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What is the best method to make cold extract coffee at home? Advantages and disadvantages of making iced coffee in tea bags Why do coffee powder brewed in a cold extraction pot easily fade in flavor?

Published: 2026-08-21 Author:

Last Updated: 2026/08/21, As soon as the weather became hot, more people immediately wanted to drink iced coffee. As a result, the simple and convenient cold extract returned to everyone's refrigerators again, ready to last the whole summer. Recently, several newbies who had just entered the trap came to Qianjie stores to buy some coffee beans suitable for cold extraction, and asked about low-cost production methods

As soon as the weather became hot, more people immediately wanted to drink iced coffee. As a result, the simple and convenient cold extract returned to everyone's refrigerators again, ready to last the whole summer. Recently, several newbies who have just entered the trap came to Qianjie stores to buy some coffee beans suitable for cold extraction. By the way, they asked about low-cost production methods. Let's talk about it today.

Cold extraction of coffee usually involves grinding coffee beans into powder, adding cold water in a certain proportion, sealing them and placing them in the refrigerator for overnight refrigeration. Finally, the coffee grounds are filtered, and the obtained coffee liquor is cold extraction.

Low-temperature extraction and long time are the two major characteristics of cold-extracted coffee, and they are also the main differences between cold-extracted coffee and high-temperature brewed coffee. The temperature of coffee brewed at high temperatures is usually between 82 and 95 ° C, and the time is generally no more than 3 minutes. However, the entire process of cold extraction reacts in an environment close to 0 ° C, and small-molecule flavor substances that tend to be acidic and sweet will be released first, which also inhibits the dissolution of bitter macromolecular components to a certain extent. Therefore, cold extraction is usually drunk. It has soft acidity, round taste, low bitterness, and a little sweetness, so it is very popular among coffee people.

Regarding the practice of cold extraction, you can learn many ways by simply searching the Internet, but the key lies in the coffee beans and parameters:

The fermented aroma and coolness of cold extraction can make people feel comfortable instantly. Therefore, when purchasing coffee beans, you can give priority to the type with strong fruit aroma or lively acidity, and choose it from coffee producing areas in Africa, Central and South America.

For friends who particularly like the fragrance of flowers and can accept acid, it is recommended to try Qianjie Fruit Tintin; if you want to make a cold extract with a juice feel, you can choose Qianjie Tomatoes; if you want a sweet iced coffee, buy medium-and lightly baked Costa Rican and Colombia single-style coffees, such as Qianjie Blackberries, Qianjie Xizao, and Qianjie navel.

tips： A friend reported from Qianjie that she usually liked to use some fruity single beans to make cold extracts, but the cost was too high to bear, so Qianjie suggested her to find a bean with soft tonality and affordable prices. Match, for example, Qianjie Xizhao 30%+ Qianjie Yejia Shefei 70%(cold extract flavor: passion fruit, grape, citrus, floral fragrance), Qianjie Hamathiu 30%+ Qianjie Huakui 70%(cold extract flavor: tropical fruit, black tea, pineapple, honey aroma).

Household cold extraction parameters:

Powder-water ratio: 1:10~1:12

Grinding degree: white granulated sugar (medium and light roasted coffee beans EK43s scale is 9.5 grids, medium and deep roasted coffee beans EK43s scale is 10 grids/China No. 20 sieve screening rate is 80%)

Soaking time: 6 to 14 hours

So based on these parameters, what are the methods for cold extraction coffee?

direct immersion method

Direct soaking, as the name suggests, means soaking coffee powder in cold water for extraction. Because there are no other obstacles, the two can come into contact more fully and release flavor substances into the water.

This method only requires the use of a clean container with sufficient capacity, preferably sealed, and paired with a filter cup and filter paper or using a metal filter screen to make cold extract coffee with a full taste and clean flavor. It is the easiest and most cost-effective family practice. (For specific operations, please refer to Qianjie's article: Ice drops and cold extracts, how to make coffee shop standards?)

Advantages: Stronger flavor and lower cost;

Disadvantages: Since the coffee powder absorbs water after soaking, it is easy to block the gaps in the filter paper, so the filtration speed will be very slow and it often takes a long time.

Filter bag/tea bag soaking method

This method requires the use of a filter bag for containing coffee powder, but there are not many restrictions. Common tea bags or home marinated bags can be used as long as they are clean and do not leak powder. When making cold extract, first put the coffee powder into the filter bag, tie it up, and then put it into a pot and soak it with water. When the time is up, there is no need to filter. Just lift the filter bag directly to get the extracted coffee. The liquid is up.

Advantages: The process of filtering coffee grounds is eliminated, and the cost is inexpensive.

Disadvantages: Club-shaped coffee powder bags will float on them because of their poor water absorption, resulting in slow extraction efficiency. Therefore, it is best to use a slightly larger filter bag to leave space for water to enter.

Cold extraction pot making

Compared with the previous two alternative versions, the cold extraction pot is a professional coffee appliance, so it is relatively complete in functions. In addition to the built-in filter, some models also provide scales for coffee powder and water volume, which eliminates the need for weighing. Step, directly pour out the coffee grounds after soaking and you can start drinking.

Advantages; most convenient

Disadvantages: Because the coffee powder is contained in the filter screen, it is difficult for water to completely penetrate into it to extract the flavor substances. The taste is easy to drink and the mellow degree is not as good as that of the direct soaking method; moreover, the built-in filter screen of some cold extraction pots is not dense enough, so the extracted coffee liquor sometimes leaves very fine powder and a thin layer of condensed oil, which is slightly rough to drink. If you want to improve the taste, you have to sieve it again with filter paper.

However, for people who don't use it frequently, the cold extraction pot is often easily forgotten in the corner to eat dust, so be sure to thoroughly clean it from the inside out before making coffee.

FrontStreet Coffee is a long-established specialty coffee roaster in Guangzhou China, selling freshly roasted beans from its own farm in Yunnan as well as dozens of carefully selected single-origin beans from around the world for both pour-over and espresso. The products deliver consistently excellent quality and great value, with shipping within 24 hours. Guangzhou’s FrontStreet Coffee shop is recommended by many coffee lovers, and the beans are now available online at the Tmall 。