You're As Cold as Ice

Cold brew vs iced filter coffee

As we begin to see the potential of a small gap in the clouds (I think it’s scheduled for a Tuesday this year) and gear up for the Summer, it’s becoming ever more tempting to crack out the ice cubes and enjoy a cold coffee.

But how, I hear you cry?

Getting great results from your coffee and staying cool at the same time can be super simple. Here’s some of the easiest ways to prepare it.

Cold Brew

The cold brew method is a really simple way to get great results from your coffee; by brewing it using cold or room temperature water over a long extraction time (anything over 12 hours), you’re left with a resulting drink that is smooth and well-rounded in flavour. The long exposure allows for the caffeine to thoroughly infuse the drink, but because it doesn’t extract the good stuff quite as quickly as the traditional hot brewing methods, it means the ratio of coffee to water that you use is typically higher. This process ensures that you get all of the uniqueness out of your coffee beans too.

Our Ethiopian coffee is our favourite bean for creating a unique, floral, almost boozy-like flavour to your cold brew. We recommend using a coarse grind - when making 500ml of cold brew, we used 39g of coffee and let it brew for 24 hours for our best results.

Iced Filter

A really quick and easy way to get tasty results is by brewing a batch of hot coffee as you usually would, letting it cool over a few hours followed by a stint of cooling in the fridge. Serve it over ice and you’ll have a drink that’s delicate and oh-so refreshing on a toasty day. Whilst drawing more flavour from the bean in a shorter space of time than the cold brew method, it’s often a good idea to use a slightly higher ratio of coffee to water than you usually would for your hot coffee in order to account for melting ice.

Nothing But Flowers is our favourite coffee for this method at the moment! Brew it using whatever home brew method you enjoy most - we follow our usual V60 method.
The resulting coffee is light and well balanced.

The Verdict

There’s no wrong way to enjoy coffee - thank goodness!

Whilst I’d argue that you get a bolder & richer flavour from cold brew, I enjoy how delicate and refreshing iced filter is in warm weather. Here at HQ, we love brewing an iced filter for the daytime, but adding tonic to a cold brew in the evenings for a booze-free, refreshing twist.

What’s key to either method is starting with coffee beans that complement your tastebuds and experimenting with what you enjoy - if you like something that’s robust, Vietnam on cold brew might be right up your street. If you like something fruity, Peru makes a great iced filter!

See what works, stick some ice cubes in it, and sit back and relax…