Iced Coffee Brewing Alternatives

[scottlucey]

hey hey hey...
i know Toddy brew is one of the most popular ways folks go about brewing killer iced coffee... but i search for a better way.
anyone out there got an alternative favorite for making iced coffee?
i have seen that Fetco has "iced coffee brewers," and i wonder how these may differ from a standard brewer.
do share!

[Chris Owens]

I stumbled across this just yesterday.

Japanese Iced Coffee

I haven't tried it out yet but, considering the source, I bet it's pretty on the money.

[scottlucey]

mmm...
words make it sound on the money.
kick ass, and thank you. will be trying this tomorrow.

thanks chris

[aaronblanco]

i have seen coffee ice cubes as well so as not to dilute.

[scottlucey]

the description mentions using a tray of cubes in the bottom of the 64oz container to brew onto...
just to make sure, am i right to assume this tray is your typical cube tray most of us have in our freezer at home?
this amount of ice seems to melt before the 64oz brew is 1/2-3/4 of the way done. normal?

[sarah kluth]

have you looked into Filtron Brewing Systems? They work marvelously.


http://www.filtron.com


SHK

[xristrettox]

I stumbled across this just yesterday.

Japanese Iced Coffee

I haven't tried it out yet but, considering the source, I bet it's pretty on the money.

I couldn't tell from the little article, but does Peter imply that brewing is used with hot water?

[Peter G]

Hey.

The thing I love about the "Japanese" process is that the coffee is only hot for mere seconds after it brews: it is almost instantly cooled by the melting ice. This allows it to maintain its fragrance and acidity, and prevents the cooked "airpotty" flavor that inevitably results from letting coffee cool more slowly. It seems particularly good at preserving delicate aromatics, using a floral Yirg in this process is postively overwhelming.

In my practice, the ice is almost completely melted by the time I have finished the brew period, but it is slightly cooler than room temperature. You then pour it over (more) fresh ice before serving (the Japanese serve with simple syrup and chilled heavy cream.)

The idea with the tray of ice is to provide a very cold, melting water that dilutes the brewing coffee to normal strength. You can think of it as an extension of the "Americano" concept.

Now then, Scott, if your ice is melting when you are half through, I would use more ice. Perhaps my ice cube trays are bigger than yours, although I would consider mine "standard". The 64 ounce container (I use a glass Melitta coffeepot) is a little more than 3/4 full of big ice cubes by the time I start brewing.

I suppose you could measure the amount of water for freezing (say 32 ounces) and for boiling (the other 32 ounces). In my practice, since I know that the final amount of finished, cool coffee is 64 ounces, the precise proportion of ice to concentrated coffee is flexible.

Another method that Mr. Hayashi showed me uses a glass "heat exchanger", made of a glass tube coil which is immersed in an ice bath. The freshly brewed coffee moves through the tube and by the time it exits the exchanger it is ice cold. This method would allow you to use your normal brewing ratio, since melting ice dilution would not be a factor.

Last, Gee Barger has adapted the Japanese method to the Clover, which has caught on for us during this long, hot, North Carolina summer. I will cross post later in this thread if anyone is interested.

Peter G

[Peter G]

Yes, Billy, brewing is like normal hot coffee with roughly 200 degree water. It is my feeling that hot water is essential to extracting fragrance and acidity from coffee. To my palate, the various cold brewing and extract-producing methods (Toddy, Filtron, etc.) leave the coffee with abundant bottom-end but little top-end, and a strange "cooked" flavor (ironic, isn't it) that reminds me of Kahlua or supermarket coffee ice cream or something.

The idea with my method (it's amazing how difficult it is to explain without showing) is to immediately cool and dilute the freshly brewed paper filter coffee to the appropriate ratio. I like paper filter coffee because the absence of sediment and clarity of flavor complements the cold coffee experience nicely. French Press coffee, which is deliciously "chewy" when hot, seems muddy and less refreshing when chilled. The filter basket technique also makes it easy to spread out the brewing time to 3-4 minutes, while the coffee drips into the container, melting the ice. I like to use a flat-bottomed Bunn stainless steel filter basket on top of a glass Melitta carafe. I tend to like flat bottomed filters more than cone-shaped, BTW. Bed depth (1.5 inches or so) is important.

In my view, the experience of drinking this coffee is very different from other iced coffee experiences. Since aroma and acidity are preserved (and pronounced) along with sweetness, it is very refreshing and sweet, somehow more akin to drinking delicious lemonade or iced tea than the normal iced milkshakes that most people drink.

Peter G

[scottlucey]

a strange "cooked" flavor (ironic, isn't it) that reminds me of Kahlua or supermarket coffee ice cream or something.


Peter G

or... little debbie swiss cake rolls, specifically if you eat the bottom flat portion.

many many thanks peter.
i've been toying around most of this morning trying various coffees with this method, but with using our fetco brewers.
i've gotten great results, especially w/ the harar we have.
it's beautiful to drink an ice coffee that is just as tasty and complex as coffee is when brewed hot. here at alterra, we've found that our toddy brew isn't cutting it, and is to heavy on those characteristics listed above...

again, thank you

[Jim Saborio]

I've been brewing strong and pouring over ice since I started drinking coffee. I've never understood how the flavor loss/damage from the cold brewers was acceptable. Have I just never had a decent Toddy brew?

Does anyone have anything good to say about this style of brewer?

I should note that the restaurant where I work has had a long-standing tradition of making iced americanos for people who order iced coffees. It's wierd, but something I probably shouldn't fuss with.

[onocoffee]

Peter-

Any thoughts on how the iced technique can be modified using press pots (and maybe a Bunn brew basket and filters)?

[Reggie]

We were serving our iced coffee "americano" style, only because I was never satisfied with the flavor derived from cold-brewing. We started experimenting with Peter's Japanese Ice Coffee approach after seeing his post last week, and finally made the switch-over today. Peter - me and the synesso both say thank you!

[Peter G]

As I mentioned, I always use a flat-bottomed Bunn basket and filters, over a glass carafe, when brewing over ice. Is that what you mean, Jay? Or do you mean using a Bunn machine? Using a machine (Bunn or Fetco) I tend to use the half batch setting with a full batch of ground coffee, then brewing into a full container of ice. Not as precise, but it seems to work out well.

I figure the thing to do with French Press is to brew double strength, then plunge perhaps 1 minute before you normally would, then dumping over enough ice that when it melts, you wind up with double the amount of liquid. I have had somewhat good luck with this method, but I find that the increased body/sediment is not perfectly suited for the refreshment of the iced coffee. One could pour through paper on the way to the ice, which might be a way to have it both ways.

Peter G

[barry]

The thing I love about the "Japanese" process is that the coffee is only hot for mere seconds after it brews: it is almost instantly cooled by the melting ice.

how is this different from thai or vietnamese iced coffee brewing? i've been making ca phe sua da here in the warehouse for the past week or so, brewing right on top of ice, with sweetened condensed milk in the glass.

yumm. very chocolatey with a darker roast. i'll have to try it with an yrg the next time i roast it.

[onocoffee]

Yes Peter and thanks.

With our new setup, it's just a Bunn hot water tower, a grinder and some press pots. But I have an extra Bunn brew basket sitting around so I'm going to try brewing (steeping?) a double strength 48z Bodum press pot (the double strength would be six ounce of coffee) and then pouring that into the Bunn basket with paper filter as it flows into a container of ice to volume.

I'll report back once I've tried it!

[Bob Arceneaux]

The heat is getting to me. I was compelled to make some iced coffee with a Toddy iced coffee maker, as we've always done. I've always liked and promoted the product, but I decided to test out the "Japanese-style" iced coffee PeterG has told us about. I thought of a few geeked-out ways of brewing it, but if it's not practical, teachable and duplicatable, I'm not fooling with it.
What worked best for me was to fill a large mouthed plastic containter, sans the screw top pour spout, with 32 oz of ice. Yes, I actually weighed it out. I weighed out 6 oz of drip grind Costa Rican Viennese Blend and put it in the s/s brew basket on our Fetco brewer. Slip the plastic container under the basket, hit the brew button and watch the ice melt.
The finished product smelled like fresh brewed hot coffee. I was quite surprised as to how fragrant it was. That's a good thing! I wasted no time filling a glass with ice, filling 3/4 up with coffee and topping off with milk and a shot of liquid sugar to sweeten it.
Damn that's good, and I didn't have to wait an entire day to drink it, if you know what I mean. I brewed another batch the next day with some Yirgacheffee. Even better.
Now I brewed some at home tonight with my Cuisanart 10 cup brewer. Not bad, but my proportions of coffee to ice were way off. It's still good.
b

[Mike Paras]

Chicago area coffeegeek Scott Marquardt (& son)roasts coffee at a farmers market and brews by the cup with an aeropress. Apparently it is pretty ideal for brewing over ice, since what comes directly out of the press is double-strength. He's got a pretty slick system down, from being able to press directly into paper cups to a 'knock box' for the aeropucks.

[Phuong]

Vietnamese Iced Coffee. You'll need a special filter. This link has a good picture and instructions:

http://www.gourmetsleuth.com/vietnamesecoffee.htm

Phuong

[Mark Prince]

Vietnamese Iced Coffee. You'll need a special filter. This link has a good picture and instructions:

http://www.gourmetsleuth.com/vietnamesecoffee.htm

Phuong

Dirt cheap to buy too. I dunno about other towns, but in Vancouver, they can be found at dollar stores for a couple of bucks.

Mark

[barry]

Vietnamese Iced Coffee.

mmmmmm... ca phe sua da...

mmmmmm...


i was drinking that last summer when it was 100+ in the warehouse. surprisingly, it tasted like chocolate milk.

[Mark Prince]

Gotta say, when it's made right, it sure hits the spot. I don't consider it "coffee" per se, but all that sweetened condensed milk, additional sugar they add, mountains of crushed ice, man, it's nice in the summer.

There's a lot of places around Vancouver that serve up vietnamese coffee; I think I gotta hit one or more of them the next heat wave!

Mark