With an extended hot spell forecast for Southern California, I'm thinking about doing a roast just for cold-brewed coffee. I'm thinking that sticking with fruity Africans or something like a pulp natural Costa Rican would be a good starting place, but not sure if that's really a good idea. And what roast level would work best for cold extraction? Ideas? Suggestions? Hard lessons from personal experience?

Good question.

I get bugged much more in iced coffee than regular by the scratchy, astringent elements of the roast taste. I cheat by adding a shot of triple sec, whose sweet orange peel flavor covers it up and also brings out the fruit.

I cheat by adding a shot of triple sec, whose sweet orange peel flavor covers it up and also brings out the fruit.

Sounds great, but since most of it is going to be my morning coffee and I've got a 40 mile drive to get to work, probably not a viable solution for me.

I had a few ounces of a blend of Ethiopian and Salvadoran that I'd roasted for espresso (City+ on the Ethiopian and Full City for the Salvadoran) that was, at 11 days old, nearing the end of it's useful life, so I did a cold extraction and it worked pretty well diluted about 2:1. But there was a little of that astringent quality to it. Just wondering if anybody's spent any effort on trying to nail down what works best for cold extraction.

George, how are you preparing your cold brew? Aeropress over ice? Toddy brew plus water?

The Toddy method tends to mute some of the citrus or berry notes for me.

Steve.

GVDub wrote:Sounds great, but since most of it is going to be my morning coffee and I've got a 40 mile drive to get to work, probably not a viable solution for me.

Non-alcoholic triple secs works too.

Steve - I'm using the long steep and filter method, which I guess would be the toddy (though I'm not buying any special equipment for it). I want to find a filter that doesn't remove oils, though, as so many of the subtler flavor elements are in the oils.

Jim - Thanks for the tip. I hadn't come across non-alcoholic Triple Sec. Probably too much to hope that there's a sugar-free version of it, too, as my diabetes doesn't care for drinking sugar solutions. But now that I know, I can search.

I've been cold brewing with a Toddy for 2 years, and it really gets a work out during the summer months.
The most critical factor I have personally found is the grind level you use. I just experienced this all over again when I had the good fortune to use a Tanzania a friend loaned me around two months ago. It was brand new out of the box, and the adjusting knob goes from 1 to 9 (Turkish to Coarse drip). Thinking it surely would be course enough out of the box, I was struggling to find the smooth, sweet, flavor I was used too. Finally I pulled the SJ I had been using out of the cabinet and did some visual comparisons of the grind...I needed to adjust the Tanzania 1 complete graduation further than 9 (easily done as the stop is built into the knob itself). I would characterize the grind as more coarse than french press and similar to Kosher salt.

You are right on track for coffee varieties, with Costa Rica being my go-to favorite. I typically roast similar to what I enjoy for espresso, a slower roast to 1C and finishing City or City+. I cold brew decaf batches for when I get home from work...and most days find myself "anticipating" my iced coffee as I drive home!

I use a typical City- City+ brew roast when I cold brew in my Hario Mitzadash. I like the Ethiopian & Kenyas for iced coffee & the Hario brings out all the varietal flavors without the cold brew taste. I cold brewed some of the Ethiopian Org. Yirgacheffe, Koke Co-Op I got from SM & it was like a cold apricot nectar.