Of all the coffee varieties, cold brew coffee easily acquires the one-of-a-kind status. After all, we all have gotten used to the fact that coffee is perfect to warm us up during cold wintertime. But cold brew stands out with the fact that it’s perfect for those hot summer days when we just want to relax and cool off.
But despite different brewing methods, there is one thing that’s universal for both the hot and cold brew, and that it’s essential to pick good beans. So today, we’ll gonna talk all about the best beans for cold brew coffee 2023, what are the advantages of consuming this beverage, and what is the best coffee for cold brew.
Top 7 Best Beans for Cold Brew: Comparison Chart
| Brand | Arabica/Robusta | Single Origin/Blend | Roast | Organic Certified | Caffeine Content | Volume |
| Cold Brew Lab | Arabica | Blend | Dark | Yes | Caffeinated | 1 pound |
| Stone Street Coffee | Arabica | Blend | Dark | No | Caffeinated | 1 pound |
| Coffee Bros. | Arabica | Blend | Medium | No | Caffeinated | 12 oz |
| Tiny Footprint Coffee | Arabica | Blend | Medium | Yes | Caffeinated | 1 pound |
| Cooper’s Cask | Arabica | Single origin | Medium | Yes | Caffeinated | 1 pound |
| Bones Coffee Company | Arabica | Blend | Medium | No | Caffeinated | 12 oz |
| Ovalware | Arabica | Blend | Medium | Yes | Caffeinated | 1 pound |
What is Cold Brew Coffee?
Let’s start off by clarifying what is a cold brew coffee. Simply put – it’s a concentrate of coffee that’s brewed for several hours at room temperature. When this brew is made, you can pour some ice or milk over it or dilute it with water, and bingo!
Although it has been only a decade or two since this drink has found its way in the United States, its history dates back to the 1600s, in Kyoto, Japan. Over the centuries, the Kyoto-drip method became a highly popular and quite artistic way of making a cold brew coffee. This method consists of letting down a single bead of water through the grounds at a time. This process was called the slow-drip method.
What Are the Advantages of Cold Brew Coffee?
The chilled brew is a lot different than the regular java, and not just in its method and the fact that it uses specific, cold brew coffee beans, but also thanks to some advantages it has over the hot coffee. So let’s take a look at some of them:
Convenience
Despite what the most common notion might be Chilled Brew actually is quite convenient to make. Take coffee in a container, add a couple cups of cold water, stir it, cover and let it rest at room temperature for 12 hours. Even if you keep your drink for 24 hours or 48 – there’s not much change in taste.
More Caffeine With the Same Amount of Beans
All thanks to the brewing method. When you’re making a regular coffee, you brew and drink it immediately. However, when making a cold brew, you allow the cold brew coffee beans to steep for some time. And since the water is in contact with these beans for quite some time, it becomes more concentrated and extracts more caffeine.
Less Acidic
In a study by Nature, it was found that the cold brew coffee beans brewed over a long period, have lower extracted acids than the hot one. Hence, this beverage not only contributes to a heavenly taste, but it also doesn’t let your digestive system suffer. Also, the substances in the beans work as antioxidants. Consuming it not only makes you feel good, but it also makes your body healthier and stronger.
Antioxidants
Antioxidants are known for their ability to make us healthier and stronger. When you brew your caffeine chilled, the chlorogenic acids in all the best beans for cold brew won’t get destroyed with high temperatures, like in regular coffee.
Slightly More Caffeine
Chilled brew coffee has 100 mg of caffeine per cup, compared to the regular hot brew, which has 95 mg. And it all comes down to how long you steep the cold brew coffee. So if you left your drink for 24 hours, it would extract more caffeine from the cold brew coffee beans than if it were to steep for 12 hours.
Helps in Weight Loss
It has been proven that cold brew coffee boosts your metabolism, and as a result, you burn more fat.
Choosing the Right Beans for Cold Brew Coffee
When you want to choose only the best coffee beans for cold brew, you have to keep in mind several important factors:
Arabica or Robusta?
Since Arabica is always better for an espresso, then the best beans for cold brew must also be Arabica. The reason for that is because Arabica is richer in aroma, flavor, and taste – making it truly the best choice for the chilled drink.
Single-origin or Blend
While espresso turns out to be better with mixed and blended beans (like in Mexican, Cuban or Ethiopian coffee), the best type of coffee for cold brew comes from a single-origin variety. Sure, the blended variety has its own global taste, but the single-origin beans make the essence of the coffee quite unique and delicious.
Roast
Although it completely depends on your preferences, the dark roast is usually the best type of coffee for cold brew. The rich chocolaty and earthy flavor makes it the best choice since you get more caffeine and a better taste from these beans for cold brew.
Grind
If the grind is wrong then even the best beans for cold brew won’t be much of help. Thus, it’s important to make sure that you’re doing all right. While creating our coffee beans for cold brew reviews we’ve learned that it’s best to take the coarse grind; since it’s the fastest to begin dripping. Coarse-medium works well too, just make sure to avoid thin/fine grind, since it doesn’t allow for water to flow smoothly.
How to Make Cold Brew Coffee
Once you have the best coffee beans for cold brew, the next step is to actually prepare this type of java. There are 3 methods that you can use:
Immersion cold brew
This is the easiest and the most affordable way to make cold brew coffee. All you need is to take a container, fill it with the best ground coffee for cold brew keeping a coffee filter over the container and add water. Leave it for 12 hours, and then filter the liquid to sip it. Immersion cold brew coffee has a mild flavor and is low in acidic content.
Ice-drip Cold Brew
It follows the same method as above, with added ice-cubes in it. With the ice-drip cold brew method, your java becomes very delicious and smooth. The best beans for the cold brew method are dark roast coffee beans and those of Central American and Natural African variety.
Japanese Cold Brew
In this method, the beverage is brewed hot, right on the ice. For the rest of it, the ice-drip brew is diluted with more water. Thanks to its finely ground texture, the Japanese cold brew can be prepared very quickly. As for the beans for cold brew, the best for the Japanese cold brew method is Kenyan and washed Ethiopian beans.
Making Cold Brew Coffee: A Basic Recipe
- Take the rich single-origin Arabica beans, which are the best coffee beans for cold brew.
- Coarsely grind them.
- Add cold water to the ground.
- Covered all this with a lid and keep it at room temperature for no less than 12 hours.
- Once time passes, take the container and pour the liquid through a filter.
- Serve it with ice or milk, or you may store part of it in the refrigerator for up to one week.
Useful Tips
- Other than picking single-origin, coarsely ground Arabica beans – don’t forget to use filtered water.
- You can make some coffee-flavored ice cubes to serve the drink with. That way the java won’t get diluted.
- Remember – the minimum time to keep the ground infused in water is 12 hours. The longer you wait, the more caffeinated your drink will be.
Final Words
Coffee is a beverage that mostly depends upon one’s personal choice of All and all, the most important thing when it comes to picking the best coffee beans for cold brew is to make sure that it’s 100% Arabica and of single-origin variety. These will ensure that you can enjoy the most delicious and rich java, which will make even the dullest mornings a lot brighter. So grab some of the best coffee beans for cold brew 2023 and have some amazing cold coffee, to cool off even on the hottest days!