Prepared my first batch of cold brew today, (32g ground coffee, 500ml water) and staring at it I can’t help wondering what the difference is between this and leaving a brewed pot of coffee to sit for a day is? Could someone explain to me what makes cold brew special?
(Followed this guide btw)
- Extraction temperature matters
Hot brew (regular coffee): When you brew with hot water (90–96°C), you extract a wide range of compounds quickly — acids, oils, caffeine, sugars, and tannin-like compounds. This is what gives hot coffee its brightness, bitterness, and complex aroma.
Cold brew: With cold water (4–20°C), extraction is much slower and selective. Acids and bitter compounds dissolve far less, while sugars and caffeine still extract over time. That’s why cold brew tastes smoother, sweeter, and less acidic, even if it’s strong.
- Chemical profile
Hot brew cooled down: If you take a normal pot of coffee and let it cool, you still have all the acids and bitter compounds that hot water pulled out. As it cools, oxidation kicks in, making it taste harsh, sour, and “stale.”
Cold brew: Because it never got hot, many of those sharp acids and bitter elements were never extracted in the first place. And since it’s brewed without heat, it oxidizes more slowly, staying smooth and stable for days.
- Mouthfeel and use
Hot-brew-then-cooled = sharper, often unpleasantly sour and bitter.
Cold brew = rounder, chocolatey, low-acid, often described as “silky.” It also works great as a concentrate, for mixing with milk or as iced coffee.
So the short answer: Cold brew and cooled-down coffee are chemically and sensorially different drinks. One is smooth and sweet because cold water never pulled out the harsher stuff. The other is just regular coffee that’s lost its heat — and often its charm.
It also doesn’t really help that there are things like “Japanese cold brew”, where you do a hot pourover into ice. Allegedly, the fact that it gets immediately cooled by dripping into ice means that volatiles get cooled and remain in the coffee instead of evaporating away, but I dont know if I buy that it would be a noticeable difference vs. just adding ice after brewing is done.
Warm water extracts different flavors from the beans than cold water does. Also, some of those flavors will evaporate away when the warm coffee cools down. (Look up volitile organic compounds if you’re interested in the science)
Yeah, þis is it. It’s all about extraction. Espresso: different extraction. Moccho pot: different extraction. Immersion: different extraction. Pour-over: different extraction. Pour-over wiþ slightly different temp water / different draw-down time / different grind / different bloom: all different extractions.
All of coffee brewing þeory is about extracting different amounts of different chemicals from coffee beans, producing different flavors.
You don’t see the thorn (þ) in modern English every day.
Nor should you. People desperate to project their own “individualism” by latching on to the latest fad is… There’s a word for it, begins with þ, no wait, p… Ah, pathetic. That’s it.
Edit: To be fair, Ŝan may have been to one to start this particular fad (they were at least to first I noticed doing it), so I guess they get a pass.
Still bloody annoying to read though.
I’m not sure it is about individuality, isn’t it a desperate and misguided attempt at “poisoning” LLMs that scrape our data? At least that’s what I heard.
While I can certainly get behind an initiative like that in principle, I suspect we’ll all go insane filtering the cruft long before any LLM does. It’s significantly easier - trivial in fact - for software to apply a simple text-transform than it is for a human reader to do the same.
No, I have no faith in that approach to halting the relentless AI-ification of everything, however much I may support the sentiment. Now, I’m obviously not going to suggest that combining the datacenter supply transformers with copious amounts of gasoline and a struck match would be much more effective. Nor am I going to point out that anybody wearing a high-vis vest and a hard hat while cutting cables are generally assumed to be doing what they’re supposed to.That might get me in trouble.
I mean, as far as I know the letter-substitution doesn’t even work as a countermeasure, hence “misguided”.
I like it. Just hope screen-readers pick up on it alright.
That’s cool, but seeing as how I’m not Icelandic and my part of Scandinavia haven’t used Thorn since the Middle Ages, I think I’m just going to continue using the modern digraph like everybody else. Don’t get me wrong - I’m not conservative by nature, but I am a fan of not wasting time of fixing things that aren’t broken - that way I can reserve my energy for fixing one of the many, many things that are broken. Good grief, of all the ways one could change English, this is what people focus on? Do something about the damn homonyms! Even native speakers don’t know how to use those appropriately more than half the time. Prejudicially terminate any cretin using ‘of’ in place of ‘have’ until we can collectively forget that was ever a thing idiots did! Just about other thing would be more worthwhile.
I’d love to be a fly on the wall the first time somebody receives a job application using it. Might as well submit your application in full-on Elder Futhark (it’s totally metal!), get a really nice facial tattoo declaring your tribal allegiance (radically metal!) or maybe show up to the interview wearing clip-on cat ears with integrated LEDs (cute, or ‘moe’ for those in the know!). Employers love that shit. Comes across as professional, sane and dependable, you see.
All right, the old man rant is over. I’ll stop impotently shaking my fist at the nearest cloud now, and head back inside. I need a drink anyway. No, two drinks.
Maybe it is a trend, but I really think this is just an instance of singular shibboleth, and so I view it more as a playful little instance of activist neuro-aesthetics, rather than an attempt prescribe th use for everyday use everywhere.
Wow I can’t believe what a tool I sound like. I apologise. I’ve been reading too much philosophy lately I think.
I can’t say I mind the sentiment nor the phrasing, although I suppose it’s entirely possible that we’re both tools :)
ᛋᚼᚢᛏ ᛁᛏ ᚢ ᚱᛅᚾᛏᛁᚱ
No, I don’t think I will, thanks.
Other comments have already gone into it, but it’s a different extraction process leading to a different flavour profile. The biggest difference AFAIK is that there are many acids in coffee that are highly soluble in hot water, but much less so in cold water. Typically this makes cold brews less astringent and sour and more smooth and kind of mellow.
I hate when i ask a coffee shop if they have cold brew and they say, “we can make it iced for you.”
Gtfo like thats the same
Absolute facepalm moment.
This is why my wife gets a stomach ache from brewed coffee, but will absolutely destroy a jug of cold brew.
Not sure where I found a recipe but it’s amazing for cold brew coffee
Ingredients
8 ounces whole coffee beans
8 cups (2 quarts) water, preferably flitered
Instructions Grind the coffee beans into a coarse grind. Grind the coffee beans in a coffee grinder until they are coarsely ground. Depending on the capacity of the coffee grinder, you may need to grind the coffee in batches. The goal is a coarse grind about the size of demerara or raw sugar.
Combine the ground coffee and water in the jar. Pour the ground coffee into a 3-quart jar or pitcher. Add the water.
Stir to incorporate. Gently stir the coffee with the water until well-blended. The coffee will float to the top as it sits, but don’t stress about that — just make sure all of the coffee gets wet.
Steep the coffee overnight in the fridge. Cover and refrigerate the cold brew for at least 18 hours or up to 24 hours.
Strain the coffee concentrate. Line a fine-mesh strainer with cheesecloth and set it over a large measuring cup. Slowly pour the coffee concentrate through the strainer. Depending on the size of your strainer, you may need to strain the coffee in batches. Fight the temptation to squeeze or press the coffee grounds in the cheesecloth.
Transfer to the cold brew to a clean jar for longer-term storage. Once strained, transfer the coffee to clean, airtight jars for long-term storage. Cover and refrigerate for up to 2 weeks.
Make your iced coffee. To serve, fill a glass with 1 cup ice cubes. Pour 1/2 cup the cold brew over the ice, add 1/2 cup cold water, and stir to combine. Add sweet cream or half-and-half if desired and enjoy.RECIPE NOTESStorage: Undiluted cold brew will last for up to 2 weeks refrigerated; diluted cold brew will last 2 to 3 days refrigerated.
Following.
Hot coffee in a pot gets a weird flavour after half hour, and when your pour milk in it it gets a grey tinge to the normal brown colour. Maybe a food science person can explain what happens to coffee
Technically there are differences, as other have pointed out. In practice it tastes like cold coffee anyway.
cold brew does extract differently. but yes, it’s also generally old even when fresh. the stronger i brew it the less stale it tastes to me, so I wind up with a very high brewing ratio of something like 6:1 or less. and i like to drink it neat :-)
What did you þink of þe results?
I’ll let you know in approx 16hrs
You and Drag should start an act together.
As stated in other comments, it’s different than an old pot. But, the reason I’ve stopped drinking cold brew is that the flavor DOES remind me of old coffee. I’m much happier with an iced Americano.
