4 Cool Facts You Need to Know About Cold Brew Coffee


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Many of us stick to a daily morning routine.If you’re like me, your morning routine involves reading the newspaper, exercising, and enjoying a cup of coffee. Coffee is a  staple in the American diet. But with the long, hot summer days approaching, the idea of sipping a steaming cup of coffee may make you feel sweaty. Cold brew coffee can serve as an alternative to your morning cup of joe.

Cold brew coffee rose in popularity over the past few years, and the appeal is broadening. In fact, most millennials are making it their coffee of choice. It is increasingly becoming the standard summer beverage, especially in specialty coffee shops. This popular beverage has been driving a surge in demand, even the big players like Starbucks brought it into its menu.

If you are an avid coffee drinker or someone who frequents the local coffee shop, chances are you have encountered it before. If you haven’t and you want to learn more about this, then you came to the right place.

Here are 4 cool facts you need to know about cold brew coffee.

Cold Brew Takes Much Longer to Make Than Traditional Coffee

How to make cold brew coffee

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If you are someone who prefers the convenience of automatic coffee machines and you want something that is quick and easy to make, then this isn’t for you. Cold brew coffee takes much longer to make as compared to your usual cup of joe. In fact, the brewing times takes anywhere between 12 to 24 hours.

This coffee beverage is created by steeping medium to coarse ground coffee in cold or room temperature water. As mentioned above, the process takes about 12 hours or longer. Once the coffee has finished steeping, the grounds are filtered out.  Because the coffee is never heated, it is more full-bodied in flavor, sweeter, less bitter, and slightly less acidic.

The brewing process may be longer than usual, but it’s really easy to make. Once you learn how to make cold brew coffee at home, you’ll never go back to your favorite coffee shop. You may also want to check out this blog post for a list of Cold Brew Coffee Drinks You Can Make This Summer.

Cold Brew Coffee vs Iced Coffee

Cold brew coffee vs Iced coffee

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Cold brew coffee and iced coffee are both popular beverages. Most people think that they are one and the same thing. They are not. In fact, these chilled cousins are more different than you think.

Ice coffee is simply regular coffee that has been cooled down. The caffeinated drink is then topped with ice; hence, the name iced coffee. It is basically standard filter coffee poured over ice. But since milk and ice will be added to the drink, it has to be brewed stronger than the usual coffee.

Cold brew coffee, on the other hand, is brewed cold. Instead of brewing in just a few minutes, it is steeped and slow brewed for about 12 hours or longer. The coffee tastes more rounded out and a bit mellower than iced coffee.

Caffeine Content of Cold Brew

Caffeine content of cold brew

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Caffeine content in coffee is extremely variable. There are lots of things you need to take into consideration in order to determine caffeine found in them. Regardless, it’s still quite difficult to get a definitive answer.

Heat helps extract caffeine. Considering that cold brew coffee is brewed using cold water, it is easy to assume that it has less caffeine than espresso or drip coffee. However, you also need to consider that it is made with a higher coffee to water ratio. After a lengthy steeping process, the end product is a very concentrated coffee. This, alone, leads to a higher caffeine concentration. That means, its caffeine content is about 2 to 2.5 times higher than that of traditional coffee. But then, after diluting it with water, it levels out the playing field.

The average cup of cold brew has about 26 mg of caffeine per fluid ounce. Espresso, on the other hand, has approximately 64 mg per shot. Meanwhile, the cold brew has about 26 mg of caffeine per 30 grams. This puts it in line with hot coffee. But since hot coffee is served anywhere between 8 to 34 fl oz and a cold brew is typically served in smaller containers (about 10 fl oz.), it is safe to say that cold brew has less caffeine content than regular coffee.

Health Benefits of Cold Brew Coffee

Health benefits of cold brew coffee

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As a coffee lover, you are probably aware of the several benefits of drinking coffee. It is rich in antioxidants and aids in the prevention of certain diseases such as cancer, Alzheimer’s, and heart disease. Despite the numerous benefits, there are also some potentially harmful effects of coffee. Upset stomach, acid reflux, and heartburn problems are just some of them.

Coffee often gets branded as an acidic drink. Many of the compounds found in coffee, including caffeine, can irritate your stomach as well as the lining of your intestines. Drinking coffee on an empty stomach may stimulate the production of hydrochloric acid. Coffee also relaxes the esophageal sphincter; thus, causing acid reflux and heartburn problems.

If drinking hot coffee causes issues for you, consider switching to cold brew. As compared to regular coffee, it has less acid in it per ounce. In fact, studies suggest that cold brew coffee is 60% less acidic than that of hot-brewed coffee.

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