Do you want a better iced coffee?

It has happened to every coffee lover – you walk into a typical coffee shop on a hot summer afternoon looking for a refreshing iced coffee to cool you down and give you an extra boost of energy.  Instead, upon taking that first sip your lips pucker as the bitter burnt taste overtakes your mouth.  The next thing you know you are adding calorie laden cream, sugar, or whatever sweetener you can get your hands on just to make the iced coffee bearable to drink.  What went wrong?!?

The Truth About Your Typical Iced Coffee

Most coffee shops still produce their iced coffee using double-strength hot brewed drip coffee poured over ice.  In essence, their brewing methods for hot and iced coffee drinks are the same. However, not all brewing methods are created equally!  Different coffee drinks require different brewing methods in order to bring out the best flavor profile for each unique coffee drink.  Kurt Soller from Grub Street says of simply adding ice to hot coffee:

“Grub Street doesn’t endorse this method, since hot-brewed coffee is a very different thing than cold-brewed coffee. Even still, some poor misguided souls think this is a good way to get iced coffee.”

To exacerbate the problem, many large coffee shop chains use pre-packaged and pre-ground coffee beans for their iced coffee producing an iced coffee that is anything but fresh.  Lorenzo Emden gives four great reasons why pre-ground coffee should not even be purchased for home use – let alone for use in a coffee shop!

In many coffee shops, a poorly chosen brewing method and stale pre-ground coffee combine with low quality and burnt coffee beans to produce an iced coffee that is less than desirable.  Thankfully, all hope is NOT lost!

A Better Iced Coffee

A fresh, smooth, sweet, and refreshing iced coffee is possible even without the extra cream and sugar.  A smoother iced coffee is achieved by using the cold brew method of brewing.  Of course, freshly ground high quality coffee beans are a must for any quality cup of joe, but the brewing method has a huge influence on the final flavor profile of the coffee that is served to the consumer.  Mission Brew Coffee, Caffe Calabria, and Cafe Virtuoso are among the growing number of coffee shops in San Diego that are utilizing the cold brew method for brewing their iced coffee.

Cold Brew Coffee

Cold brew coffee takes the “sweat” out of the brewing process and replaces it with “sweet”- literally!  No heat is used during the brewing process for cold brew coffee.  Time replaces heat and the result is a sweeter cup of iced coffee.

In its most basic form, brewing coffee is simply bringing water into contact with ground coffee beans in order to infuse the water with flavor, color, aroma, and other active substances like caffeine.  Heat is often a very useful tool in most brewing processes as it extracts more rapidly and creates a unique coffee profile that is perfect for a hot cup of coffee.  However, because hot water also cooks while it extracts, forcing chemical reactions, it will create a very different flavor than a brewing method that does not use heat.

Cold brew coffee uses cold water to extract the flavors from the coffee grounds.  Cold water extracts much more slowly but also maintains more of the original flavor substances of the beans.  As a result, cold brew coffee actually produces a chemically different cup of coffee than its hot brewed counterpart.  Most importantly, cold brew coffee has lower acidity and leaves behind many bitter oils creating a naturally sweeter and smoother cup of iced coffee – even without the extra cream and sugar!  In a sense, hot and cold brew coffee are as different as drinking a red and white wine.  While both can be enjoyed, they are produced differently and best served at different temperatures.

Cold brew is the best brewing method for an iced coffee.

Mission Brew Cold Brew Coffee

There are many different methods for cold brewing coffee.  Mission Brew Coffee uses the commercial Toddy system to brew its cold brew coffee, which they then use for all of their iced coffee drinks including blended coffee beverages.  Toddy is perhaps the most popular system for larger scale cold brew coffee production necessary for most coffee shops.  However, Toddy also manufactures a cold brew system for smaller scale home use.  Cold brew coffee can also be brewed at home with a French Press or with various other brewing devices.  The constant with all systems, recipes, and methods of brewing cold brew coffee is time and cold water.  The time required for brewing cold brew coffee is generally 12-24 hours depending on the recipe and system used.  As a result, it requires planning ahead, but the outcome will be well worth it for any coffee lover.  You will find that even if you still crave that extra cream and/or your favorite sweetener you won’t need near as much since cold brew coffee is naturally smoother and sweeter.  Mission Brew Coffee is willing to put the extra time and TLC into making you a higher quality cup of iced coffee.  As the Toddy website reminds us:

“The cold brew process creates a perfectly balanced and distinctively smooth cup of coffee.”

Why settle for anything less than the best?  So, the next time you visit a coffee shop and want a smooth refreshing iced coffee, first ask if they cold brew their iced coffee!

Cold Brew Coffee is a Better Iced Coffee!