the discovery of cold brew for me really was a game changer.

From talking to friends (small sample size of course) it seems like the acidity thing is the main factor in people's attitudes toward cold brew.
posted by cirhosis at 11:54 AM on June 8, 2017


I drink a lot of cold brew coffee, and usually drink it hot: fill the cup to about the 1/4-full level with cold brew concentrate, fill it the rest of the way with filtered water, microwave for ~2.5 minutes, add cream. I'd second msbutah's comment about the almost chocolately flavor, compared to regular brew, and it's much less acidic, hence easier on my gastric system as well as more pleasing to my particular taste. At times when my stomach feels unsettled and grinchy, I'll do 1/4 cold brew and 3/4 milk, and heat that, a process which subtly brings out the milk sugars, so that it's sweet without being sugary sweet, rather like a latte.
posted by Kat Allison at 11:54 AM on June 8, 2017 [1 favorite]


Maybe a little more nutty, a little less bitter?

But -- while I like the taste of coffee -- I'm not primarily a coffee connoisseur, I'm a coffee addict.
posted by grobstein at 11:55 AM on June 8, 2017


I do not have a refined palate, but yes: cold brew is notably different from brewed-hot-then-cooled.
posted by sandettie light vessel automatic at 12:03 PM on June 8, 2017 [3 favorites]


I'm confused about how cold brew is attracting snake people to coffee, when we've already been pissing away our financial security through our $5-a-day latte habit.

I thought you all were squandering your cold brew money on avocado toast
posted by thelonius at 12:20 PM on June 8, 2017 [8 favorites]


A friend suggested that I use sweetened condensed milk in cold brew. Just a touch. He was right. Now I pass it on.
posted by Splunge at 12:22 PM on June 8, 2017 [6 favorites]


Back in the 60's, when I was a teenager, Grandpa would come over, and when offered a cup from the plastic jug in the refrigerator (we'd finally stopped calling it an icebox, mostly), he'd make a face and say no thanks. I just thought he was a grumpy old man, but no.

It had been sitting there for a couple of days, and had been made in one of those giant percolators they still use in certain institutions (Not software companies. Public schools on Teacher Appreciation Day.). I didn't try coffee until I was 18 and in college. Teens were not into coffee culture back then. There was no phrase "coffee culture!"

Grandpa? He was a coffee salesman. Sure, it wasn't the fancy fair-trade stuff, but he knew shit from Shinola, as they used to say back then.
posted by kozad at 12:26 PM on June 8, 2017


A friend suggested that I use sweetened condensed milk in cold brew. Just a touch. He was right. Now I pass it on.

Peet's has a drink like this on the menu. The Black Tie. So wonderful.
posted by hwyengr at 12:27 PM on June 8, 2017 [2 favorites]


I love cold brew from Starbucks, with a couple of pumps of toffeenut syrup. I also love the nitro cold brew straight up.

I'm a milleniold, and I've been drinking the stuff for years now, from whenever Starbucks first had it.

* patiently awaits pitchforks and torches *
posted by numaner at 12:29 PM on June 8, 2017 [3 favorites]


Only bad thing is that it's hard to make a fresh batch right away.

I just made some, and it's sitting on the counter. It'll be ready in 24 hours. Meantime, I'll get today's cold brew from Starbucks.
posted by spinifex23 at 12:31 PM on June 8, 2017


Oh, incidentally, since the topic of coffee has come up, I remember a Metafilter post from a few years back where the "myth" of coffee and dehydration was discussed, ah, this post I think.

Let me set the record straight on that. Coffee most definitely can lead to dehydration as I can personally verify. It, evidently, isn't something common or easy to accomplish given any relatively normal amount of consumption of other beverages, but as I once ended up in the ER so dehydrated that the nurses required eight tries to find a vein that could take an IV. I'm hear to say drinking nothing but coffee is not really a good idea.

In my defense, I was young and figured, hey, coffee's made from water, so how could it be bad for you? Well, it can be if you don't drink anything else it seems.

Happily though coffee's only sent me to the hospital once more in all the years since, and not for dehydration, so we've remained on intimate terms.
posted by gusottertrout at 12:39 PM on June 8, 2017 [4 favorites]


I used to think I hated coffee and then I discovered I just hate hot beverages.

I used to like iced coffee, but most of the time it tasted terrible and I'm not a cream and sugar guy.

Then I discovered cold brew. I became turbo powered.

I also make one giant toddy per week with a pound of coffee and then have a pint or two in the morning. It's made my mornings more bearable.
posted by drewbage1847 at 12:44 PM on June 8, 2017 [3 favorites]


Happily though coffee's only sent me to the hospital once more in all the years since, and not for dehydration, so we've remained on intimate terms.

DTMFA
posted by Splunge at 12:47 PM on June 8, 2017 [4 favorites]


I have a cold brew related question.

I love coffee, including cold brew. I also have weak kidneys. I am prone to kidney stones and have to be careful of what I drink. I've given up sodas entirely and have had to moderate my coffee intake, be sure I'm properly hydrated, take a cranberry supplement, etc. Generally, I manage pretty well, but last year when I was in Los Angeles, I got a medium cold brew from a Starbucks. It tasted pretty good, and got my energy up. But about a half hour after I finished it, it tore my kidneys to pieces. Horrible, shooting pains in both kidneys, and I had to pee so bad and in such volume that I ended up having to do an emergency pit stop in a parking garage. (In related news, L.A. is a terrible place to have a bathroom emergency.) I've been wary of cold brew ever since, but I have never again had such a strong reaction. Has this ever happened to anyone else? What gives?
posted by vibrotronica at 1:04 PM on June 8, 2017 [1 favorite]


Starbucks coffee is notoriously high in caffeine
posted by bq at 1:25 PM on June 8, 2017 [2 favorites]


So I'm a person who has repeatedly tried coffee and can't seem to like it, no matter how much sugar or milk I add to it. But I like coffee ice cream and chocolate covered espresso beans and espresso-flavored vodka. So is it worth my giving cold brewed coffee a try? Or is it still like drinking coffee, just mellower?
posted by Mchelly at 1:40 PM on June 8, 2017 [2 favorites]


If you like coffee ice cream, I'd try it (with sugar and milk, maybe). It depends what about coffee you don't like, though - if it's that sharp/bitter flavor, cold brew may be just the ticket.
posted by R a c h e l at 1:44 PM on June 8, 2017 [2 favorites]


A friend suggested that I use sweetened condensed milk in cold brew.

FYI, that's what Vietnamese/Thai iced coffee uses.
posted by Candleman at 1:45 PM on June 8, 2017 [4 favorites]


I have been making cold brew at home and I really like it, but there are coffee grounds everywhere. I need a coffee ground solution!

No that was not a sneaky ask mefi on mefi.


OK, it kind of was.
posted by Duffington at 2:10 PM on June 8, 2017 [3 favorites]


I've been hearing about cold brew a lot, and as someone who finds most coffee annoyingly bitter (so: add lots of sugar & cream) and most commercial coffee too weak, I've been wanting to try it.

From what I can tell, it's "throw lots of coarse grounds in cold water for a long time; filter so you're not drinking sludge." And a whole lot of $40 to $300 devices to... make the filter process less messy, I think? Am I missing something, or is that about it?

Is there some reason a french press in the fridge overnight won't work for cold brew?
posted by ErisLordFreedom at 2:11 PM on June 8, 2017


Starbucks coffee is notoriously high in caffeine

Buzzfeed tested this recently, and actually went to 6 different locations of each chain (SB, DD, McD, & 711) in SF & NYC. Verdict is that SB is consistently higher, BUT 711 in NYC has the most of any of them apparently.
posted by FJT at 2:16 PM on June 8, 2017 [1 favorite]


I need a coffee ground solution!

If you're a gardener, I've heard that spent coffee grounds make good fertilizer.
posted by Greg_Ace at 2:17 PM on June 8, 2017 [3 favorites]


French press in the fridge totally works for cold brew. I do coffee+water in 1 pitcher, leave it on counter overnight. Then, put a strainer w a coffee filter on top of a second pitcher, pour it through (this is sorta slow, and I normally have to use more than 1 filter), and now I have a pitcher of cold brew coffee that goes into my fridge and will last my huz and I about a week. I make it super strong, so I water it down when I drink it.
posted by Fig at 2:23 PM on June 8, 2017 [5 favorites]


Oh, and cold brew coffee is great. I still take mine hot on weekday mornings, but on a weekend morning it's convenient not to have to do any brewing and just open the fridge to pour a cold brew or open a bottle of nitro cold brew.

Now, if there could only be a cold noodles craze I would be set for the whole summer.
posted by FJT at 2:25 PM on June 8, 2017 [3 favorites]


Starbucks coffee is notoriously high in caffeine

I think it's telling that they won't sell Nitro Cold Brew above 16 oz. because of the high caffeine content.
posted by spinifex23 at 2:52 PM on June 8, 2017 [1 favorite]


I love cold brew. I had my wisdom teeth extracted at 9:40 am today. (Stay with me) I was anxious that I wasn't going to see Comey's testimony live. I watched a bit at home around 9, followed the thread a bit in the waiting room...but what really put me on edge was I had to come in on a 6 hour fast. No food or drink. No cold press.

We make it in a Toddy system and all I do all day is evangelize about it. I drink it year round, 1 pt concentrate to 3 parts water (near boiling, or cool tap plus ice depending on weather). I, too, take drip coffee with cream, if forced to by unforeseeable circumstances, but my cold brew is black everytime. My concentrate gets packed on camping trips and overnights at hotels or a friend's house. It's stability and predictability and the richness and lack of acidity that does it for me. I drink it hot or cold every day (except today).

As I drifted away under an anesthetic haze I wondered if I would wake up in a whole new world, politically. But I was comforted by the thought that tomorrow, tomorrow there will be cold brew.
posted by deadcrow at 3:21 PM on June 8, 2017 [5 favorites]


I'm confused about how cold brew is attracting snake people to coffee

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(hissssssss)
posted by Kutsuwamushi at 3:27 PM on June 8, 2017 [6 favorites]


Then, put a strainer w a coffee filter on top of a second pitcher, pour it through (this is sorta slow, and I normally have to use more than 1 filter)

I used to use this method, but I'm a bit clumsy, and after spilling lukewarm coffee all over my kitchen a couple times I changed to my current system. Now I load the coffee into a little cloth sack that floats in the jar. The brew diffuses out of the bag but the grounds stay in, so no need to filter after brewing. Cleaning the bag is the one annoying task in the whole process, but only takes a minute.
posted by grobstein at 3:29 PM on June 8, 2017 [4 favorites]


If you're a gardener, I've heard that spent coffee grounds make good fertilizer.

Indeed. my tomatoes love coffee grounds and egg shells.
posted by Splunge at 3:46 PM on June 8, 2017 [1 favorite]


In addition, cold brew often has a higher caffeine content than drip coffee.

(also, Thai/Vietnamese with condensed milk is one of my favorite things. Both in flavor and presentation.)
posted by tychotesla at 4:06 PM on June 8, 2017 [2 favorites]


I never drank coffee at all until I started drinking hot coffee with condensed milk from Toscanini's in Cambridge. Although now I drink it mostly black, cold, and in vast quantities.
posted by uncleozzy at 4:19 PM on June 8, 2017


A 64-ounce/2qt mason jar and this infuser (which says 32oz now but the one I received is too tall for a 1qt jar so...hopefully check your listings, there are many other similar products) has simplified life a lot. I drink very little coffee (but this is my favorite when I do want some), but my husband has this daily and this is overall cheaper and tastier than buying store-bought concentrate or ready-to-drink.
posted by Lyn Never at 5:42 PM on June 8, 2017


P.S. Starbucks vanilla sweet cream cold brew tries to be Vietnamese iced coffee but is a pale imitation which does not stack up.
posted by Night_owl at 5:47 PM on June 8, 2017


What's wrong putting regular drip-brew coffee onto ice? That's how they made iced coffee back in the old days of three years ago, and it worked perfectly well.

Let's never try anything different ever again! Because when you try new things, cranky old people assume you're attacking old things and that they're not good enough!
posted by obiwanwasabi at 6:00 PM on June 8, 2017 [2 favorites]


"i used to be with 'drip,' but then they changed what 'drip' was. now what i'm with isn't 'drip,' and what's drip seems weird and scary to me. it'll happen to you!"
posted by entropicamericana at 6:30 PM on June 8, 2017 [6 favorites]


I love cold coffee. I make extra drip and drink it cold the next day. I've made official "recipe" cold brew and I like it, but it's a mess. Don't ever buy the Starbucks bottled cold brew, it's complete shit.

That said, I miss some of the bitterness that true "recipe" cold brew eliminates. I like my coffee American style and bitter.

Also: everyone here is doing it wrong and your coffee sucks.
posted by jeff-o-matic at 6:34 PM on June 8, 2017


you must be from boston

Coincidentally, I am and I agree with them. Fresh brewed very strong hot coffee put right into the fridge in an airtight container, served over ice with light cream. I like my cold and hot coffee equally acidic, drink 6-10 cups a day in either form, and I find cold brew tastes like cocoa. Which is fine if that's what you're into.
posted by spitbull at 6:45 PM on June 8, 2017


That said, I miss some of the bitterness that true "recipe" cold brew eliminates. I like my coffee American style and bitter.

Also: everyone here is doing it wrong and your coffee sucks.


So, what you are saying is that you are more bitter than your coffee?

I keed! I keed!
posted by Samizdata at 6:59 PM on June 8, 2017 [1 favorite]


(BEAR WITH ME)

In the running for my favorite metafilter comment of all time.


And yea, cold brew is my favorite brew, but its not drinkable when the outside temperature is below 66°
posted by So You're Saying These Are Pants? at 7:59 PM on June 8, 2017 [1 favorite]


Everything old is new again. I remember this Filtron chemistry set at my grandmother's house when I was a wee lad. All the olds used to rave about how the concentrate from this machine made the best ice coffee in the world. I, myself, couldn't see coffee as anything other than the devil's urine. I have always been and remain as such, a devoted tea drinker, The truly civilized drink. HA!
posted by Purposeful Grimace at 9:01 PM on June 8, 2017


Hey Fizz, you know what goes great with hot cold brew? Ketchup-flavored chips.
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 9:16 PM on June 8, 2017


Also, Mrs. Wallflower's favorite joke* that I tell is: "I like my coffee like I like my women—cold and bitter."

*not her favorite joke
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 9:22 PM on June 8, 2017 [2 favorites]


So 20 something years ago I was in a little lesbian owned coffee shop on Ventura in Tarzana (if that rings any bells) that I can't remember the name of, and the woman says "you want to try cold brew?" Of course I did. What the hell was this magic elixir? It's like a totally different thing. It's everything that's great about coffee, concentrated!

For years I keep asking places if they had it, but they didn't. They all said the same thing, it was hard to keep the right amount on hand, and they end up throwing too much out because not enough people want it. Starbucks started with their ice coffee, but that was double strength brew put in the fridge. Which is all good, but not the same, but still my drink of choice.

Then a few years ago more places start saying yes. Happy days. I'm in Seattle and I go to Stumptown and think this is going to be great and order a cold brew. They hand me a bottle. WTF? It sinks in that maybe that's just fine, but I still felt a bit ripped off. Then Starbucks gets on board and I was thrilled. People called to tell me.

I still find that the supposedly "good" shops can have what I think of as shitty coffee. It's interesting that the trends have been toward strong dark cold brew, and light acidy weak hot coffee, which I sometimes can't finish. I've paid 6 bucks for a cup of coffee that tastes like 7-11 (D.C.). And there was a place in Amarillo that I'm still mad at for giving me a cold brew that looked like iced tea. I hold a grudge about coffee, especially if it was expensive.

I'm no snob, I'll drink shitty coffee, but the difference is big to me. I'm entirely too lazy to make cold brew at home though.

For a few years I asked everywhere about Cardamon coffee like they serve at Satellite in Albuquerque, but I guess that is not catching on. And the funny looks were not appreciated.
posted by bongo_x at 9:42 PM on June 8, 2017 [1 favorite]


Hrm - I need a pinch of coffee to finish off this homework.

*stares wistfully at counter. 12 hours to go.*

Dammit.

#coldbrewlife
posted by spinifex23 at 10:05 PM on June 8, 2017 [3 favorites]


Huh, turns out the Serious Eats team prefers Japanese-style, too.
posted by uncleozzy at 5:00 AM on June 9, 2017 [3 favorites]


Every few years I get sucked in by the cold brew hipster marketing*, try some, and HATE IT. But I looooooooove iced coffee made with regular coffee. So I definitely don't think they taste the same, at all, but I am one of the few people who finds cold brew utterly disgusting.


*I don't mean by corporations, but by all the bloggers/foodies/etc. who say cold brew will change your life! So easy! So smooth! But every time I drink it makes me feel sick.
posted by a fiendish thingy at 5:53 AM on June 9, 2017 [1 favorite]


From that Serious Eats link: None of us loved the cold brew, finding it weirdly sour and somewhat viscous (people often say that cold brew's advantage is that it's less acidic, but according to McCarthy, sourness is a common problem with cold-brewed coffee, possibly because the cold water tends to under-extract the beans).

This is my feeling about standard cold brew as well, it misses many of the flavours I really like in coffee and over-emphasizes, over-extracts, those I don't care for. I've tried to do a better job with what they call "diner coffee", mostly by minimizing air exposure as it cools. This works ok, but it's slow and a bit fiddly.

The direct over ice method looks really straight-forward, and the equipment is easy to assemble. I'll have to try that.

Thanks for posting this! I hadn't considered doing this this way before, but, like many good ideas, it's pretty obvious when you see it.
posted by bonehead at 6:59 AM on June 9, 2017 [2 favorites]


Almost as tempting as a piping hot beer

Be sure to heat that over 143 deg F but keep it under 174 deg F. And DO NOT huff the fumes because the spike of alcohol in your bloodstream from the lungs-to-blood transfer could really mess you up.

(you could also have a hot malt beverage made from malt powder and pretend it is a hot beer.)
posted by rough ashlar at 7:32 AM on June 9, 2017


I'm generally not a coffee drinker (some experiences in the Navy with Stoker Coffee damaged me) posted by cirhosis

I hope your liver gets better. (coffee is supposed to help in liver repair BTW)
posted by rough ashlar at 7:38 AM on June 9, 2017 [2 favorites]


And yea, cold brew is my favorite brew, but its not drinkable when the outside temperature is below 66°

Not with that attitude.
posted by Splunge at 8:42 AM on June 9, 2017 [12 favorites]


In addition, cold brew often has a higher caffeine content than drip coffee.

Psh, weak-sauce. Full-strength nitro draft lattes or GTFO

just kidding but also I do think we should consider using them to power manned spacecraft
posted by We put our faith in Blast Hardcheese at 9:38 AM on June 9, 2017 [2 favorites]


Almost as tempting as a piping hot beer

Hot ale was totally a thing in the olden days, and a few years ago a local bar acquired some loggerheads and made porter-based hot drinks with them. They were delicious. (Also a thing, once upon a time, and not actually terrifying in real life: hot Dr. Pepper. It tastes sweeter and heat brings out the caramel notes).
posted by fedward at 10:13 AM on June 9, 2017 [2 favorites]


My wife is a huge fan of cold coffee. I mostly like hot coffee from a French press but I've been willing to test various recipes. When we tested methods for iced coffee we tried: regular strength, poured over ice; double strength, poured over ice; and regular strength, sealed in a jar and refrigerated. And that's how they finished, in ascending order of preference. Regular hot coffee poured over ice was terrible in comparison (watery, weak, and insipid, at least to our taste). Double strength came out OK when she needed an emergency iced coffee, but it didn't quite extract enough at double strength so the iced coffee still tasted a little dull and flat. The overnight chill was the clear winner, to the point that if I'm making a pot for myself in the warm months, I'll still make a full size pot instead of half and chill the rest straight away. I've considered coming up with a blast chill method, but it's never been that urgent. I preheat the jar with extra boiling water, and I pour and seal the coffee immediately, which makes a huge difference in the amount of oxidation that can take place. It's best on the first day, decent up to about the third day, and starts to taste pretty acrid after that.

Now that cold brew is a thing, and there's a place by her office that does nitro cold brew, she's developed a $4.50/day habit that has me back in the Fedward Test Kitchen. Since we have both a whipped cream siphon and a soda siphon I've even been playing around with nitro cold brew at home, but it has been super difficult to tune the recipe to match what she's been buying. In addition to trying to get the ratio right, we're also having to get the beans right. For reasons both of cost ($14 for 12 oz) and flavor profile (too acidic), the beans we buy for hot brew just won't work for cold brew.

After a bunch of bean hunting at Costco and Safeway, it seems the best bean for the job might just be Starbucks Breakfast Blend (it goes on sale for $6.99 for 12 ounces). Veranda's pretty good in whole bean form, but our Safeway doesn't have it on the grocery aisle, the regular price isn't as good, and it doesn't go on sale like the grocery aisle stuff does. I started with a recipe pretty close to what the NYT published, but it was rejected as too strong undiluted, and the wrong flavor profile once diluted. The most recent attempt was ruled the best yet.

In a one quart Mason jar, combine 73g coffee (ground for press) and 627g filtered water at room temperature. Stir down with a wooden spoon to make sure all grounds are wet. Close jar with plastic lid. Wait about half an hour and agitate jar to break up the crust on top and re-wet all grounds. Wait an additional 11.5 hours. After 12 hours total steeping, place a paper filter in a mesh strainer, moisten it, and place that combination over a two quart measuring glass. Carefully pour off the jar into a French press (most of the grounds should stay in the jar), then press and pour through the paper filter to remove as much sediment as possible. The yield is about 500ml of sort-of-concentrate (I usually do two jars at once, yielding about a liter). We found that it works well if diluted 3 parts concentrate to 1 part water for nitro, and 4:1 for drinking as-is.

I've learned a few useful things so far in the Test Kitchen:
  • Coffee grounds retain about 1.7 times their weight in water, so I do a bunch of math to calculate yield and brewing volume (e.g. 73 grams coffee retains 120-130 ml water after filtering; 73 grams coffee + 627 grams water puffs up to about 750 or 800ml in fluid measure while steeping, depending on the roast).
  • Brewing weaker and diluting less tastes better (to us) than brewing stronger and diluting more (NYT ratio for concentrate: 4 parts water, one part coffee. Ours: 8.5:1. They dilute their concentrate 3 parts concentrate to 2 parts water, we do 3:1 or 4:1). I don't have a way to measure TDS, and I'm curious how the end result would measure, but not curious enough to pay for a refractometer in order to test it.
  • The paper filter improves our cold brew a lot. As a French press person I was surprised by how much better I liked the extra-filtered cold brew. Plus it makes less of a mess of the siphon and the glass you serve it in.
  • The nitro tastes much sweeter. It's crazy. We tasted it side by side with non-nitro from the same concentrate at various dilutions, and for this purpose I'm totally sold on nitro.
  • That said, there are recipes for using a whipped cream siphon to do a rapid infusion, and they use two nitro cartridges. Don't try this in a soda siphon, which vents overpressure through the nozzle and makes a mess of your kitchen. Also the overpressure nitro cold brew was, in fact, too foamy. Slow-infused cold brew, filtered into the soda siphon, with one nitro cartridge, works well.
  • Nitro affects the preferred dilution. We like it a little stronger if we're making nitro; for non-nitro, the same dilution has a slightly unpleasant finish (the difference was slight but noticeable). So, 3:1 for nitro, 4:1 for non-nitro.
My wife was ready to give up on the experiment until the most recent batch, but she's happy enough with the recipe above that I may go ahead and buy a cold brew gadget just to make filtration easier. At a net cost of under $2.25 per liter for nitro, that's much better than her $4.50/day habit.
posted by fedward at 12:37 PM on June 9, 2017 [12 favorites]


The nitro tastes much sweeter. It's crazy. We tasted it side by side with non-nitro from the same concentrate at various dilutions, and for this purpose I'm totally sold on nitro.

Yes! This is actually the reason that I don't particularly care for nitro cold brew. Too sweet, too creamy, but with the "wrong" mouthfeel compared to dairy (which I don't normally take in my coffee, in any case).

Kudos for the extensive experimentation, though. Holy cow. (Also: we own and have used a Toddy many times, but the cotton filter clogs really easily even with standard pre-ground coffee. I don't know about other types of cold brew gadgets.)
posted by uncleozzy at 12:52 PM on June 9, 2017 [1 favorite]


As I always say, anything worth doing is worth overdoing.
posted by fedward at 12:57 PM on June 9, 2017


Overthinking a carafe of beans...
posted by Greg_Ace at 1:33 PM on June 9, 2017 [2 favorites]


there are some incredibly cute guys in my town who bike their cold-brew-on-nitro around to events and I always buy some even though it's always after 3 which is WAY too late for me to be drinking coffee....
posted by rebent at 6:39 PM on June 9, 2017 [5 favorites]


The only problem I have with my Cold Brew is that I can't seem to get a nice, strong flavor out of it - which leads to me drinking it at too high of a concentration, and then the caffeine REALLY hits.

I'd almost risk destroying a batch by starting the brewing process out of warm/kind of hot water, so I can get a little more 'bite' out of the bean, and then letting that sit for 24 hours or so.
posted by spinifex23 at 11:24 PM on June 9, 2017


... or just dump a couple shots of espresso in if you want the oils.
posted by BrotherCaine at 5:54 PM on June 11, 2017


you must be from boston

When I worked at The Coolidge (in Brookline, not Boston, but close enough) we made our ice coffee by putting whatever coffee didn't get sold the night before into a thermos and serving it with ice. Sorry, good people of Boston. This was a long time ago and I'm sure things have changed. Or not -- it was good enough then, it's good enough now.
posted by The corpse in the library at 2:34 PM on June 15, 2017 [2 favorites]


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