Do you love the taste of cold brew coffee? If so, you’re going to love this blog post. We’re going to talk about the 8 best coffee beans for making cold brew. These beans are perfect for creating a delicious and refreshing drink that will help you start your day off right!
The 8 best coffee beans for cold brew
Stone street cold brew coffee
Stone Street Coffee is one of the most popular selections, and I recommend it as the best cold brew coffee brand. It’s made and marketed specifically for cold brews.
Fresh premium arabica coffee beans from Colombia are used in this cold brew coffee blend. You can use it in your cold brew coffee maker or whatever system at home, as well as in a French press, pitcher, or mason jar.
The beans are designated as ‘supremo,’ which are Colombia’s largest and best-quality beans. Dark roasting these beans brings out the nutty/chocolate overtones, resulting in the most excellent cold brew coffee.
Intelligentsia Frequency Blend
Intelligentsia Coffee is a flavorful all-arounder with a unique flavor profile. It’s a well-balanced blend of pulped-natural Brazilian coffee and totally washed Zambian coffee that changes seasonally based on what’s available. It’s usually a medium-to-dark roast with a traditional flavor and texture.
The flavor profile of this blend is straightforward yet refined: the Brazil component gives a silky body and a dominating note of milk chocolate, while the washed Zambia component adds a touch of lemongrass, pineapple, and breakfast tea.
Hazelnut Cold Brew Iced Coffee
The addition of a hint of hazelnut flavor to the typical cold brew coffee makes this coffee exceptional. What’s even great is that while the tea steeps, the flavors come out to play. The Arabica beans utilized are all from Central and South American farmers.
This coffee is excellent for cold brew, and it’s also recommended that you keep it refrigerated while brewing. As a result, your brew will be ready to drink as soon as the steeping is completed. Cold Buzz has a wide variety of flavors, but Hazelnut is especially appealing.
Tiny Footprint Coffee
Tiny Footprint Coffee’s eco-conscious inclinations are displayed with its delectable flavors. The business claims to sell “carbon-negative coffee,” with a portion of all profits going to Ecuadorian forestry efforts.
The Cold Press Elixir was created with cold brew coffee in mind. The recommended coffee to water ratio for brewing is 1:6, while for diluting it is 1:1. Shade-grown Arabica is combined with Ethiopian coffees to make Cold Press Elixir.
Stone Cold Jo
This organic coffee is a specialty grade, meaning it comes from the top 2% of organic Arabica raw coffee. Direct sourcing and a committed team of coffee cupping experts have been used to source this specialty-grade coffee from throughout the world. Coffee isn’t all made equal.
The beans are darkly roasted, with undertones of toffee caramel chocolate grape, making it ideal for cold brew.
This coffee makes an excellent cold brew since it has a nice body and viscosity while remaining mildly bitter and sweet.
Koffee Kult
This Koffee Kult dark roast is another dark roast that would steep well in cold water.
Smooth dark roasted coffee is made out of a unique blend of 100 percent Arabica coffee bean varietals from Brazil, Colombia, and Sumatra.
The Koffee Kult Dark Roast has cocoa and cinnamon scent and flavor elements, making it a smooth and lively coffee that can be enjoyed cold or hot.
Kicking Horse Coffee Smart Ass
A bold, and bright medium roast whole bean coffee from Africa, Central America, and South America.
It has a tart red currant flavor with sugar cane and milk chocolate undertones, as well as a honeyed berry texture. It has a light, delicate body with a lively mouthfeel.
It’s also an organic coffee, so you can rest assured that the materials and procedures utilized are environmentally friendly.
Death Wish Coffee
Death Wish is one of the most caffeine-dense cold brew coffee brands on the market.
Before we go any further, please be aware that this is not for the faint of heart. This coffee will provide you with the necessary caffeine boost to help you through the day.
Death Wish coffee contains a whopping 54.2 mg of caffeine per fluid ounce, so you should probably only drink it once a day to stay below acceptable caffeine levels!
You’ll be immersed in a smooth, delicate, never bitter cherry and chocolate flavor profile with Death Wish Coffee. They’ve hand-picked excellent Arabica and Robusta whole coffee beans from all around the world to create a dark roast coffee beverage with a robust flavor you’ll adore right away.
What is cold brew coffee?
Cold brew coffee is made by steeping coffee grounds in cold water for an extended period of time. In the normal brewing methods, the water is brought to near boiling temperature to extract the properties of coffee, but with the cold brew, the water is maintained at a lower temperature and the extraction time goes from 4 to up to 24 hours depending on the method to make a full batch. This process produces a smooth and refreshing drink that has a lower acidity than traditionally brewed coffee.
What are the benefits of cold brew coffee?
There are a few benefits that come with drinking cold brew coffee. First, because it has lower acidity than traditional coffee, it’s easier on your stomach. Second, cold brew is less bitter than regular coffee, so it’s a great choice for people who don’t enjoy the taste of coffee. Finally, cold brew is a great way to get your caffeine fix without having to drink a hot beverage.
What to consider when buying coffee beans for cold brew?
The effects of temperature
Hot coffee is extracted at temperatures between 91 and 96 degrees Celsius (195 – 205 degrees Fahrenheit), whereas cold brew is produced at temperatures between 2 and 21 degrees Celsius (35 – 70 degrees Fahrenheit). Cold brew’s distinct and coveted features are due to the absence of heat from the brewing process, which means it requires twice as much grounds and many more hours of brewing time than hot brews.
Use
What’s your favorite way to enjoy a cold brew? When selecting your cold brew coffee beans, keep this in mind. There are a variety of kinds to pick from and your bean selection should reflect that. Are you going to make large jugs or single-serving portions? Choose a bean quantity that corresponds to this.
Flavor
Because cold brew only has two ingredients (water and coffee), you’ll want to make sure they’re both top-notch. Look for taste characteristics you like in hot coffee, but keep in mind that the acidity will be different in cold brew. Coffees with additional components, such as spices or flavorings, should be avoided.
The grind size
Be mindful that whether you buy pre-ground beans for cold brew or mill them yourself, the grind counts. For a cold brew, a coarse grind is always preferred. As a result of being over-extracted, fine grounds often yield more harsh or bitter flavors.
What is the best roast for cold brew?
A light roast is often recommended for cold brew coffee, as it can retain more of its natural flavors. However, some people prefer a medium or dark roast for their cold brews. Ultimately, it’s up to you to decide what you like best.
I want to show you in more detail the different kinds of roast: dark, medium, and light.
Dark roast
Dark Roast coffees are dark brown, almost black in appearance. Many people swear by choosing a dark roast for cold brew, and there are solid reasons for this.
Dark roast coffee has dark and rich flavors that range from chocolaty to earthy to nutty to somewhat syrupy. Even if you can extract floral notes from the grounds, the strong flavors will ultimately triumph. Dark roasts are often cheaper than light roasts, which is another reason why people prefer them.
Medium roast
Medium roast coffee is brown in color and has an oily surface only infrequently. These coffees have a rounded flavor profile, medium acidity, and body.
Many of the particular characteristics of the coffee’s origin are preserved at this level of roasting, but it also begins to reach into the rich caramel sweetness of a longer roast. As a result, these coffees are well-balanced, with a little darker and sweeter flavor.
Light roast
Coffee that has been lightly roasted has a light brown color and no oil on the surface of the beans. These coffees are known for their light tastes, sharp acidity, and gentle body. These coffees are roasted to preserve the bean’s distinct characteristics. Beans can generate a vast range of flavors, fragrances, aftertastes, and more if they are cultivated, processed, and roasted properly.
Single origin VS Blend
While roast profiles and coffee bean preferences differ from person to person, most coffee experts agree that single-origin beans are the finest choice for cold brew.
What is the explanation for this? A blend is typically a preferable choice for producing normal coffee, such as americano or espresso, to assist balance qualities like sweetness, acidity, and bitterness.
Cold brewing procedures, on the other hand, are more subtle and create coffee with less acidity and bitterness.
When making cold brew coffee, using single-origin coffee beans allows you to fully experience the characteristics of the beans as well as their origin.
There are three factors that set apart the single-origin coffee from a blend: flavor, purity, and consistency.
A single-origin coffee’s flavor profile is the most natural and unaffected, but blended coffee includes characteristics from many beans. Single origins have a more exotic flavor, are bolder, and more powerful, whereas a blend balances it out with different beans that complement one another.
Coffee from a single origin is prized for its purity and great quality, as well as the fact that it tells a story about its origin. Coffee blends, on the other hand, are made up of numerous blends of different origins.
The consistency of these coffees may vary depending on the season. When compared to coffee blends that are more mellowed due to the mixing of numerous beans, the change in taste between different batches of the same coffee will be more evident.
How to make cold brew coffee
- Grind the coffee – Use coarse grind for the best result
- Combine coffee and water in a jar
- Mix them and let it steep overnight
- Strain the coffee
- Store the coffee in a bottle or jar
- Enjoy your cold brew coffee
For the full recipe, read the article on how to make cold brew coffee at home.
FAQ
How do you store coffee beans?
Air, moisture, heat, and light are your beans’ worst enemies. To keep your beans’ fresh roasted flavor as long as possible, store them at room temperature in an opaque, airtight container. Although coffee beans are attractive, avoid using clear canisters since light will affect the taste of your coffee. Keep your beans in a cold, dark place. A cupboard near the oven, as well as a position on the kitchen counter that receives intense afternoon sun, are frequently too warm.
The retail packaging for coffee isn’t always suited for long-term storage. Invest in sealed storage jars if at all possible.
How long are coffee beans good for?
It’s okay to brew coffee after the expiration date if the beans haven’t been exposed to unusually high humidity, high temperatures, or direct sunlight. Because of a chemical interaction with oxygen known as oxidation, the flavor and scent would decrease dramatically over time (but the amount of caffeine will remain the same). In general, roasted beans last 3 to 5 weeks. Roasted whole beans have a shelf life of 3 to 5 months if kept in a vacuum-packed bag.
What coffee beans does Starbucks use for cold brew?
For cold brew, Starbucks uses 100 percent Arabica coffee beans from several coffee-growing countries. The cold brew blend is a mix of washed African Arabica coffee beans with a citrus flavor and Latin American Arabica coffee beans, which contribute to the drink’s sweetness and chocolate undertones. To bring forth the full flavor and aroma of the coffee beans, they are medium roasted. The ground coffee is steeped for over 48 hours in cool filtered water before being brewed in small quantities.
Is Arabica good for cold brew?
Because most people enjoy cold brew for its brightness and lack of bitterness, 100 percent Arabica is a suitable choice. You’ll get a fantastic flavor, especially if you choose a high-quality bean. Choose 100 percent Arabica if you want the least degree of bitterness. That way, you’ll have the least bitterness and good acidity, which will give you a bright, open flavor.
Conclusion
Choosing coffee beans for cold brew is not always easy. While the method of preparation is easy, finding the right balance in flavor can be more complicated. I hope this list helped you to make a better choice about the beans to use to enjoy your next cold brew coffee.
Giacomo is an Italian living in Shanghai since 2016. After working as a barista in Italy, he started to be more interested in the different types of coffee, beans, and the ways to prepare this ancient beverage. He founded Authority Coffee and he is currently on a mission to find the best coffee in China.