3 Options for Cold Brew Coffee

Cold coffee is all the rage. Your customers clearly want it, but how should you brew it? Today we will compare 3 styles of cold filter coffee: Toddy-style cold brew, Kyoto cold brew, and Flash Brewed iced coffee. 

Toddy style cold brew has been a staple of modern coffee shops for many years. It is extremely simple to prepare, usually requiring an inexpensive immersion brewer (typically a large plastic bucket with a removable filter). To brew with this style brewer requires just ground coffee, water, and time. Our favorite recipe is 5lbs of coarsely ground coffee + 5 gallons of cool water, steeping for 24 hours (at room temperature). This makes a double strength concentrate that can be diluted with equal parts filtered water or to taste. This method produces a lot of coffee in one batch, enough for small to medium volume shops in most cases and it is relatively hands-off. It also produces a brew that leans toward more chocolaty notes and a smooth, mellow taste with a velvety mouthfeel. You can choose to serve this as is or keg it to offer an easier service option. The concentrate also makes a great substitute for espresso in iced lattes and frozen blended drinks and it holds the longest at two weeks in the fridge. 

Kyoto cold brew (named after the city in Japan) is one of the newer methods that has exploded in popularity lately. This is due in part to the unique way the coffee is brewed through a tower of hand blown glass at a rate of one drip for every 1-2 seconds (8-12 hours for the total brew). The coffee can then be refrigerated and should be used within a week to 10 days. The other reason Kyoto is so popular is the taste! Kyoto cold brew is often described as boozy, refreshing, and lively. These brews work especially well with natural process coffees (often from Africa) as they highlight fruity and floral notes especially well. The Kyoto tower also looks extremely attractive on your counter -- customers will ask about it! Be sure to brew ahead or purchase multiple units as the output is much lower on this brew method as compared to Toddy. Many shops that offer Kyoto also offer one of the other options to ensure they never run out of cold coffee.  

Flash Brew is unlike the other two options in that it uses hot water -- so it’s not a “cold brew” at all. This one is iced coffee. Unlike old-school iced coffee that used to be made from yesterday’s stale leftover coffee (yuck!), flash brew coffee is prepared fresh by brewing directly over ice. This locks in the flavor of the coffee at peak freshness and holds it there. We like to brew ours by using a typical full batch of coffee, but brewed on the “half batch” setting as a lot of the water we need will come in the form of ice. You know you have the right ratio if the ice just barely finishes melting (or there are just a few small chips left) by the time the coffee brew cycle is complete. This style of iced coffee is the quickest to make by far since hot water extracts faster than cold water. It should be used within two days of brewing, so brewing fresh daily is best. It also tends to pull more lively acidity and complex flavors out of the coffee. If cold brew is too muted for your taste, flash brew may be the answer. 

Whatever style or styles you choose, all of these brew up delicious coffee. For help dialing in your cold coffee game, reach out to [email protected] to schedule a class today.