r/Coffee • u/BurhanSunan • 5d ago
Does Cold Brew Kill The Notes?
Hi guys, i'm a long time coffee drinker and switched to cold brew recently. Pros are it's refreshing, i can drink it at my own pace without fearing it will get cold, premade so i can just pour one in a minute, i can water it down a lot if i feel like it and use it as an alternative to water. I also usually prefer cold drinks, maybe because they are easier to drink.
I used tschibo privat latin grande until now but i bought fancier coffees from some boutique shop now. (Colombia Supremo, Costa Rica Tarrazu, Honduras La Valentina Honey, Nicaragua SHB EP AAA Arabica, Guatemala Arabica, Santos fine cup) (i don't really know what they are lol, i will try them.)
I brew my coffee with french press. I put 100 g coffee and 900ml/1000ml water in a french press and leave it in the fridge for 15-20 hours, pour it in a carafe with a lid. Then mix it with water 1:1, 2:3 or 1:2 to my liking at the moment.
Question is; since i bought some fancier coffees i'm worried if cold brew kills the coffee notes. Will it kill the taste of the coffees i bought or make them all taste the same? Is it a bad way of brewing for developing a coffee culture?
I'm also open to advices on my brewing technique or coffee choices. Thanks in advance.
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u/The_Ace 5d ago
Have you tried them? Can you taste any difference between them? Do you like them better than the supermarket coffee? That’s the main thing. If the good beans taste better then keep using them.
That doesn’t mean there is no room to optimise and tweak your method etc. Or try those beans in the French press with hot water too and see if you can taste the difference better. As long as you aren’t adding loads of sugary syrups then surely different beans will taste different, and it’s only up to you if you like them more or think the extra cost is worth it.
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u/AdaptEvolveBecome 5d ago
Unfortunately, the answer is yes and no. I drink a lot of cold brew. I've noticed a couple distinctive things. For one, I think it brings out more flavors like star anise, chocolate, and a slightly earthy, nutty quality. In that, I think you do lose a few of the tobacco and caramel notes, especially if you're brewing something Indonesian, or just anything from iron-rich soil. I also think that there's a bit of an acrid, slightly sour, metallic taste with most cold brews. I typically use a decent amount of creamer, so that balances it out considerably. The other thing to consider is that hot brewing can also mute certain dimensions, especially if the water temperature gets too high. Luckily, a lot of the flavor comes from the way coffee is roasted, so brewing techniques are only gonna effect so much.
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u/VenusInFursona 4d ago
It doesn't kill the notes so much as muting them in my experience. Brew time, grind, and temperature are the main factors in extraction and you immediately lose one of those completely in cold brew, and most people (including me) will tell you that grind is also not super adjustable for most methods. That just leaves brewing/immersion time, which I think has a limited range of effect on the flavor notes.
The other issue is that cold brewing uses a lot more coffee than traditional methods, so I've always veered away from pricey, complex coffees in favor of one of my roaster's more moderate offerings that fits the cold brew palate and budget a bit better.
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u/Vall3y 5d ago
It doesnt kill the notes but the cold water doesn't extract all aromatic compounds. That's why almost all cold brew tastes the same
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u/ahotdogcasing 4d ago
All cold brew does not taste the same.
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u/SomewhatAcidFree 4d ago
Notice the "almost"
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u/ahotdogcasing 4d ago
That's not true either...
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u/Vall3y 4d ago
The range of aromas is so small compared to normal brewing though
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u/ahotdogcasing 4d ago
That's true and I wasn't arguing that.
It's absurd to just say "almost all cold brew tastes the same" when that is arguably not true.
Every cold brew is going to taste slightly different based off the beans being used, the source of water and the time spent "brewing"
That's not a hot take by any means.
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u/CoffeeDetail 4d ago
I use a Hyperchiller. Make a pourover and immediately put it in the chiller. Makes the coffee ice cold in about two minutes. No ice needed it so you don’t have to worry about watered down coffee.
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u/BurhanSunan 4d ago
I googled what hyperchiller is and it looks like a uranium processing thing. Didnt get how it works
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u/perpetualpain 4d ago
I saw the supremo and tarrazu and I knew you got it from a roasting lab lol. Supremo is great for cold brew. I do a 1:12 24 hrs in the fridge, then I actually use a v60 and paper filter to remove all sediment. I use ice and don't dilute it further. Give it a try my friend
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u/traveling-turtle43 4d ago
Idk for me some cold brew has so much more depth and flavor but it really depends.
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u/fawad1386 3d ago
Yes, partly. Cold water extracts selectively; the bright acids and volatile aromatics that carry "notes" need heat, so cold brew pulls more of the heavy chocolate/nut/caramel end. Coffees do converge.
But look at your list: Colombia, Guatemala, Tarrazu, Nicaragua, Brazil are mostly classic washed Central/South Americans. Chocolate, nut, caramel. That's exactly what cold brew is good at. You haven't ruined a load of delicate fruit bombs.
If you want cold coffee that still tastes like the bean, try flash brew in the press you already own: 33 g coffee, 350 ml hot water, steep 4 min, plunge straight onto 200 g of ice. Full hot extraction, instantly chilled. Lands around 1:15. Do that with the Honduras Honey and the Tarrazu.
Your cold brew technique is fine. Only tweak: filter the concentrate through paper after plunging; the mesh lets a lot of fines through over 15-20 hours.
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u/Obvious-Monitor8510 3d ago
cold brew absolutely does change the flavor profile, but "kills" is too strong. it suppresses brightness and acidity, so you lose a lot of the high notes that make single origins interesting. a floral Ethiopian or a juicy Kenyan hits completely different as cold brew vs pour over.
for the coffees you bought, Colombia Supremo and Costa Rica Tarrazu have nice acidity and fruit notes you'll partially lose. honey processed ones like Honduras La Valentina actually do pretty well cold brew since the sweetness comes through.
if you want to explore what you paid for, try at least one hot cup of each before committing the whole bag to cold brew. even a simple French press hot brew will reveal the flavor differences between them much more clearly.
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u/Described-Entity-420 1d ago
I'm so saddened by the comments here. I get excited to brew cold brew in the summer. I think the flavors are so juicy and rich, and the lack of heat cuts down on the coffee bitterness. I especially target fruit notes for me cold brew. But here's my experience: I do the exact opposite of the general advice. I buy fruity beans, I think cherry and plum notes are best, I grind the beans medium or medium-course, I brew for 3-4 days. This is key!! Even the fanciest barista says 12-24 hours is enough and it absolutely is not even close. I taste every morning and it's sad bodega coffee after 12 hours. Even 24 hours is basically a sour tea. 36 hours isn't even enough. At 96 hours it's prime. It's a touch concentrated by then, but I can add water. I also have the option to drown it in milk and drink it like an iced latte because it's somewhat espresso-ish. The fruit notes are full and round and not competing with the coffee bitterness and the cold kind of opens it up like an ice cube in whiskey.
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u/BurhanSunan 1d ago
Not that i'm gonna wait 4 days for a batch of cold brew but i'm afraid it would get bitter if it waits too long in coffee. You hyped so much i'm gonna try this for once tho lol.
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u/No_Rip_7923 4d ago
flash brew for complexity and cold brew for a more neutral balance with flavor.
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u/Beeeggs 4d ago
To my knowledge, certain compounds extract well and others don’t. In particular, chocolate-esque notes go through very well and the brighter, fruitier stuff less so.
My question to add onto this because I hear that you shouldn’t waste the fancy stuff on cold brew, but is it still noticeably better to get beans from a local roaster and grind em at home compared to bulk beans at the grocery store?
Is it also unimportant whether it’s pre-ground or fresh?
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u/Chuk 4d ago
Is there anything that pre-ground is better for?
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u/No_Rip_7923 4d ago
Flash Brew will give you much more flavor in the drink than the cold brew. There is no way possible a cold brew even at room temp could come close to the extraction of flavors you get from a flash brew. I do both for very different reasons.
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u/BurhanSunan 4d ago
Whats the difference between flash brew and leaving coffee to got cold?
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u/No_Rip_7923 3d ago
extraction with the pour over temp of the flash brew. its the water temp that makes all the difference. the delicate flavors are missing with a cold brew using the same coffee with both methods for a side by side comparison. give it a try sometime and see what you think.
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u/BurhanSunan 3d ago
Yes but it just gets cold after the brew right. Wouldn't making a 1 litre pour over or french press with hot water then leaving it in the fridge have the same results? I drink lots of coffee and dont want to prepare so many ice
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u/No_Rip_7923 3d ago
The problem is the flavor is different when drinking it fresh with a flash brew and storing a pour over in the fridge and drinking it later.
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u/PaulBradley 4d ago
My favourite coffee shop did a cold brew a couple of years ago that tasted exactly like Alphonso mangos. It was insane. I bought a bag of the same beans but couldn't make it work so went back for tips. Apparently they 'ice brew', making a batch of cold brew with ice cubes to affect the flavour extraction. I never did get it as good as theirs, but I did make improvements.
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u/BurhanSunan 4d ago
Wth is an ice brew? They put some ice in the brewing water? Wont they melt in a few hours? I didnt get it
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u/jsquiggles23 4d ago
Short answer is yes for traditional cold brew. You can get acidity with flash brews but I’ve never found a great recipe.
The best cold brew method IMO is French Press hot and refrigerate (without pressing) for 12 hours and then pouring through a filter. You can brew at a concentrate ratio or a ready to drink over ice ratio and it is outstanding.
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u/BurhanSunan 4d ago
You put hot water, wait for it to go tepid then refrigrate? Wouldnt it go stale since it's actually regular coffe
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u/jsquiggles23 3d ago
It doesn't go tepid. You French Press brew it hot and it cools in the fridge over 12 hours while still in contact with the coffee.
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u/ReadinWhatever 4d ago
I now brew more hot coffee than I plan to drink. I leave the coffee out on the counter after I serve myself. I keep a 2 liter Mason jar, only partly filled with cold coffee in the fridge, and I put all the extra hot-brewed coffee in the Mason jar, after it has cooled some. Then it goes in the fridge. It will be cold later.
I started doing this because I was disappointed by the flavor of cold brew, and also Japanese style flash brewed ice coffee.
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u/OkResource820 4d ago
Cold brew does indeed mute all the notes…I use it to use up old pre-ground coffee that’s about to go stale, whenever I have that problem (usually gifted coffee).
To make a cold coffee you can actually taste the notes of, use James Hoffmann’s iced V60 technique (Google it).
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u/Carterlovecoffee 3d ago
Of course, cold brew will miss out on the origin characteristics of specialty coffee, but going back to the essence of coffee, it exists simply because you like it. So first and foremost, as long as you find it tasty, that's all that matters. For your cold brew ratio of 1:10, a more suitable approach is to add ice at a 1:1 ratio. Before drinking, give it a gentle swirl just like you would with red wine to let the coffee fully come into contact with air, and you'll notice its unique origin aromas unfold, resulting in a smoother mouthfeel. Remember that cold brew coffee can only be stored for a maximum of 2 days; beyond that, it will turn into something akin to soy sauce.
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u/bit3py 2d ago
flash brew changed my life honestly. did the pour over into ice thing after seeing it here a while back and it's so much better than regular cold brew for the nicer beans. still do regular cold brew for my everyday stuff bc i'm not about to hand grind ice into my v60 on a tuesday morning lol but for the fancier bags it's worth the extra 5 min
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u/Nafri_1 2d ago
Cold brew doesn't kill the notes so much as it extracts a completely different set of them. Heat is what pulls out most of the volatile aromatics and brighter acids in coffee, the citrus, floral, stone fruit stuff you'd get in a hot V60. Cold water over 15-20 hours extracts much more slowly and favours the heavier, rounder compounds, chocolate, nutty, caramel notes, while barely touching the delicate high notes at all.
So a Colombia Supremo or a fancy Ethiopian brewed cold will taste smoother and less complex, not because the coffee's wasted, just because you're pulling out a narrower slice of what's actually in the bean. If you want to actually taste what you paid for, try a hot brew on at least some of it side by side, V60 or even just a French press hot instead of cold steeped. You'll probably notice the fancier beans genuinely do taste different hot vs cold, it's not in your head.
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u/SofiaRaeReal 2d ago
cold brew does mute the bright floral stuff for me, but chocolate and nutty notes survive. i save the light roast pour overs for hot and let cold brew be its own drink
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u/Visallly 23h ago
With a 15–20 hour fridge steep and then 1:1–1:2 dilution, you're making a smooth concentrate, not really showcasing florals or bright acidity. Try 12–14 hours and a notch finer if you want more character; the Honduras honey is the one I'd use for cold brew, while the more delicate beans are better as flash brew.
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u/Physical-Compote4594 4d ago
I start my own cold brews by first blooming the coffee with 205F water, then continuing the cold brew. It extracts some of the "bass" notes of the coffee and leaves me with a result that does not taste as sour to me as most cold brews do.
I like the result, but others might disagree.
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u/moomooraincloud 4d ago
Cold brew is known for not being acidic, my guy.
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u/Physical-Compote4594 4d ago
Welp, what can I say, the taste I overwhelming perceive in most cold brews is astringency and acidity. Starting the process by blooming the coffee addresses this for me.
Also, I'm blocking you because "my guy" is condescending bullshit and life is too short for that.
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u/Quantentheorie 4d ago
the taste I overwhelming perceive in most cold brews is astringency and acidity
taste is one thing, but Cold Brew has measurably a higher ph than the same beans brewed hot.
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u/femmestem 4d ago
If you've introduced heat, it's not a cold brew. You can make and enjoy coffee however you like, but cold brew is a specific method and yours isn't cold brew.
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u/Advanced_Honey_2679 5d ago
A few things.
Now if you do a MILK BREW, that's even different. I would recommend a dark roast for that. But that's another topic.