Where does the smell of iced coffee come from? What are the grindness, proportion and parameters for making cold-extracted coffee? What is low temperature ripening?

"clean, mellow and smooth" is people's second impression of the ice drop after tasting it. Why is it the second? Because often, people will be shocked by its strong and long-lasting fermented wine aroma, and only when they come to their senses do they begin to notice that it tastes so excellent. For example, some friends who have just come into contact with ice droplets in Qianjie stores will ask, "did you add wine to your iced coffee?" or does the coffee bean itself smell of wine? why is the wine so strong? "

Ahem, iced coffee is non-alcoholic! If you want to know where the smell of wine comes from, listen to Qianjie's explanation!

Ice drop coffee is not made in the same way as regular coffee extract. Qianjie often says that most coffee extracts need hot water to bring out the aroma quickly! Ice drop coffee is one of the few that is not among them.

Ice droplets are a way of making cold-extracted coffee, which means to extract coffee by using cooler ice water. Because the extraction efficiency of ice water is very low, we need to spend more time extracting the aromatic substances from the coffee. For example, cold soaked coffee, soak coffee powder in cold water for about 8 hours before it can be filtered out for drinking! On the other hand, the production cycle of ice drop coffee will be longer, and we can directly understand its extraction method from its name: "ice drop", that is, using ice water to extract coffee drop by drop.

The ice drop production method in the former street, for example, uses 60g coffee powder to extract according to the proportion of 1:10 powder, that is, to extract 600ml coffee liquid with 60g powder (so the coffee will be more rich). The dripping rate of ice water is 7 drops in 10 seconds, and it takes about 5 to 6 hours to filter out 600ml coffee liquid.

In the meantime, we have to constantly pay attention to whether the dripping rate of ice water is stable. Because when the ice water continues to seep out, the water pressure will be changed, which in turn affects the speed of dripping filtration. Therefore, we must remind ourselves from time to time to check whether there is a deviation in the drip speed and correct it in time. It sounds faster than cold coffee, but in fact, it is not finished even after dripping, because it still needs to be refrigerated for a while before it can be considered finished and drunk! Then the question came: "Why can't ice droplets be ready to drink immediately?" "

Why can't ice droplets be ready to drink immediately? The answer is actually very simple. Just try and know that the ice droplets that have just been extracted do not immediately have a very rich flavor. On the contrary, it is light, thin, and even a little astringent, which makes people feel that it is not enough to extract! But when placed overnight, it has a full sense of juice, clean and smooth, fermented wine is very fragrant. So don't underestimate the step of putting it in the refrigerator. The reason for putting coffee in the refrigerator is to let it ripen at a low temperature.

Qianjie small Science Popularization: "low temperature ripening" refers to the process of fermenting food by microorganisms in a relatively low temperature environment. But because the activity of microbes slows down at low temperatures, we need more time for them to ferment. When we took the coffee out the next day, it had been fermented by microorganisms to obtain a very rich fruit flavor and wine aroma. This is how we feel the aroma of wine when we drink ice droplets.

But often, microbial fermentation is an uncontrollable mode of operation, once carelessly sealed, it is easy to be infected by bacteria, leading to deterioration. So before we put the ice drop in the refrigerator, we pour it into a sealed glass bottle. This can not only slow down the fermentation rate of coffee, but also inhibit the reproduction of bacteria. (the same is true of anaerobic fermentation)

Generally speaking, ice drop coffee takes only eight hours to ripen. The feeling of drinking is as we described at the beginning: clean, smooth, mellow, rich fruit flavor, fermented wine flavor! Moreover, if we lengthen its storage time to 12 hours, then its fruit flavor will be integrated with the wine aroma and evolve into a more amazing fruit wine flavor! So the front street is all for one night! Here in the front street, I still want to mention it shallowly. Although the low temperature and sealing reduce the chance of the ice drop coffee going bad, if you leave it for too long, there is still a certain risk of deterioration. Especially when constantly opening and closing the lid, it will be more likely to lead to the growth of bacteria and deterioration. Therefore, for safety reasons, Qianjie suggests that it is best to finish drinking within five days after the ice droplets are made, so that at least there is a guarantee for people's health.

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Front Street Cafe

No. 10 Baoqian street, Yandun road, Dongshankou, Yuexiu district, Guangzhou, Guangdong province