Ice Water Cold Brew Hack: Why This Method Tastes Sweeter, Smoother, and More Refreshing
Cold brew, as the name suggests, is coffee made with cold water at low temperatures. The most common method is to soak ground coffee in room-temperature water, refrigerate it, and wait for the cold water to slowly pull out the flavors. After steeping, simply filter out the grounds and you’re done. But here’s something fun: cold brew doesn’t have to be made with room-temperature water. You can actually make it with ice water —a mix of ice cubes and water brewed together with the coffee grounds. The big question is: Does it taste better? Two Ways to Make Cold Brew For this comparison, I made two batches of cold brew—one with room-temperature water and one with ice water. I kept all other variables as consistent as possible so I could really taste the difference. 1. Room-Temperature Cold Brew I used my Colombian “Big Belly Button” beans, measured out 20g, and ground them to a coarse, sugar-like texture. Using a 20-mesh sieve, the grind had an 80% pass rate. (For reference: EK43s...