RE : Cold Brewing 101 ☀️

Happy Summer Solstice! We’re celebrating with the launch of our 2021 Ethereal Summer Blend (featuring our limited-release Colombian Natural “La Estrella” this year), and wanted to devote this first “Summer Series” edition to re-visiting the coffee drink that is almost synonymous with summer: Cold Brew!

Want to know our secret for great Cold Brew every time? Get these basics right:

(1) Coffee - we’ve found that the best Cold Brew is actually made from beans that have been allowed to rest a few days before Cold Brewing (as the fast de-gassing of freshly roasted beans seems interfere with the extraction). In fact, Cold Brew is a great method to use some of your “older” Ethos beans!

(2) Water - its impact on flavor simply can’t be emphasized enough! Bad quality water (i.e. tap water that tastes like chlorine or is too hard/soft) can ruin the taste of even the best beans… remember the final brew is over 90% water!

(3) Filter - using a good cold brew paper filter has a big impact on the clarity and quality of flavors. We’ve also found re-usable cloth filters perform well when you use a set of two and clean them throughly after each batch. And while you can make Cold Brew without a paper or cloth filter, the flavor difference is so pronounced, that we must recommend you use one! (it filters out the oils, diterpenes, and some of the fines from your brew, for a much cleaner taste).

(4) Grind - coarsely ground coffee will always work best for the prolonged cold brew extraction times. While you may be tempted to use a finer grind to “accelerate” the process, it may only result in a more acidic, unbalanced brew. When cold brewing, good things do take time! (about 20-22 hours to be precise)

(5) Ratio - this one is listed last because there may not be a single “ideal ratio” - it all depends on how strong you’d like your brew, or if you’ll be adding more/less ice, milks, etc. We would recommend you start with a 1:8 (i.e. one ounce of coffee for every 8 ounces of water… which happens to be the ratio we use for our Cold Brew for Saturday markets!), and adjust if needed. This concentrate will hold well to dilution with ice, milks, and sweeteners.

Happy Cold Brewing, and happy adventures this Summer!

Jolian & Lisbeth

P.S. We just got more bracelets from Guatemala (some beautiful new designs for your collections!)… and a couple more surprises we’ll be sending with your large orders (i.e. over 3 lbs) all this Summer! We’ll post details on our IG stories this week 😉

RE: Cold Brew vs. Iced | The Experiment

Cold or Iced? Whether you’re a Cold Brew lover, or an Iced coffee fan… Summer is always a great time to try a new cool method!

Let’s first address some basic questions:

What’s the difference? Two key brewing parameters: time and temperature. Cold brew is all about long brewing times (18-20 hrs) at low water temperatures (~40℉) while Iced coffee is the opposite - short brewing times (3-5 min) at high water temperatures (~200℉).

What’s the same? Both are typically brewed at higher strengths than hot brewed coffee - i.e. using ~50% more coffee per brewed cup - so they can be served over ice or be paired with milk without tasting too weak or watered down.

Now, our recipes using the exact same ratios, and the exact same method, so you can brew them and compare them! If you’d like to keep things scientific, you’d also need to brew the exact same bean under both methods… and try a few different beans! (Spoiler alert: you may prefer some beans iced, and some cold brewed! Some we think do particularly well on both: Poaquil, Rio Coco, Andes, and Ethereal!)

ICED COFFEE

1. Grind 2 oz coffee to a coarse (sea salt) level.

2. Place grinds into the bottom of your French Press.

3. Pour 16 fl oz of hot (200-205℉) spring or filtered water and mix well.

4. Steep for 5 min.

5. Plunge your Press and transfer to a new container (to stop the extraction!). Voilà! Your Iced Coffee concentrate is ready!

COLD BREW

1. Grind 2 oz coffee to a coarse (sea salt) level.

2. Place grinds at the bottom of your French Press.

3. Pour 16 oz of spring or filtered water and mix gently, ensuring all grounds are wet.

4. Cover, place in the fridge and let it steep for 18-22 h.

5. Plunge your Press and transfer to a new container (yes, also to stop the extraction). Voilà! Your Cold Brew concentrate is ready!

Place 8 fl oz of each concentrate in a cup, and add 4-8 oz of ice or milk to taste (again, add the exact same amount to each if you’d like to keep it scientific!). Now they’re ready to be tasted side-by-side!

If you don’t have a French Press (or just prefer filtered coffee), an alternative would be to make Iced Coffee as a Pour-Over and make Cold Brew using a disposable paper filter - keeping all ratios the same. The use of a paper filter (on both instances) will reduce the amount of oils and yield a much cleaner drink (i.e. no small ground particles in suspension).

Happy Cold/Iced brewing… and most importantly, thank you for choosing to Brew Greatness in the world with us every single day! It’s my absolute joy and honor to be your roaster,

Lisbeth

PS. We just sourced two new, very special coffees… a new high-impact single-origin from Congo launching in September… and a special Honey processed coffee from Honduras, which will be the star of this year’s Red Swan Holiday Blend! Truly can’t wait to share them with you (clearly… as I wasn’t supposed to tell you anything until next month! Ooops!)

RE: COLD BREWING! | It's COOL chemistry + our recipe!

Summer is definitely here! And, while we still think the aroma of a freshly brewed cup of coffee is the best smell in the world to wake up to... we must admit a cup of Cold Brew on the rocks is our favorite way to cool off! So, we wanted to share with you some of our 'secret' knowledge acquired through lots of research & experimentation (a.k.a. "plant watering batches")... and hopefully give you all the tips & insights you need to make the absolute best Cold Brew at home!

First things first... what exactly is Cold Brew? The name (kind of) gives it away... it's coffee brewed with cold water, over extended periods of time. Please note, this is very different from hot-brewed coffee served over ice (that's Iced Coffee!). What makes Cold Brew so different is that cold brewing over (relatively) long periods of time favors the extraction of specific components, while hot brewing methods tend to extract all soluble components. Why? Because the solubility of different components is largely determined by temperature. Caffeine, for example, is only slightly soluble (~1-2 g/100 mL) in cold water, yet fairly soluble in hot water (~65 g/100 mL). Naturally occurring phenolic acids are also significantly more soluble in hot water (which means very little acidity on cold brews!)... yet sugars and larger components (responsible for sweetness & body) are still soluble provided enough time (but be careful... too much time and you'll begin extracting bitter components)!

Now that you understand the chemistry... it's time to have some fun making it! (we promise is a lot easier than understanding all that chemistry!). Here's our step-by-step Cold Brew recipe:

1. Mix 40 oz spring water (~5 cups) for every 8 oz of coarsely ground coffee

2. Steep for 14-18 hours under refrigeration (we commonly do 16 hours, but you can do up to 20 hours if you like a stronger brew)

3. Dilute up to 1:1 with ice/milk/water & enjoy (you'll have enough for 12 large cups) 

4. Keep refrigerated and consume within a week (8-oz batch is perfect for 1-2 people drinking 1-2 cups a day!)

Some of our favorite origins to Cold Brew are Central and South Americans... our Florida Cold Brew Blend is actually a mix of two Guatemalan beans at a medium-dark roast level, and was the 'winning' combination in our taste tests (and our best-selling Cold Brew at the farmer's market!).

Happy Cold Brewing!

Jolian & Lisbeth

PS. The new R15 roaster is finally up and running... and we couldn't be happier, or more eager to share it with all of you... watch out for pics/videos in our Instagram and Facebook over the next few weeks... and monthly tours/tastings starting in Sept! (sign-ups available online Sept 1st!). We're also working on some AMAZING new additions (including our first-ever Holiday blend!)