Everything You Need to Know About COLD BREW Coffee

ByAndrea Heckler, 06/20/2017

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When a heat wave strikes, everyone around you starts trading in their hot cuppa joes for this trendy iced drink. But what makes it special?

If you're a coffee drinker, you know that no weather hot or cold is going to stop you from getting your fix. And while some people have very strong feelings about iced coffee, many of us will gladly opt for this chilled alternative on days that are too warm to properly enjoy a hot drink.

Recently, though, a different type of coffee drink emerged in the trendy coffee scene: cold brew.

And yes, it really is different from iced coffee!

What makes it different? Well, there are two main things that set it apart: its strength and its brewing method.

Iced coffee is first brewed as regular hot coffee, and then it's cooled down before the ice is added. Cold brew, on the other hand, is actually brewed cold. This mixture is never hot at any stage of the process.

This takes much longer than a hot brew: you have to steep the coffee grounds in room temperature water for at least 12 hours, then filter out the grounds. Basically, instead of using heat, cold brew uses time.

The other remarkable difference – one that you will surely have noticed if you've ever tasted it before – is that, instead of being regular-strength coffee like iced coffee, cold brew is a totally different concentrate, one that's significantly stronger than regular coffee. About twice as strong.

Iced coffee tastes a lot like your regular cuppa, only cold with ice, but cold brew packs an even more intense caffeine punch. It also doesn't get watered down as easily when you add ice, and it tastes less bitter and smoother, as the acids in the coffee grounds are normally released by heat in traditionally brewed coffee. This makes cold brew less acidic-tasting and richer than its counterpart.

So, have you tried cold brew before? If not, are you ready to try it now?

You can find a great recipe here, along with 36 other hacks that every coffee lover has to try!

Looking to up your coffee game? Here are our 8 secrets to brewing the perfect cup of coffee.