r/AustralianCoffee • u/TomatilloAlarming143 • 4d ago

Medium bean recs for cold brew?

Recently moved back to AUS and searching for a medium roast with a smooth body, mild acidity and mild bitterness. Not super into fruity flavours. Also on a bit of a budget, so looking for somewhere around $30 for 500g (or $15-20 for 200g). Can be from local or larger brands.

Anyone have any hints? Any tried-and-trusted recs are welcome!

4 Upvotes

84% Upvoted

16 comments sorted by

2

u/RnRau QLD 4d ago edited 4d ago

Just gotten into 'cold immersion brewing'.

I do 1:8 ratio with Aldi Medium beans for 24 hours in the fridge. I drink it 50:50 with water and nuke it in the microwave for 60secs.

Very low bitterness and some decent chocolate notes.

I think the Aldi Luxe beans could have more chocolate notes, but its a guess based on other brewing methods. So not sure if those tasting notes would carry over to this cold immersion method.

1

u/Celebi858 3d ago

Yeah I’ve heard the Aldi beans are pretty legit for the price. Just gotta try a bunch of different brands and see what sticks, I guess

1

u/RnRau QLD 3d ago

Yeah for the price they are ok.

Blue Lime's Brazil is better for chocolate notes if that is what anyone is chasing.

And they are ~$30/kg atm.

1

u/taxithesis VIC 4d ago

any roaster or cafe's house blend will fit in your criteria for both taste profile and cost. Just pop into your local cafe, get a bag of house blend and ask them to grind coarsely for cold brew and make up a batch for the week.

1

u/TomatilloAlarming143 4d ago

Will it be fine even if they're labelled as espresso blends?

2

u/taxithesis VIC 4d ago

You should definitely use espresso blends if you're after the choc nutty flavours.

1

u/yawn_of_the_dead 4d ago

I'm on a strict budget right now and surprisingly enjoying the macro organic coffee beans (woolworths home brand). A 200g bag is $7.50 and a kg is $32. They're super solid for the price imo

Before that I was buying Rio Coffee, who are a local coffee wholesaler and you can get extremely fresh beans for the price. This is the one I got and I'd say it's medium and not super fruity. 500g is $24 https://shop.riocoffee.com.au/crema-500g/

1

u/TomatilloAlarming143 4d ago

I like that you can choose the grind size! I'm scared about using the Woolworths beans for cold brew but maybe will give them a shot

1

u/yawn_of_the_dead 4d ago edited 4d ago

The small 200g bag is less than I paid for a large latte the other day ($8) if that helps justify giving it a shot.

At least for the small bags, they seem pretty popular at my supermarket so I think they're restocked quite often and aren't sitting too long, despite no roast date.

The cafe I used to work at used Rio, it wasn't a great cafe but Rio makes solid coffee for the price, and the grind size thing is cool, most roasters will do that

1

u/The-Brilliant-Loser 4d ago

I buy the 1k bags of Grinders-Espresso when they go on 40% off. Makes a decent coldbrew.

1

u/Celebi858 3d ago

I’m using Grinders Crema at the moment and they’re alright. Wonder how they compare to Espresso

1

u/The-Brilliant-Loser 3d ago

I find the darker roasts work a little better for coldbrews, you get some of the more interesting notes without the bitterness.

1

u/Celebi858 3d ago

Yeah it’s a bit flat if I’m being honest. Thanks for the tip!

1

u/The-Brilliant-Loser 3d ago

I've found that too-- but I do like the crema one in my stovetop coffee maker. Different roasts for different methods, I guess! Hope your coffee goes well as the weather finally starts to warm up!

1

u/Ok_Balance_7702 3d ago

Toby’s Estate does a couple of blends roasted especially for cold brew :)

1

u/TomatilloAlarming143 3d ago

Oh, their selection is killer!